Obama, Clinton confront their campaign missteps

PHILADELPHIA — Sen. Barack Obama repeatedly found himself on the defensive here Wednesday night as he sought to bat away criticism of his remarks about small-town values, questions about his patriotism and the incendiary sermons of his former pastor in a potentially pivotal debate six days before Pennsylvania's presidential primary.

In their first head-to-head encounter in nearly two months, Obama and his opponent for the Democratic nomination, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, sparred with one another over gaffes, missteps and past statements that could leave them vulnerable in a general election contest against Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee.

But it was Obama, now the front-runner for the Democratic nomination, who was pressed most persistently by moderators Charlie Gibson and George Stephanopoulos of ABC News to answer questions that have dominated the Democratic presidential race in the weeks since the last major contests, which were held in Texas and Ohio.

The encounter, particularly in the early stages, seemed more like a Sunday-morning talk-show grilling of Obama than a debate between the two candidates. Obama fielded most of the questions calmly, although at times he appeared to choose his words with extreme care as he faced perhaps the toughest series of questions he has encountered since taking the lead in delegates in the nomination battle.

It took only a few minutes for the debate to focus on Obama's comments at a recent fundraiser in San Francisco, in which he characterized people who live in economically hard-hit small towns as "bitter" about their plight and said that, as a result, they "cling" to religion, guns and an antipathy to people not like themselves.

Obama said he understood why some people were offended by what he called a "mangled-up" statement and then sought to reframe his comments in less offensive terms. "The point I was making was that when people feel like Washington's not listening to them, when they're promised year after year, decade after decade, that their economic situation is going to change and it doesn't, then, politically, they end up focusing on those things that are constant, like religion."

Clinton did not let him off the hook, however. Noting that her grandfather had worked in the lace mills in Scranton, beginning at age 11, and that he had been a member of the local Methodist church, she said it was a "fundamental misunderstanding" to believe that people cling to religion or hunting out of frustration with Washington.

"Now, that doesn't mean that people are not frustrated with the government. We have every reason to be frustrated, particularly with this administration," she said. "But I can see why people would be taken aback and offended by the remarks."

She was then asked, in light of Republican attacks on Obama over the comments, whether she believed the Illinois senator could defeat McCain in a general election. At first she praised McCain as a formidable opponent and "a man with a great American story to tell." Pressed to answer directly whether Obama can win, she then responded, "Yes. Yes. Yes. I think I can do a better job."

Clinton came under fire as well for incorrectly stating on several occasions that she had dodged sniper fire on a visit to Bosnia in 1996. The context for the question was a new Washington Post-ABC News poll that showed that nearly six in 10 Americans do not find her honest or trustworthy.

Clinton was asked a question in a video clip of a Pittsburgh voter, Tom Rooney, who said she had lost his vote over it and wondered how she could win him back. "Well, Tom, I can tell you that I may be a lot of things. But I'm not dumb," Clinton began. She then added, "I'm embarrassed by it. I have apologized for it. I've said it was a mistake. And it is, I hope, something that you can look over because, clearly, I am proud that I went to Bosnia."

Still, most of the focus during the first half of the 90-plus-minute debate at the National Constitution Center was on Obama. He too got a video question, from Nash McCabe of Latrobe, Pa.: Why did Obama decline to wear an American flag pin?

Obama said he reveres the American flag.

"I am absolutely confident that during the general election, that when I'm in a debate with John McCain, people are not going to be questioning my patriotism; they are going to be questioning, how can you make people's lives a little bit better?"

He was then asked about his association with William Ayers, a member of the Weather Underground, a radical group from the 1970s. Ayers was quoted after the Sept. 11 attacks as saying he did not regret setting bombs and that "we didn't do enough."

Obama said he does not have a close relationship with Ayers. "The notion that somehow as a consequence of me knowing somebody who engaged in detestable acts 40 years ago, when I was 8 years old, somehow reflects on me and my values doesn't make much sense," he said. He also noted that former President Clinton had pardoned members of the group.

Once again, Clinton took the opportunity to criticize her rival, calling Ayers' comments "deeply hurtful to people in New York" and said Obama had served on a board with Ayers. "And I have no doubt — I know Senator Obama's a good man and I respect him greatly, but I think that this is an issue that certainly the Republicans will be raising. And it goes to this larger set of concerns about how we are going to run against John McCain."

Wednesday's debate was held in the same facility where Obama delivered his speech about race days after the videos of his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, surfaced.

Obama once again disavowed the remarks without disowning his former pastor, but said when asked how he would deal with the videos being played over and over in the fall, "If it's not this, then it would be something else. I promise you, if Senator Clinton got the nomination, there will be a whole bunch of video clips about other things."

The debate also touched on Iraq, Iran the Middle East, taxes, the economy, guns and affirmative action.

On the economy, Clinton promised not to raise taxes on people making less than $250,000 a year, flatly ruling out a middle-class tax hike. Obama did the same, though he defined middle class more broadly, saying that the line would be drawn at people making between $200,000 and $250,000 a year.

Obama also confirmed that he would consider raising the capital gains tax, which is currently at 15 percent, back to its previous Clinton-era high of 28 percent. Clinton said she would not raise capital gains taxes above 20 percent, if at all, but would take the federal cash flow into account.

Obama leads in the overall delegate race with 1,643, compared with 1,504 for Clinton, according to an unofficial count by The Associated Press. A total of 2,024 delegates is needed to clinch the nomination.

Material from The New York Times is included in this report.