April 11 (Bloomberg) -- Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and Arizona Senator John McCain said Barack Obama was condescending and elitist for calling Americans who live in rural and impoverished areas of the country ``bitter.''

``You go into some of these small towns in Pennsylvania and, like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing's replaced them,'' Obama said at an April 6 fundraiser, according to an audio recording on the Huffington Post Web site.

``And it's not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns, or religion, or antipathy to people who aren't like them, or anti-immigrant sentiment, or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations,'' said Obama, an Illinois senator.

New York Senator Clinton and a spokesman for McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, jumped on Obama's comments, calling him condescending, elitist and out of touch.

``Pennsylvanians don't need a president who looks down on them,'' Clinton said at a Drexel University town hall in Philadelphia. ``They need a president who stands up for them, who fights for them, who works hard for your futures, your jobs, your families.''

Steve Schmidt, a senior adviser to McCain, said Obama's remarks were revealing.

``It shows an elitism and condescension towards hardworking Americans that is nothing short of breathtaking, it is hard to imagine someone running for president who is more out of touch with average Americans,'' Schmidt said in an e-mailed statement.

Clinton and Obama have been campaigning in Pennsylvania, where trade and job losses are playing a prominent role in campaign rhetoric, ahead of the state's critical April 22 primary. Pennsylvania has lost more than 200,000 manufacturing jobs since President George W. Bush took office in 2001.

Out of Touch

``They fell through the Clinton Administration, and the Bush Administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are going to regenerate and they have not,'' Obama said.

Obama today defended himself against Clinton and McCain at a town hall in Terre Haute, Indiana, saying people are bitter and frustrated because they've heard politicians make empty promises and want to see a change in Washington politics.

``Out of touch? I mean, John McCain, it took him three tries to finally figure out that the home foreclosure crisis was a problem and to come up with a plan for it,'' Obama said.

``Senator Clinton voted for a credit card-sponsored bankruptcy bill that made it harder for people to get out of debt after taking money from the financial services companies, and I'm out of touch? No, I'm in touch and I know exactly what's going on,'' Obama said.

Obama also explained what he was referring to when he said people cling to guns or religion. People, he said, don't vote on economic issues ``because they don't expect anybody's going to help them. Some people end up, you know, voting on issues like guns, are they going to have the right to bear arms. They vote on issues like gay marriage. They take refuge in their faith and their families and the things they can count on.''

To contact the reporters on this story: Julianna Goldman in Terre Haute, Indiana, at jgoldman6@bloomberg.net; Karen Leigh in Philadelphia at kleigh@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: April 11, 2008 21:18 EDT