Obama Delivers His Pennsylvania "Closing Argument"

[sniffa]

Barack Obama delivered what he's calling his “closing argument” today as he tried to woo undecided Pennsylvania voters. Arguing that Hillary Clinton is to blame for the negative tone of the election, he said she should have learned from the Republican attacks on her in the 1990s.

“I’m thinking ‘well, you learned the wrong lessons from those Republicans who were going after you in the same ways using the same tactics all those years,” Obama said at a town hall meeting here. “I don’t want us to become like them.”

Although he admitted that his campaign is imperfect, he blamed Clinton’s jabs for some of the attacks that his campaign has launched.

“Look our campaign’s not perfect, there have been times where you know if you get elbowed enough eventually you start elbowing back.”

Obama also argued that voters are not interested in “manufactured” controversies and are more concerned with issues. However, on a stop at a local diner earlier in the day, a patron questioned his patriotism.

"May I ask you a question? I'm going to ask you why you didn't salute the flag?" a local woman asked.

Obama denied the claim, blaming the rumors on false e-mails. "What happened was, we were singing 'The Star Spangled Banner' and the flag wasn't in front of me, the flag was behind me," Obama explained.

The patron told reporters that she was satisfied with Obama’s answer but she’s a Republican and will not vote in the Democratic primary.

http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2008/04/20/politics/fromtheroad/entry4029538.shtml