Obama: Clinton Criticism "Toughening Me Up"
WASHINGTON -- Barack Obama described Hillary Clinton's recent criticisms of him as Republican arguments that will "toughen" him up for the general election. While speaking at the Associated Press luncheon this afternoon, Obama said, "I'm sure that Senator Clinton feels like she's doing me a great favor because she's been deploying most of the arguments that the Republican Party will be using against me in November and so it's toughening me up."
Obama said Clinton can not afford to show restraint in the current contest, as he says he does, because he is leading in number of pledged delegates, states, and popular vote. He somewhat sarcastically called Clinton a "unique" candidate because she has remained in the race despite her loses.
"This has been a hard-fought contest partly because Senator Clinton has been a formidable candidate. You know there aren't very many figures in American politics that can sustain 11 straight losses and hang in a race, and raise $35 million dollars and in that sense she's unique."
Obama admitted that he thought the Democratic nomination would be settled after February 5.
In his opening remarks, Obama made yet another attempt to dismiss claims that he is an "elitist" by shifting his attention to John McCin and the Republicans.
"Senator McCain and the Republicans in Washington are already looking ahead to the fall and have decided that they plan on using these comments to argue that I'm out of touch with what's going on in the lives of working Americans," Obama said. "I don't blame them for this, that's the nature of our political culture, and if I had to carry the banner for eight years of George Bush's failures, I'd be looking for something else to talk about too."
Throughout the event, Obama attempted to shape controversy that has ensued over his comments into, as he describes, "political silliness" and a distraction.