Why 'Bittergate' Is So Bad for Obama

The uproar over Barack Obama's description of small-town Americans as "bitter" has hit the candidate so hard that there's talk of a Hillary Clinton comeback, and Politico's Mike Allen can think of plenty of reasons why. For starters, Obama has alienated a swath of blue-collar voters just nine days before the Pennsylvania primary.

But the impact goes well beyond Pennsylvania. Obama's gaffe that bitter heartlanders "cling to guns and religion" isn't going down well in red states, which could boost Clinton's push for more superdelegates in several regions. Dissing Midwesterners to a crowd of latte liberals in San Francisco is especially a gift to John McCain, who now has more ammunition to shoot down the candidate as an out-of-touch, elitist liberal. (More Barack Obama stories.)