Marc Ambinder makes a couple smart points about where Bittergate goes from here:
2. But Obama is not John Kerry; he is not Michael Dukakis. 2008 is not 2004. Obama is certainly much more comfortable in his skin, more confident, more "agile," as one observer put it. "Let's see him fight his way out of this one."
3. It's going to be a helluva fight. The onus is on Obama to figure out how to explain his elitist-sounding comments, stand by them, and not come off as condescending, elitist-sounding, Dukakis-esque or patronizing. His campaign faces its biggest political test since Rev. Jeremiah Wright. Can he pass it?
Here's Obama's best attempt so far to do it.
It's not quite the race speech, but I'd say it's pretty effective: in fact, comfortable in his skin, confident, and agile are three words that immeditaely come to mind. The man definitely has skills.
--Jason Zengerle