'NOTHING SHORT OF BREATHTAKING'
An aide to McCain called the fundraiser comments "remarkable and extremely revealing."
"It shows an elitism and condescension toward hard-working Americans that is nothing short of breathtaking," said Steve Schmidt, a senior adviser to the Arizona senator. "It is hard to imagine someone running for president who is more out of touch with average Americans."
The barrage of criticism came after the comments appeared on The Huffington Post blog.
Obama responded by insisting he was not out of touch with voters and by trying to turn the tables on both Clinton and McCain.
"When I go around and I talk to people there is frustration and there is anger and there is bitterness," Obama told a rally in Terre Haute. "They're frustrated and for good reason. ... They've seen their economies collapse. They have lost their jobs. They have lost their pensions.
"Out of touch? Out of touch?" he asked, accusing McCain of failing to understand the home mortgage crisis.
"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 also suggested Clinton was "out of touch," accusing her of being beholden to lobbyists in the financial services industry and attacking her for supporting a bill on bankruptcy reform that was supported by companies in that sector.
Obama's comments in Indiana in turn sparked another round of criticism from his rivals. Clinton spokesman Phil Singer said in a statement that "instead of apologizing for offending small town America, Senator Obama chose to repeat and embrace the comments he made earlier this week."
McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds said Obama "arrogantly tried to spin his way out of his outrageous San Francisco remarks."
