Wilson hits Obama over remark about Clinton backers

Posted 6/24/2008 09:43:00 AM

U.S. Rep. Heather Wilson is going on the offensive on behalf of Republican presidential nominee John McCain by attacking Barack Obama for suggesting that supporters of Hillary Clinton should “get over” her loss and back the Democratic presidential nominee.

ABC News reported on Friday that, at a meeting with other members of the Congressional Black Caucus, Obama was asked by a Clinton supporter to reach out to the millions of women who are disappointed that Clinton lost. Obama, according to ABC, said healing is needed and he hoped Clinton supporters who were present at the meeting would help him.

“If women take a moment to realize that on every issue important to women, John McCain is not in their corner, that would help them get over it,” Obama said, according to ABC.

At least one congresswoman at the meeting, Rep. Diane Watson, D-Calif., took issue with Obama’s comment, saying she found the words “get over it” to be dismissive, ABC reported.

Wilson, a Republican, had much harsher words for Obama in a Monday conference call with reporters that was organized by the McCain campaign. Wilson said she considers Obama’s statement “patronizing and elitist, and that’s exactly the kind of attitude that causes women to support John McCain.”

Asked to explain her comment about women supporting McCain when polls show Obama leading among women, Wilson said she’s not a pollster. She said her response to Obama’s comment was not intellectual but was a gut reaction.

“What Obama said on Friday, it hit me right in the gut,” Wilson said. “I expect more from somebody who wants to be president of the United States.”

It’s the second time since Wilson lost the U.S. Senate primary in New Mexico to Steve Pearce on June 3 that she has spoken out about Clinton’s loss. Earlier this month, Wilson penned a letter published in the New York Times stating that sexism was a contributing factor.

“She became a caricature: too smart, too strong, too assertive, too rational, too competent,” Wilson wrote about Clinton. “Think how the young Harry Potter and his male friends initially reacted to Hermione Granger and you get the idea.”

Asked during Monday’s conference call whether she supported Clinton’s presidential bid, Wilson said she did not.

“But I understand how women feel when someone speaks to them that way,” she said. “I don’t like being patronized or being spoken to in a condescending way and I think that’s what (Obama) was doing.”

Update, 10 a.m.

Meanwhile, Obama was in Albuquerque on Monday speaking to a small group of women. Here’s video of his opening remarks at the private event he held there: