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Shapiro Slams Obama’s 2008 'Bitter' Remark, Says It 'Insulted' Working-Class Voters

02:21 AM, 12/06/2025
Shapiro Slams Obama’s 2008 'Bitter' Remark, Says It 'Insulted' Working-Class Voters

Summary: Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro told The Atlantic that Barack Obama’s 2008 description of some voters as "bitter" likely insulted working-class Americans rather than persuading them. Shapiro compared the episode to Hillary Clinton’s "basket of deplorables" comment and said such remarks helped push some voters toward Donald Trump. He also denied passages in Kamala Harris’s memoir that portrayed his vetting behavior as overly intrusive and acknowledged Trump’s strengths as a communicator while criticizing his dishonesty.

Shapiro Criticizes Obama’s 2008 'Bitter' Comment

Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro this week told The Atlantic that former President Barack Obama’s widely quoted 2008 description of some voters as "bitter" likely alienated working-class Americans rather than persuading them. Shapiro framed the episode as part of a broader challenge Democrats face in reconnecting with economically distressed communities.

Background: The 2008 Remarks

Obama made the remarks at a fundraising event in San Francisco while describing economic decline in some small Midwestern towns. He said jobs had vanished over the prior decade and that residents, frustrated by failed promises of revival from successive administrations, had begun to "cling" to cultural explanations for their hardship:

"And they fell through the Clinton administration, and the Bush administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are going to regenerate and they have not. And it’s not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations."

Shapiro’s Reaction

Shapiro said he believed Obama understood the economic problems facing those towns but criticized the phrasing. "I think his understanding of the challenges in those communities was real. But I think instead of offering his prescription for how he’d make it better, he insulted the very folks who were suffering," Shapiro told The Atlantic.

He likened Obama’s phrasing to Hillary Clinton’s 2016 remark about a "basket of deplorables," arguing both comments helped push some working-class voters toward Donald Trump. "We can’t ignore the fact that elections are binary choices. And so you’re asking people, at least in the last case, to choose between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump," Shapiro said. "We can have this kind of theoretical conversation about Trump, but, like, it was always Trump versus somebody."

Other Highlights From The Interview

The interview also addressed passages in former Vice President Kamala Harris’s memoir, 107 Days, in which she described vetting potential running mates. Harris wrote that Shapiro asked detailed questions and sought an active role; she described an exchange in which he discussed, among other things, placing Pennsylvania artists’ work on loan from the Smithsonian. Shapiro strongly denied Harris’s characterization, calling it false: "That’s complete and utter bull----," he said, adding that her accounts were "blatant lies."

Shapiro also praised former President Donald Trump’s communication skills while criticizing him for misleading voters to gain political advantage. Observers note that Shapiro’s profile as the governor of a competitive "purple" state has generated speculation about a possible 2028 presidential bid.

Context: Fox News Digital reported that it reached out to Obama’s team for comment following Shapiro’s remarks.

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