Following Obama's now infamous remarks in San Francisco over a week ago, Hillary Clinton has tried to portray this "gaffe" as the undoing of Obama. Over the weekend, Clinton and McCain tag-teamed to incite the electorate and the media to be insulted and snubbed. Yet, ironically, it has become increasingly clear that "Bittergate" is backfiring in a potentially major way for Clinton.

It began within hours of the story breaking on Huffington Post: Obama, in Terra Haute, Indiana explained his statements and pivoted off his remarks to attack McCain and Clinton, recieving a standing ovation.

Meanwhile, as most pundits reacted in shock, the CNN Political Team was in full support of Obama.

Saturday and Sunday brought more calls of gloom, but also brought about a large number of calls of support for Obama. Many felt that the controversy was being largely overblown. On Sunday night, at the Compassion Forum, Obama was recieved warmly by the crowd, while Hillary's continuing attacks seemed innappropriate and poorly recieved.

And on Monday, Obama's explanation and "counter-punch" at the AAM Forum was met with cheers, while Clinton's attacks were met with jeers.

How has Bittergate potentially turned the tables on Clinton?
Well there are a number of reasons.

First, the "gaffe" was not that controversial. As Ambinder pointed out on Friday night and as many have posted throughout the blogosphere, there's a whole lot of truth to Obama's words. Many folks are feeling bitter and for Hillary to claim that people are so happy and optimistic seems, well put quite frankly, out of touch with today's electorate. Moreover, there was no video of the remarks that could be played over and over on the TV and Youtube, reinforcing Obama's poorly constructed words.

Second, Hillary overplayed her hand on the story and instead of simply pointing the media towards the story and/or using surrogates to drive the story, she herself took on the attack. She seemed to drive home a narrative of Obama being elitist, when she herself has no room to talk what with 109 million dollars being claimed in her recently released tax returns. She began pandering to the voters by talking about gun rights and her history with guns. 

Third, Clinton made the mistake of attacking Obama on the "bitter" part of the remarks, instead of the "cling to guns and religion" part that seems now much more controversial. PA voters and Americans in general are bitter and thats why this is a change election. Because of this initial misfire, Clinton allowed Obama to respond with this acceptance of the bitterness and turn it towards his own message of change against the status quo. Indeed, Obama's remarks are now part of "Bittergate" not "Cling-gate."

It is yet to be seen how strong this backlash against Clinton will be. But it has the potential to turn the tables on Clinton in a major way. By accepting and clarfiying that America is indeed bitter about politics, and by pivoting that to a message of real change, Obama can now drive home the perception that it is actually he, not Clinton, who understands the hard-working, but often ignored voters of central PA. It is just the kind of turnaround perception that Obama can use to win PA.