Obama slams Clinton’s beer-and-whiskey photo-op

Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) on Monday, after enduring three straight days of criticism for appearing “elitist,” struck back at his rival for the Democratic presidential nomination, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.).

{mosads}“Around election time, the candidates can’t do enough for you,” Obama told the Alliance for American Manufacturing in Pittsburgh. “They’ll promise you anything, give you a long list of proposals and even come around, with TV crews in tow, to throw back a shot and a beer.”

The remark was an obvious attack on Clinton, who had a beer and a shot of whiskey at a campaign stop in Indiana while criticizing Obama for being elitist.

“But if those same candidates are taking millions of dollars in contributions from the PACs and lobbyists, ask yourself, who are they going to be toasting once the election is over?” the Illinois senator added.

Both Obama and Clinton, who also addressed the group, hit the Bush administration on its policies, saying they've led to a decline in manufacturing jobs.

However, the Illinois senator also placed blame on previous administrations.

“For decades, our economic policies have been written to pump up a corporate bottom line, rather than promote what's right, without any consideration for the burden we all bear when workers are abused or the environment is destroyed,” he stated.