Sen. Barack Obama today dismissed concerns that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's repeated attacks on his comments about "bitter" voters in Pennsylvania small towns had crossed a racial line.

"I don't think there are racial overtones to the attacks going on right now. I think it's politics," he said during a town hall meeting at Washington and Jefferson College this afternoon. "This is what we do politically when we start getting behind in races and we start going on the attack."

The first questioner at the event raised the issue, noting that pundits and politicians had repeatedly called Mr. Obama's comment "elitist." The man suggested that Mr. Obama's opponents' true intention was to characterize the senator as "uppity," a term often used against black people in the segregation-era south.

Mr. Obama denied that, but he also firmly rejected the elitist label by listing some of his humble roots: he was raised by a single mother; he briefly relied on food stamps; he received scholarships; both he and his wife finished paying their law school debts about six years ago.

"We lived for the first 13 years of our marriage in a three-bedroom condo without a garage," he said.

He called the uproar over his comments -- which he gave recently at a fundraiser in San Francisco as he tried to explain why he wasn't faring as well among working class voters in small towns -- part of "political silly season."

"These kind of political attacks, they don't solve the [Veterans Administration's] problems. They don't put food on the table. They don't bring jobs back," he said. "What we really need to do right now is focus on solving problems."

The closed event was billed as question-and-answer session on issues that affect veterans, and Mr. Obama vowed to increase spending on the VA and to improve care for veterans. He also promised to create mandatory mental health and traumatic brain injury screening for all soldiers returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

He plans to push a new "GI bill" that would give a new generation of veterans access to affordable education.

"It's time to make sure that every veteran has the support they need to get an education that puts them on a pathway to their dreams," Mr. Obama said.

Pennsylvania Auditor General Jack Wagner introduced the senator before the event, giving him a strong endorsement.

"Unfortunately, for the last eight years there has been no vision in America," said Mr. Wagner, a Vietnam veteran.

Homer Washington, 50, a Navy veteran who served during the first Gulf war, said Mr. Obama's handling of the "elitist" issue impressed him.

"He doesn't lose his composure," Mr. Washington said of the senator.

He also said he wasn't bothered by Mr. Obama's lack of military experience. Former President Bill Clinton never served in the military, he noted, and President Bush never went to war during his time with the Texas Air National Guard.