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| Home Front: Politix |
| MoDo: Obama the elitist |
| 2008-04-16 |
| Brace yourselves -- it's actually good! I’m not bitter. I’m not writing this just because I grew up in a house with a gun, a strong Catholic faith, an immigrant father, brothers with anti-illegal immigrant sentiments and a passion for bowling. (My bowling trophy was one of my most cherished possessions.) My family morphed from Kennedy Democrats into Reagan Republicans not because they were angry, but because they felt more comfortable with conservative values. Members of my clan sometimes were overly cloistered. But they weren’t bitter; they were bonding. They went to church every Sunday because it was part of their identity, not because they needed a security blanket. Behind closed doors in San Francisco, elitism’s epicenter, Barack Obama showed his elitism, attributing the emotional, spiritual and cultural values of working-class, “lunch pail” Pennsylvanians to economic woes. . . . His mother got her Ph.D. in anthropology, studying the culture of Indonesia. And as Obama has courted white, blue-collar voters in “Deer Hunter” and “Rocky” country, he has often appeared to be observing the odd habits of the colorful locals, resisting as the natives try to fatten him up like a foie gras goose, sampling Pennsylvania beer in a sports bar with his tie tight, awkwardly accepting bowling shoes as a gift from Bob Casey, examining the cheese and salami at the Italian Market here as intriguing ethnic artifacts, purchasing Utz Cheese Balls at a ShopRite in East Norriton and quizzing the women working in a chocolate factory about whether they could possibly really like the sugary doodads. He hasn’t pulled a John Kerry and asked for a Philly cheese steak with Swiss yet, but he has maintained a regal “What do the simple folk do to help them escape when they’re blue?” bearing, unable to even feign Main Street cred. . . . What turns off voters is the detached egghead quality that they tend to equate with a wimpiness, wordiness and a lack of action — the same quality that got the professorial and superior Adlai Stevenson mocked by critics as Adelaide. The new attack line for Obama rivals is that he’s gone from J.F.K. to Dukakis. (Just as Dukakis chatted about Belgian endive, Obama chatted about Whole Foods arugula in Iowa.) Obama did not grow up in cosseted circumstances. . . . But his exclusive Hawaiian prep school and years in the Ivy League made him a charter member of the elite, along with the academic experts he loves to have in the room. As Colbert pointed out, the other wonky Ivy League lawyer in the primary just knows how to condescend better. . . . |
| Posted by:Mike |
| #3 suddenly all of the liberals are staking their bona fides with guns, bibles and bowling. LOL! I'm always amazed at how the Hillary hacks are such little parrots that they can only speak and talk in Hillary approved talking points. If we take our cue from the Grand Parrot Modo, apparently the new talking points say that elitism is out; guns, bibles, bowling, and whiskey are in. |
| Posted by: Woodrow Slusorong7967 2008-04-16 19:40 |
| #2 When MD channeled her inner Freddie Krueger ... |
| Posted by: mrp 2008-04-16 13:44 |
| #1 Helpful hint, Mo. When taking shots at people about their "elitism", do not use phrases like "autos-da-fe'", or use "The Philadelphia Story" as a reference point.It kinda defeats the purpose. Not a bad effort. But you might send a memo to Pinchy and ask him to check the hallucinogen level in the Times water supply. It appears to be running low. |
| Posted by: tu3031 2008-04-16 12:50 |