Since I'm only a bit more recovered than I was yesterday, I'm settling for a link-laden blog today.  (Hope y'all don't mind too much!)  I spent the morning going through this week's Newsweek and found several articles I think folks should read.

The first is the cover story, "Only in America."  The article addresses Hillary's argument (and likely McCain's argument if Obama wins the Democratic nomination) that he is somehow "elitist" and out of touch with mainstream Americans.  (Maureen Dowd is quoted parsing Obama's food choices as if she is an oracle gazing at entrails.  I find myself wishing more and more these days that she'd just shut up.)

Mainstream Americans meaning blue-collar, high-school graduates earning around $50,000 per year.  The speculation is that this will be the deciding battleground for the presidency and that McCain is likely to be better at getting such individuals to vote against their economic interests by using his just-folks appeal than Obama will be at getting them to ignore his "otherness."

I'm beginning to see him referred to as "other" more and more often.  It seems dangerously like a code word for "black" to me.  Anyone else seeing this?

The second is a series of essays about Obama's candidacy, kicked off by the (imho) odious Karl Rove who supplies sound advice about Obama's campaign after devoting the first four paragraphs of his column to pigeon-holing Obama as elitist in what might actually be a preview of Republican strategy against him.

Jonathan Alter supplies a succinct summary of the real issue of the candidacies of Obama (Hope) and Clinton/McCain (Fear).

And then there's Fareed Zakaria, one of my favorite global political thinkers, talking about McCain's recent (scary) proclamations about Russia and China.

There.  That should keep each of you busy with a little light reading while I head back to the couch.

 


Comments

Hal

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 13:32:07

He's only half "other".......:)

 

Laura

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 13:54:21

You make my point!

;>

 

Kenneth R. Morefield

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 20:15:26

Well, I would hope our (next) president would be elite in some of the best ways rather than just the ways our current one is. But even if "elite" is just a code word for "rich" and means "therefore can't understand me or my problems," I guess it matters to me whether or not the person was born ric..er, I mean elite, achieved richne..er, I mean elitenss, or married ric..er, I mean elite.

There's a very nice and effective seen in Bob Hercules's "Senator Obama Goes to Africa" where Obama recalls having to push his family car into and through the slums of Kenya because that was where the only mechanic was.

The fact that the man has been more successful (to date) than I have, doesn't mean (for my money) that he can't relate to or has never experienced some of the problems that I have. When's the last time, you think, that John McCain and his gazillionaire wife didn't just say "fill er up" because they weren't sure there was enough in the checking account to cover it and they still had three days till payday? Why is there this assumption that because he shares my skin color he has shared (or understands) my experiences?

All these cries about Obama being "elite" remind me of a teaching evaluation I got one time where the student said, "He thinks he's smarter than everyone else in the [class]room..."

Well...yeah...if you put it that way...and your point is?

 

Todd

Thu, 01 May 2008 08:53:51

I wonder what we call graduate-degreed academics making around $50K...blue-mortarboard? Backup stream?

 

Laura

Thu, 01 May 2008 16:14:01

Ken,

You are right on the money...or should I say right on the elite button.

The other word that's being tossed around is effete.

<sigh>

 

Laura

Thu, 01 May 2008 16:15:38

Todd,

Blue-tassled?
Blue bookworms?
Likely voters???

 



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