According to Newsweek, Obama has a "Bubba gap." If one weren't running for elected office, I would think this is a very good problem to have. I for one don't see any virtue in adopting the habits of the less educated and closeminded. I actually find it kind of mind-boggling that we casually make references to the common americans (Bubbas?), and basically ask, "hm... what do people who care about stupid bullshit think?"

I shop at whole foods. I may have even bought some arugula a few weeks ago. Can someone please tell me what noble experience in Americana I am missing out on by doing so? And how, exactly, would buying a head of iceberg lettuce at a SuperFresh make me more qualified for anything?

To correlate being "in touch" with the lifestyles of the working class with being in touch with the needs of the country as a whole is a farce. But we do far more than that - it seems that we consider the the two to be synonymous. This is why McCain can propose a gas-tax plan that is universally agreed to actually raise prices, but can score points for being "in touch" because his solution sounds good in the short term.

The rule of thumb should be: The more a candidate is perceived as being in touch with the common american, the more that candidate is engaging in substance-free pandering.

And Obama is almost certainly the least upper-crust of the candidates. McCain is a third generation military officer who's father was an admiral. Hillary certainly worked her way up in life, but she's been part of the ruling class for at least 16 years. And somehow Obama is the elitist? I think the paradox here is that the people who tend to cry "elitism" are often not the best equipped to actually know what elitism is.

But you kind of also proved the writer's point because you did come off as condescending. Buying arugula instead of iceberg (which is all that some people can afford) doesn't make you a more intelligent or enlightened person. Having higher education doesn't even necessarily make you that.

I have an uncle who has a very high IQ who never graduated from college. Smart doesn't always equal educated. Look at our current president for one particularly good example!

But there are people on both sides of the fence that have these prejudices. That "smart educated people" think they are above us and can't relate. Or that people who don't have 5 degrees can't put together a coherent thought.

In the industrial age of this country, people were judged more on their actual accomplishments than where they came from and I would like to see us get back to that as a society. We should ALL want our leaders to be "smarter" than we are AND capable of "understanding" the plights of ALL americans and not just the corporate elite.

But the media encourages this. And the easily manipulated (who are not always uneducated) buys into all this crap about religion and patriotism which has absolutely nothing to do with running our country and is definitely pandering to a certain anti-intellectual culture. I blame a lot of this on our 24 hour news cycle and pundits who people view as impartial journalists.

I also blame party politics and its fostering of the us vs. them mentality. It's not strange that they attack Obama as being elitist when he's the only one who, imho, honestly wants to get rid of that kind of thinking. It's a political strategy that his opponents are using to win. But as it's just that - a political strategy- why is the media giving credence to it by talking about it ad nauseum?

These are the same people who always talk about the "liberal" media when it's obvious that that is the furthest thing from the truth. Yet the right wing political machine is so good about coining such phrases and repeating them until they become tacitly accepted in the subconscious even by those that don't buy into it.

Basically our political system is crap and it is going to remain that way as long as we have dems v. reps, libs v. conservatives.

I take back what I just wrote. After reading a few other posts around here, I remember why I don't hang out in the politics section. The fact that there are so many semi-intelligent brainwashed idiots out there stumping for the right wingers makes my skin crawl and stomach turn.

Some people refuse to use their brains for thinking and instead rely on tried and true stereotyping, prejudice and racism. You can't make them "smarten up" no matter what. I just don't understand why they are the ones running our country when there are plenty of people who aren't close minded closet elitists. Their form of elitism just includes gun racks or jesus stickers, military service, and unquestioning loyalty to government.

How any intelligent person can think unquestioning loyalty to anything is a good thing is beyond me. But it just goes to show that no matter how smart a person may be, it doesn't mean they are rational. And emotional people can be very, very stupid.

I most certainly intended to condescend. After all, I'm not running for office so I can get away with blowing off some steam.

I think that people know an educated person when they see (or hear) them. And what I see is a very explicit rejection of intelligent personalities and lifestyles by a majority of Americans. In some ways, I find it personally offensive, because it takes work and effort to be educated and informed (which is something I value), but no effort at all to be the opposite.

But also, it worries me because I see it as a social ill in our country. There's a level of anti-intellectual decadence and lowered expectations for what people should aspire to. And I do think that low-brow culture does correlate to lower values for education, personal responsibility, and general awareness of whats going on in the world.

>>> I think the paradox here is that the people who tend to cry "elitism" are often not the >>>best equipped to actually know what elitism is.

Well, your post (the one at the top of the thread) *does* make you sound like a snob! :) You sort of proved the opposition's point by going about Whole Foods, etc. But ... I did agree with your last sentence, qtd above. In my opinion, the people most likely to cry elitism are elites themselves: Hillary, GW Bush, broadcast news people (Tim Russert!), NY Times employees. Then that accusation is picked up not by the actual working class -- janitors, temp workers, etc, emphasis on "working" -- but rather by regional-sales-manager-types whose *grandfathers* were steelworkers, who are insecure about being neither brawny nor brainy, and who want to feel tough ... GWB is one of those guys, in the extreme.

Myself, I grew up eating hot dogs & generic mac n' cheese from a box in a rural, religious community. My body is probably 50% transfat. I'm one of those "dumber people"! And yet I've been an Obama supporter since I first saw him on TV in 2004.

In all seriousness, personal preference in food doesn't make someone an elitist; rather, being unable to relate authentically and respectfully to your "inferiors" would be my definition. Obama strikes me, more than Clinton & McCain, as someone who's able talk to anyone, from rich to poor, in a productive and sincere way. He seems to genuinely like people, as Bill Clinton did, despite his other flaws. Hillary is very competent, she's a good senator, she'd be a great CEO -- but running for president is about popularity and her people-skills are mediocre. After two competent-but-boring candidates who lost, I'm unapologetically voting charisma this primary.

"I do think that low-brow culture does correlate to lower values for education, personal responsibility, and general awareness of whats going on in the world."

What, exactly, is "low-brow culture?"

Well, OK, then, if you intended to condescend, then I guess you are unapologetically a snob, and that you *like* the idea that your prez candidate would be a snob, too. Well, fine.

But I'm saying that Obama is not a snob.

what is arugala? Whole Foods I know. VERY expensive. Not a lot of room to push a baby stroller, although yes, better than at Trader Joes. I'm not sure Whole Foods lets you in though if you aren't white...?

Good points Schmidt. I could not agree more.

I do not understand where these perceptions come from, and how they've become the dominant ideals (at least politically) in this country.

In some ways, I find it personally offensive, because it takes work and effort to be educated and informed (which is something I value), but no effort at all to be the opposite

a social ill in our country. There's a level of anti-intellectual decadence and lowered expectations for what people should aspire to.

This is what I was wanted to say, but you already said it.

Real Slim K:

what is arugala? Whole Foods I know. VERY expensive. Not a lot of room to push a baby stroller, although yes, better than at Trader Joes. I'm not sure Whole Foods lets you in though if you aren't white...?

Are you being serious, or just goading people?

I agree with you too, and am happy to count myself among the northeastern elite liberals who support Obama wholeheartedly but wouldn't be caught dead at a NASCAR track, but the fact remains that success in a democratic system of government requires the ability to win over the hearts and minds of the masses. Does this lead to pandering and demagoguery? Absolutely-- and much of Obama's problem is that he has too much self-respect to stoop to that level (unlike Clinton and this gas tax BS). But for all its problems, I can't conceive of a better system of government than representative democracy-- the worst system except for all the others, and all that. So I guess we'll have to cross our fingers and hope that, this time, the plebs don't once again play right into the hands of the rabble-rousing pseudo-populists of either party.

In his book, Obama writes that one of the foundations of his decision to run is that he is unafraid of loss. I see this as a great strength.

I see Hillary's joining in with McCain on this ludicrous Gas Tax Holiday proposal as a perfect example of 'fear of loss.' It seems to me that she has decided that fear of losing gives her the "freedom" to say and do anything at all that will get someone to vote for her. Even if it goes against everything previously stood for -- such as the economy and strengthening the dollar; the environment and her ad hominem attack on Obama when he said that all three of the current candidates would be better than W.

In case anyone is wondering, I certainly am having fun playing the snob role here, and I am exagerating a bit. But I stand by what I've said.

I will make a minor adjustment; I didn't mean to indicate that someone's lifestyle (which they either choose or not) is indicative of their stupidity. Rather, what is indicative of stupidity claiming that familiarity with that lifestyle as a legit measurment of someone's authenticity\worthiness or lack thereoff. So what if Obama can't bowl, eats arugala, and would rather have a pinot noir than a pabts? That isn't indicative of anything substantive, but it somehow matters to a lot of people.

But it doesn't just matter because people want their leaders to resemble them, it matters to them because they see any departure from american simple-life to be inherently untrustworthy, and I think that thats BS.

So I would prefer we ignore all lifestyle issues altogether. BUT, the things that I would prefer we focus on in our candidates (intelligence, policy, problem-solving) tend to reveal themselves in personalities that many people consider to be elitist. So then we get the spectacle of nerds like Clinton and Obama sipping lagers and trying to bowl, and thats just embarressing pandering. And yet they need to do it to get support. There are, apparently, potential voters out there who will see this - <link> - and consider it as a legitimate factor in deciding their vote. To me, that is ludicrous and sad.

Art:

You brought up a good point on another thread about how this gas tax debacle illustrates what type of leader they will be: Obama chose the unpopular, but more economically sound position. Clinton told the voters what they wanted to hear.

Campaigning is different than governing, but this incident offers a window.

maybe I'm seriously goading people. and you never explained what argula was, or if Whole Foods let people shop there who aren't white.