The House of Lords
I always find it a bit condescending when the Democrats try to identify with "average Americans," and I think this article sums up my feelings pretty well. A preview:
A political class drawn from the ranks of those who have ascended on the basis of their own work and talents is far preferable to selecting from those whose background is shuffling papers or cashing checks from a trust fund. Democrats have adopted a Chirac-like attitude towards the common working men and women: shocked that they don't vote the way their social betters direct them. As in the old joke goes, "If I want your opinion, I will give it to you."
5 Comments:
But you don't find it condescending when George W. Bush (Yale '69--a 3rd generation legacy--and Harvard MBA '74) and Bill Frist (Princeton '74--his parents built the Frist Campus Center--and Harvard Med '78) try to identify with average people? Look at the family histories of the Republican leadership and donors, then tell me again who's the party of "common working men and women." Neither party has a claim to that, but at least Democrats occasionally act in the interests of someone other than the very wealthy. The Republican party has always been the voice of Wall Street and the aristocracy, and that doesn't appear to have changed one troy ounce.
By Tim McGuire, At 2:26 PM EDT
My mistake--G.W. Bush was Yale '68 and HBS '75. G.H.W. Bush was Yale '49. Prescott Bush was Yale '17. All three were Skull and Bones, G.W. and G.H.W. went to Andover, and Prescott grew up on the mean streets of Newport, Rhode Island.
Truly, these are average Americans.
By Tim McGuire, At 2:30 PM EDT
Ah, obviously I only read the first half of that article.
But: look who the recent Democratic stars have been. Kerry's and Dean's aristocratic backgrounds were used against them. To call Bill Clinton an aristocrat is absurd--he grew up poor in Arkansas and through hard work went to Georgetown and won a Rhodes Scholarship. Barack Obama's dad (as we all know) was a farmer from Kenya. John Edwards was born poor in North Carolina. The convential wisdom in electoral politics is that a working-class background is a political asset and an elite one is a liability.
By Tim McGuire, At 2:40 PM EDT
I'm not saying there's anything wrong with being an elite: you can't help your birth.
I'm saying that the Democrats try to make Republicans look like:
--Country bumpkin idiots
--Pinstripe corporate assholes
..At the same time. It's an odd conflict.
By Ben Polidore, At 2:46 PM EDT
..and further that the dems' entire MO is making republicans look like the man jon kerry happens to be.
At least the republicans are who they are.
By Ben Polidore, At 2:50 PM EDT
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