Embrace Your Inner Elitist

He eats arugula. He looks great in a suit. He's not a good bowler. He asked for orange juice instead of coffee in that diner. He is educated, well-read, articulates himself brilliantly and doesn't lose his temper. What an arrogant prick this guy is.

If you're rejecting Obama because he's "an elitist," then I'd like to ask you to turn in your passport and leave the country immediately. The smart people would like it back.

If after seven years of the schmuck you want to have a beer with you've found yourself longing for the good old todays, you're just a retard. You heard me. Send me all the angry notes you want because you've had seven years of that neighborly fella who pretends to clear brush on his "ranch," seven years of that regular guy who praises the Pope by saying (and I'm not making this up), "Awesome speech, Your Holiness," seven years of that down-to-earth C-student who doesn't read the paper or use words with more than two syllables, and seven years of the kind of macho swagger that should be reserved for old John Wayne movies and the occasional aging porn star, and you still want more of that everyman horseshit. If that's true then you deserve everything you get. The problem is that the rest of us don't.

If after seven years of joining the rest of the world in ridiculing your own president (the one who promised to bring integrity back to the White House) and living with the results of regular guyness -- a swirling toilet of an economy and a war without end -- you still reject a candidate because he did well on his SAT score, you've just plain overstayed your welcome. Please. I beg you. Move to a country where mediocrity is applauded. Like Texas.

Comments

[Orikinla]

THE FALL OF THE AMERICAN MAINSTREAM MEDIA

Who pushed the American mainstream media off the wall?
Rupert Murdoch or those Arianna Huffington called the lunatic fringe elements?

The best news in America is the childish and foolish debate over whether Miley Cyrus posed topless or bacless for Vanity Fair magazine and the political nonsense over Rev. Jeremiah Wright's right to his own opinions.

Americans want Rev. Jeremiah Wright to give up his life long convictions on calling a spade a spade without apologies or regrets.

Senator Barack Obama cannot dictate to Rev. Jeremiah Wright and make him retract his unpatriotic statements.

Rev. Jeremiah Wright is not Barack Obama's Man Friday.

Senator Barack Obama is so desperate to win the presidential nomination of the Democratic Party that he ready to even push his spiritual godfather over the cliff.

As the American news channels are falling over themselves over Miley Cyrus's photographs in Vanity Fair and the personal principles of Rev. Jeremiah Wright, more American soldiers are being killed in Iraq and these heroes never made headlines or cover stories.
Is this the American Dream of the Founding Founders of America or the American Nightmare?

God help America.

[Gogetter]

"We" ride around in our mini vans with "My kid is an honor student at so-and-so elementary" bumper stickers. Then we're presented with a person like Obama(product of a single parent home; achieved a terrific education largely through academic scholarships, a Harvard educated constitutional attorney), and he's labeled a "elitist" because he knows what arugula is, he doesn't bowl, he doesn't do shots and guzzle beer by the pitcher. Even to the point of having Sen. Clinton, whose exceptionally educated in her own right, going around acting like Roseanne with a duck hunting license; chugging beer, claiming "my paw learned me to shoot".... All because americans supposedly want a President who's "like us", average. We've had average. Let's give exceptional a shot. We don't need a president who's like the jackass sitting next to us at the bar; the neighbor who keeps his Christmas lights up until Valentine's Day. We need a person who's on another level. It's great if he/she knows the price of a gallon of milk; it's better if he/she has, or can acquire, a grasp on the economic factors that may result in the price coming down without putting the dairy farmers out of business.

[neoprimordial]

Go get 'em, Gogetter! Great post.

[standforpeace]

I turn on my television and I see folks calling Obama an elitist and I notice that some of them are the very same ones that I've also seen telling Black folks to stop looking for a government handout. Instead they say that we should overcome our circumstances by working hard, getting into a good college, making something of ourselves, getting married before having children, not getting divorced, and providing stable two parent families for the next generation. I'm betting it's not just the guys on television but lots of the folks out around America who believe that Blacks need to pull themselves up by their bootstraps who also see Obama as an elitist.

I guess my question for all of you is simply WTF? Didn't this guy simply do what you are always calling on Blacks to do? I'm sure that there are plenty of good reasons not to vote for Obama. But if you're not voting for him simply because he's "elitist,' you might want to replace that word elitist with what you really mean and that's "uppitty."

[frustratedinohio]

Talk about generalizing.

[McLaren]

That's right, love it or leave it. Gee Mr. Seitzman, you sure see the world as either black or white with no gray. Not that there's anything wrong with drawing distinct lines, but it sure seems Bush-like.
Most Americans are somewhere in the middle, that is we like champaigne some times and other times draft beer. I love a great beef Wellington as much as a kosher dog at the football game. I've been known to read the New Yorker on a long ride to the country for some hunting.

But being a hypocrite, as is Obama, isn't being elitist or a regular-guy. It may be true that bitter people in middle America cling to guns, God and the thought that illegal immigration is an issue. But those people don't look down on people who are different than they are any more than people in the Bay Area do the same -- and if you represent them, I'd say less. So let's try not to get hung up on labels such as "regular-guy" or "elitist." Why not refer to people in terms of character, as opposed to our preconceived notions and prejudices -- lest we start sounding like those weird gun-owners and kooky religious types.

[LaVieEnRose]

THANKS for a great and much needed post! How do we get this kind of conversation going in the MSM? Why isn't this type of dialogue put on an endless "news" loop?


"...and you still want more of that everyman horseshit. If that's true then you deserve everything you get. The problem is that the rest of us don't."

No truer words were spoken!

[neoprimordial]

I don't see why anyone should vote for a candidate who has taught in college, can't bowl, and eats food fit only for wussies. I mean seriously, I'd slap a malpractice lawsuit on my doctor faster than whiplash in a car crash if he didn't have a medical degree. Likewise I'd bring the hammer of the law down hard on my accountant, my trainer, my attorney, and anyone else I dealt with who lacked proper accreditation. But for the presidency? Shoot. Is he a man? Can he handle a shotgun? Can he hold his whiskey? Does he eat beef? Smoke a cigar? Maybe have a mistress or two on the side? That's who I'm gonna vote for. What the hell else would you want?

There's a lot of hoopla about which of those three pansies people should get behind. That's like a line-up of a greyhound, a cocker spaniel, and a pug, and then wondering why them dogs don't hunt? Come on. I have a better dog for you. I nominate Bill O'Reilly for president of the United States.

Denny Crane.

[TunnelRat]

Obama was a "Community Organizer." Whatever that is.

He voted "PRESENT" more often than not.

His platform is identical to Hillary's.

He fumbled the whole Rev. Wackadoodle thing by first saying that he could never disown that nutty preacher, and then throwing him under a bus.

And he wants to make nice with Iran, the biggest exporter of terrorism in the world.

That is more than enough reason to reject this candidate -- not because he is an arrogant elitist (btw, which he is). Not mention that his supporters over play the race card and are irrationally enchanted by BO's soothing words. They probably are also attracted to shiny objects.

At least McCain has a record. BO has nothing. He has got to be the biggest empty suit ever to aspire to higher office, and his campaign is nothing but a Cult Of Personality.

[frustratedinohio]

Irrationally enchanted. I luv that TunnelRat.

[robynuva]

Upon graduation from Harvard Law, as editor of the Law Revue, Sen. Obama had his pick of any job in the country, any law firm for lots of money, or he could have clerked for the US Supreme Court. He chose to go back to the streets of Chicago and help at risk children and families.

Your complaining about him voting present just shows your ignorance of how the IL leg works.

The biggest exporter of terrorism is Saudi Arabia, bar none. (17 of the hijackers were Saudi's, and the Saudi government sends tons of arms and money to our enemies in Iraq)

So as an informed Obama supporter, I have no doubt that in your ignorance you will vote for McCain. Even tho his record that you claim he has is full of hypocrisy and, for a man with such physical courage, and appalling lack of political courage.

PS> When will he denounce the ministers that he has invited to stand on the dais with him?

[TunnelRat]

1. "Help at risk children and families"? What is that all about? Ok, Mccain spent his twenties getting tortured by Jane Fonda's buddies, and BO spent his doing, uh, what exactly? Helping people get money from the gov't?

2. I don't care how the IL leg. works. From what I hear, BO's district is one of the most crime-ridden and corrupt. He has had no impact there.

3. Iran is by far more beligerant than Saudi Arabia, and it wants nukes, kills American troops in Iraq, and wants to wipe Israel off of the the face of the earth.

4. Mccain had enough political courage to split with his party on numerous occasions. More than I can say of BO's blatant emulation of Hillary's platform.

5. None of the ministers that have supported McCain spent their lives spewing anti-white, anti-American rants and peddling conspiracy theories. And even if they did, McCain knew better than to spend 20 years groveling in their churches for purely political reasons.

But I have to give you credit - at least you didn't just throw out the "You're A Racist" post as so many of the Obamaphiles do when responding to someone outside the cult.

[thetruthbringer]

Ok, idiot. If you think that there is a list of tangible qualifications that actually qualifies a man to be president, you are retarded. So McCain has a record ...of what? None of these 3 has any experience running ANYTHING but a campaign. And that being the case, all we can consider is their running of their campaigns, and their ability to inspire people. Say what you want...Obama stand shoulders above the rest. By the way, It's not like you're all of a sudden going to support Obama in 16 years after he's cast 10,000 more pointless votes...so just shut up. You've got absolutely NOTHING on Obama

[TunnelRat]

You may be inspired, I am merely bored.

Hope, Change, yada-yada-yada, more Hope, Can't We All Just Get Along...ya­da-yada-ya­da...Chang­e, Hope...yad­a-yada-yad­a....

Such an empty message would be inspiring to only those less-than-critical thinkers that make up his cult.

But I have to admit, this the first time I've seen the "shutup, idiot" line of defense from the Obamaphiles.

[tdpubs]

Are you proving the author's point or are you executing a deft example of irony?

[susiesorority]

Best piece I've ever read here. Thanks Seitzman.

[marymansour]

Bravo! Bravo and Bravo again to you, Michael. You put it all in a very cogent nutshell. I hope 2009 sees an end to the age of the Bush bubba regime and it's similarly dumbed out John McCain look-alike. Americans need to forget bashing the term 'elitist'. I don't want some god awful country rube leading my government. And before your readers get their panties in a wad over the country rube statement, let me just alert them to the fact that I am from Alabama - the home of the bumpkins. I have been for Obama since 2004. I'm white too....and elderly.

[Researchguy66]

And apparently want to leave the country as well, by your previous posts. So why not leave to some more highly enlightened place, like France or Italy, then? If you hate your fellow Americans so much, why do you put up with us?

[mightbesane]

There's a difference between being smart and being an elitist. The failure of Democrats to understand that difference has been our bane in Presidential politics since Adlai Stevenson. And unfortunately, it's not Obama that's guilty in the main. It's his most vocal supporters.

"The country at the core is racist. But that may be the least of its worries. It is also ignorant and judgmental and mean."

That's a quote taken today from an ardent Obama supporter who posts pretty much daily on these threads. And I can just see it used in a 30 second spot for McCain. She may be smart, but if she believes that she can label any major portion of the electorate in such extreme terms and not alienate them, she's sadly mistaken.

FDR, who was no genius, came from a background of wealth and privilege - an elite background. And I'm certain nobody listening to his radio chats in the inner cities during the Depression thought that they would ever have a beer with the guy. But he didn't insult his listeners and he certainly would have disavowed any supporter who would have suggested that the American electorate was 'racist, ignorant, judgmental and mean.' Maybe Obama should be throwing HuffPost under the bus along with Rev. Wright.

[Researchguy66]

If he gets the nomination (an I expect he will), he will throw HuffPo under the bus and likely MoveOn and the Congressional Black Caucus. He'll move center-right, because that's the best way to pick off the best parts of McCain's coalition. He doesn't really need to "win", he just needs to make sure that McCain loses.

On that note, watch McCain shift left...an agreement to pull out of Iraq, government spending to keep people in houses that they'd be better of letting go into foreclosure, some concession on a public/private healthcare solution.

Hillary's already center-right. She's been there since she thought she was running for the general election from the moment she declared.

[Zogtastic]

Wait... so a country that was outraged at Keith Ellison for being sworn into office on a Quran, where abortion clinics are bombed by catholics, where Mitt Romney's presidential election was destroyed by anti-Mormonism, and where a governor that comes out as being a homosexual has to resign in shame... this isn't an "ignorant and judgmental and mean" country? ARE YOU KIDDING? You're the exact reason that those comments need to be made. The truth hurts but it shouldn't be hidden to make everyone feel better! We can't ignore the truth so everyone can go back to feeling happy about themselves. Until the country realizes this, it will never get better, there will never be a real equality, we will never be the great nation we boast about being. In a country where people say they won't vote for Obama because he's black, they won't vote for Hillary because she's a woman, they won't vote for Romney because he's a Mormon, they won't vote for McCain because he's old, it's necessary now more than ever to bring these issues to the front of everyone's mind to use them as introspection. That comment may be wrong, but let everyone determine that for himself or herself through action and not just thought. Prove that comment wrong.

[mightbesane]

Easy.

George Bush.

Without you, there would be no him, because your contempt for Americans pushes the center and the right into his wheelhouse.

[matthewhusseinsmith]

Perhaps you can enlighten us:

What do you call the 60 millions Americans who voted for Bush, not once, but twice? You do agree that we are in one hell of a mess right now though, don't you?

What kind of people tear a presidential candidate, one of their fellow countryman, to pieces? I have some experience with the French, Vietnamese, Canadian, and I have not seen them be so cruel to their presidential or prime ministerial candidate during an election. The cruelest are the right wing so called CHRISTIANS for some of whom Katrina was a God sent punishment for our sins, or the right wing swiftboating, a new American word, of a candidate.

Just like the Chinese of old, inhabitants of the MIDDLE kingdom,
Americans think the sun turns around their country.Ask an American in the street where Sri Lanka, or Myan Mar or Karachi is.

"The country at the core is racist. But that may be the least of its worries. It is also ignorant and judgmental and mean."

Is a true statement.

Are you so naive as to not know that
When Hillary says:" Obama is not electable and can not get the blue collar vote.", that's code word for middle class America will not vote for a Black president?

[mightbesane]

First of all, forget France or Canada or Mars. This campaign is a walk in the park compared to those waged 200 years ago in this very country when our Founding Fathers actually purchased newspapers so that they could publish lies about their opponents. You could look it up.

But all of that aside, go ahead, spout your contempt for the American electorate. Doom us to four more years. Or...

You might try following the advice of your candidate. Try something new. Because all that your attitude of contempt for Americans will accomplish is the election of John McCain.

[WASanford]

Hi Michael, I just have one question for you. I’ll grant that Obama is educated, well read, articulates himself brilliantly, and doesn’t lose his temper. On top of that he’s likely a very nice guy, someone I’d like to have a beer with, err make that an orange juice. But what experience does he have? Has he run even a middle sized business, a charity, any middle to large size organization?

The only modern-day president we’ve had without some kind of managerial or leadership experience was John F. Kennedy. He was the last sitting Senator to be elected president. It was a gamble for the American people to elect him, we got lucky. Go all the way back to Woodrow Wilson, who served as the president of Princeton University, to George W. Bush, who was the Governor of Texas, you will see that they all had some experience managing and making decisions. John F. Kennedy was the only exception. And yes, decision making is a skill that must be learned and practiced.

Whether you like it or not, I’m pulling for the candidate who has displayed at least some of those skills, from making a significant improvement in the Arkansas educational system to Hillarycare. You do remember Hillarycare don’t you? It was defeated in the Senate when then majority leader Mitchell offered up a compromise version that was summarily defeated by the Republicans.

[Monrocsol]

I am with you. Hillary is my candidate. The Obanists will be responsible for our defeat in the general election. Sad.

[hkdanalyser]

Hey Sanford. I agree, apart from running the largest and most organized election campaign ever run Senator Obama does not have experience running an organization.

But how does running an organization equate to successfully running a country ? Point and case Bush ran his oil business aground but did that give him any sense to learn from his mistakes, absolutely not. I am also sure that Obama would love to be compared to J.F Kennedy any day of the week.

I do respect your choice of candidate but Hillarycare was not defeated because of the choices made by Hillary. Plain and simple, Washington does not like to be backdoored with important legislation esp. done by somebody who was not elected. Also I really don't like how it is assumed that since she was first lady, it automatically gives her the experience and skills to manage a country.

All I want is the best candidate (whoever it might be) to win.

[WASanford]

Perhaps the best president we've had, for his time, was Eisenhower. He ran the allied effort to defeat the Axis, and he won. He was, despite being a Republician, more liberial than any president since.

The experience I'm talking about s mostly about making decisions, taking responsibility for them and knowing what's possible and what's not. Has anyone seen anything like that from Washington recently?

[speciallady2003]

He's run a multi- million dollar campaign extremely efficiently, no debt and no shakeups. As opposed to your oh so experienced candidate who bankrupted herself in March, and can't seem to hire people with much interest in her agenda--even her own family can't toe her line. There is nothing about this woman that speaks of the kind of experience I want in a President.

[frustratedinohio]

Actually, he has not been as efficient as Hillary. She won PA without spending a third of what he spent. I don't understand why people keep sending him money. He wastes it.

[mightbesane]

How were we lucky with JFK?

He authorized the Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba. He greatly expanded the American presence in Viet Nam. He put the Baathists in charge in Iraq. His domestic policies were largely stalled in Congress until LBJ started twisting arms.

JFK is a legend that we shouldn't look at too closely.

[WASanford]

I agree with you. We were lucky that JFK didn't screw things up anymore than he did.
Actually the Bay of Pigs was authorized toward the end of the Eisenhower Administration, Kennedy just didn't stop it. Aside of the Cuban missile crisis, JFK didn't accomplished very much. We were very lucky our country wasn't on the brink of a depression as it is now.

[thetruthbringer]

If you're suggesting that Hillary has executive experience, you must be on crack. The difference in executive experience between these 3 is negligible. I guess you'd vote for the local dog catcher over these people, right? You people just say what you mean...you want a 3rd term for Bill Clinton. What you don't understand is, Hillary won't be letting that happen.

[WASanford]

I'll have to vote for one of of them won't I? Hillary has scant experience, but she has some. Now about Obama??

[frustratedinohio]

Michael, you have a very narrow minded view of the people who won't be voting for Obama and unfortunately posts like this only serve to widen the divide in the democratic party.

First, I didn't vote for Bush and I never wanted to have a beer with him. I saw him coming in 1999 (feel the same way about Obama) and I was astonished when he won in 2000, and completely devastated when he won in 2004.

Yes I think Obama is arrogant. However the main reason I did not vote for him in the primary is because I absolutely adore Hillary. I would have voted for him in the GE, but now I won't. I will be voting for McCain and he will be the next president. I know everyone says we will all heal by fall. I don't see how when Obama supporters keep writing insulting posts like this. Just think, Michael, you've actually had a hand in Obama's downfall.

For the record, I'm not blue collar. I have a degree and I make over $50,000 per year. I know it's hard for you to believe, but a lot of educated people support Hillary.

One more thing, just in case you haven't realized it yet, telling people to leave this country because they don't have the same perspective you have, goes against everything this country stands for.

[Zogtastic]

Well... clearly he wasn't talking about voters like you... and he wasn't generalizing about Hillary's supporters, believe it or not, just the ones rejecting him because he's an elitist (note the "if you're rejecting obama because he's an elitist" comment... you're not... good for you).

And I have to say... for Hillary to come out and call Obama's comments elitist (oh... but he's not elitist she says) and then expect Obama's supporters to not respond to it is foolish. It was an insulting and manipulative comment in the first place so comments like this shouldn't be shocking... they're deserved. I haven't talked to anyone who hasn't said "Umm... but he's right!" I've said it a billion times, I'd rather be insulted with the truth than comforted with a lie.

But I'm really glad you're generalizing all Obama supporters under this one person's comment (yeah... it could've been worded better, but it was meant to be humorous, not insulting). Thanks for being open minded. It really helps the country come November to know people will be giving McCain the White House because of... well, not Obama, that's for sure, but his supporters. Great!

[relevancematters]

It's like we live in alternate universes. HOW is Obama arrogant? What happened in your life to equate that quiet, decent man with somebody who's looking down his nose at you?

I think Hillary is arrogant as hell. Why? The sound of her voice, the way she plays politics (counting on the ordinary working man to be stupid enough to believe things without looking them up), the privileged, sneering acolytes who are ever at her elbow, the stories about her treatment of military and secret service personnel....but maybe, mostly because she reminds me of my late, manic-depressive mother, who when she went on a tear assumed everybody within reach was dumb enough to be manipulated and who sounded exactly like that braying, nagging shrew, Hillary Clinton!

When she was in her right mind, though, my mother often used to note that there were a lot of "snobs looking up" in the world Now really, what is it about Obama that makes you think he's looking down on you?

[frustratedinohio]

You sound like a psycho-analyst's dream. Your voting for Obama because Hillary reminds you of your mother. For sure, we live in alternate universes.

[littlepuffycloud]

Great column. I just had the same conversation with my 74 year old mother; I want a president who is a hell of a lot smarter than my friends and co-workers and me. Does anyone buy Clinton's morphing into some Pennsylvania (wasn't Derek Zoolander's from PA?) coal miner or her fake Southern accent? She's smart but doesn't think the American people are smart. Obama on the other hand knows he's smart but he believes the American people are smart. Sometimes I think he gives us too much credit. I would love to see Obama represent this country. I don't care if he prefers juice to coffee and can't bowl. So what? Why does this country continue to buy into the brush-clearing, beer-and-c­haser-swil­ling and black-coffee-for-me crap? Why do we continue to dumb down instead of smarten up? But since The Smirking Chimp was re-elected in 2004, I guess America really is pretty stupid. We keep falling for the same joke over and over. Maybe this will be the year we don't get fooled again.

[Researchguy66]

New Jersey. Derek Zoolander was from New Jersey. Not a lot of coal mining there that I know of, but maybe the screenplay writers didn't know that.

You shouldn't confuse differences of opinion with other people being wrong or uneducated. I know it's a mark of the elitism that everyone's proud of now, but believe it or not, other people sometimes have valid points of view.

[McLaren]

It was Democrats who first made the "regular-guy" requirement for a president. For as long as I can remember, it was Dems who would go on ad nauseum about "those country-club, elitist Republicans" with their "fancy educations and white-collar careers." You cats started this gibberish, you can get down in the mud and enjoy it.

[InofTouch]

Nice you want people to agree with you by insulting them because heck there Elitist in the state of texas but thank you for hypeing the stereotype.

[katefranklin]

I propose 3-5 question multiple-choice literacy tests on all presidential ballots. Ballot is invalid if the score is too low. They make people answer questions about American history for citizenship, why not for voting? Voting is a privelege, not a right, no? If all a voter knows about their candidate is that they'd like to have a beer with them, can we say they've forfeited their privilege?

[Zogtastic]

Well, although that may be a little bit rough on democracy, it would be constitutional. The only protection your voting 'right' (you're correct, it is a privilege under federal law) has under the constitution is that it can't be denied on the basis of sex or race... doesn't say anything about intelligence.

[Kishadawn]

The only problem with that logic is that they used to ask "literacy" questions to keep blacks and women from voting.

I know plenty of people that know how the government works, are degreed, and make a very decent salary who are IDIOTS when it comes to common sense.

Don't assume that because a voter doesn't know everything about the political process or have a degree doesn't have common sense.