It Takes Real Chutzpah for a Guy Who Owns Eight Houses (McCain) to Call Barack Obama an "Elitist"
McCain doesn't lack "chutzpah." Yesterday his campaign actually accused Barack Obama of being an "elitist" for saying that it's not surprising that people in small Midwestern towns are bitter after seeing their standard of living systematically destroyed over the last three decades.
Damn right they're bitter; they have good reasons to be. And most of those reasons are the economic and trade policies that have -- and continue to be -- championed by George Bush and John McCain.
The McCain campaign is managed by a cadre of Washington-insider special interest lobbyists. He and his current wife are estimated to be worth about $100 million. He reportedly owns eight houses. His let-them-eat-cake economic policies are based on George Bush's failed radical conservative "you're on your own buddy" philosophy. One after another he supported trade agreements that protect the rights of corporations, but ignore the rights of labor, and have devastated one Pennsylvania community after another. He gets most of his campaign cash from the wealthiest corporate interests around. And he has the gall to call Barack Obama an "elitist"?
This is the same Barack Obama who spent years of his life organizing out-of-work steelworkers on the south side of Chicago -- people just like those who live in Allentown or Erie or Pittsburgh or the Monongehela Valley in western Pennsylvania. He stood shoulder to shoulder with them, sat at their kitchen tables, spent hours in their church basements.
He didn't do those things as a famous candidate, but as a community organizer being paid $8,000 a year by a coalition of churches. You don't build a resume or a client list organizing unemployed steel workers. You do it because you respect the people and you care about justice.
In fact, the trademark of Barack Obama's campaign for president is the honest, respectful way he talks to everyone -- and stands up for everyday Americans.
If you want to talk about patronizing, or "elitism", you need look no farther than the way Bush and McCain attempt to use fear and division to divert the attention of middle class people from the economic policies that pick their pockets, lower their wages, destroy their unions, and outsource their jobs. And all the while they use our money to bail out Wall Street, and give giant tax breaks to the real "elitists" -- the economic elite.
It is Barack Obama who can lead a movement to change the way things are done in Washington. He can do it by empowering and inspiring the people who live in small-town Pennsylvania, and all of the other middle class Americans who have been left out by Bush-McCain policies that have benefited the "masters of the universe" on Wall Street and the Gucci-shoed lobbyist set on "K" Street.
As for Hillary Clinton, who joined in attacking Obama's statement: she should know better. She knows that Obama is the furthest thing from an elitist, and she should know better than to join in the Republican narrative about the candidate who is the likely Democratic standard bearer in the fall.
Robert Creamer is a long-time political organizer and strategist and author of the recent book: "Stand Up Straight: How Progressives Can Win," available on amazon.com.
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Basically, McCain and the Republicans are allowed to write their own false narrative, and only a few of the so-called media experts even try to disprove it.
You can't be serious?
The MEDIA is not in the business of finding the truth. Their business these days is MAKING PROFITS and BRAINWASHING Americans into believing what THEY want us to believe. If we want the truth, we have to find it ourselves. And when we do that, we KNOW it's absolutely the truth and not tainted with false accusations and diatribe.
Remember Karl Rove's philosophy. If you tell a lie long enough, it becomes the truth.
Sophistication is reproachable? How low ... class.
Nope, but being smug sure is.
The word "sophistication" reeks of elitism.
Intelligence, education, manners, good taste graced by compassion, humility and decency, are far better than sophistication.
pick their pocket? how much longer can we blame our politicans in a republic for the middle class being too dumbed down to know when they are being taken to the cleaners.
put the blame where it belongs. on a dumbed down society that would rather shop at wal mart then become involved in who is running their country.
we have become an imperialist society and many americans are out and out war mongers.
years of conditioning and fear mongering has turned most americans into war mongers for profits.
politicians are only a reflection of we voters but the voters refuse to look into a mirror.
ignorance abounds in america the rest of the world sees us for what we are. self rightous and arrogant.
dues time. it is called karma. bye bye middle class nice knowing ya. reagan you were a genius for what you did for the elistist class. and middle americans bought it lock stock and barrel. most still buying it.
Researcher....you are right on... recalling the golden years of reagan...trickle down..yup..we got the piss that ran down dr. laffer's leg...we told it was good...and drank it up..
I don't care if someone is a gazillinnaire..success does NOT make them elitist..what they DO with thier $$..that is the key...the Clintons could have just forked over 10% of their money and friggin paid for the children's health plan that was defeated... McCain could fund 100's of schools with computers, SEcURITY guards...get decent books for these kids...
I used to study Latin Amercian politics..and was amazed how every Mexican President entered that office middle class..and somehow..was RICH RICH RICH when they left... must remember to ask bill clinton about that...he's got the inside scoop..
Americans are still buying into it..jeezuz..mccain "could" win... hear this..if ms. clinton gets the nomination...I will NOT vote for her...of course, I will not vote for Mccain... but neither represents me..
I will write in either Barak or Al gore...maybe both....
Please american...wake up...it's not too late...
researcher, could you step into my office please? we need to work on your pandering skills. you seem to obstinately forget that this is about sucking up to morons. i think you're- may i put it precisely- clinging to the truth- perhaps bitterly. i refer to the truth that the people who really look down on white midamerica are the ones who feel the need to protect it from analytical reflections on their declining living standard- not those who offer thoughtful reflections in good faith.
you see,researcher, the objective of the fascists is to cut the dialogue off at the pass by empowering the complete yayhoos, rushbo's, hannitary napkins,dittoballs, and what have you; at the expense of those white midamericans who thirst for a dialogue on class, status, and economic recovery. the fascists want to cut those middle americans out of the dialogue. they have succeeded again because democrats aren't smart or brave any more.
It's so tiresome to constantly hear Obama supporters disingenuously misinterpret everything in order to make their candidate appear to be correct.
Obama is a classic elitist who knows nothing about the working class. He and his wife are worth millions themselves, but elitism is not about how much money you have.
Elitism is about ATTITUDE. And, in particular, attitude about the concerns and beliefs of others.
Obama's attitude is that he knows what is the truth, and he knows why other people don't understand the truth as he does. Basically, if you disagree with him, you have some "problem", and when he identifies the "problem" he can then explain why you don't see the truth as he does.
Obama is the most arrogant, elitist individual to come on the political scene in decades. He makes former well-known political elitists like Mitt Romney, George Bush Sr, and other Republicans look like downright common folk.
There aren't any real Democratic elitists who come to mind: maybe Nancy Pelosi and Tom Daschle are starting to edge into elitist territory, but their elitism pales in comparison to Obama who has truly given elitism a new caricature.
Once people catch on to all the elitist aspects of Obama there will be a flood of examples that will keep us busy for weeks to come until the fraud of Obama is finally driven from the scene.
And then Hillary "109 million dollars of which I earned barely any" Clinton can sweep in and save us all.
Give me a break.
Dont be an idiot. There's a difference between elitism and intelligence. Obama is smart. And so people take his professorial tone as an indication of snobbery rather than as an indication that for the first time in 8 years we have a guy talking to us and not pandering to us like John "I was against the religious right before I was for it" McCain and Hillary "I hunt little animals and go to church every day and drink whiskey in my tailor made pantsuit just like you people" Clinton.
9 times out of 10, people alleging elitism are using it as a cover so no one notices that they're out of their league. Example A: Hillary and McBush
Obama changes his accent when he gives speeches to sound more like Dr. King. The further south he is the worse it gets. He loves the sound of his own voice and just watching him give a speech makes me want to slap the shit out of his snobby ass. I know why Bob Casey endorsed Obama, they both are horrible at speaking. Obama with all the "uhh's" and Casey with that dull tone with a lisp. Makes me want to kill myself when either one is speaking.
Elitism could never mean lying about being shot at to sound tough. If you grew up in a neighborhood where you did get shot at you don't tell cute fucking stories about it. For those not so privileged who had to join the military and were actually shot at, it kinda takes away from our sacrifice when someone who doesn't know any better because they had a silver spoon up their ass lies about it.
Thanks for your flooring opinion on elitism but I'll take my chances with the half white/ half black guy you call a racist, the guy who was raised by a single mother and then by his grandparents, the guy who knows what being forced to live on food stamps means, the guy who didn't have a trust fund to afford college, the guy who made $8k a year helping laid off steel workers after getting a law degree from Harvard.
You think he is elite because he knows something and thinks no one else understands. The sad truth is that you are just not sharp enough to get it, becasue we all understand it just fine.
Rich Liberal -- you sound as though you got rich on clipping coupons on bonds left to you by your parents.
Obama was born poor. He went to college on scholarships. He worked as a community organizer.
Hillary grew up middle-class rich in a prosperous suburb of Chicago and didn't go to Wellesley on scholarship. She was a former Goldwater Republican who got rich as a corporate lawyer and a board member of Wal-Mart. And then as ex-First Lady (remember the multi-million book deal?)
John McCain, son and grandson of 4-star Admirals, graduated fifth from bottom of his class at the Naval Academy and crashed four expensive jet planes before he was shot down over N. Vietnam after only 20 hours of combat. Granted, he was a prisoner-of-war, but after he was released he came home to America and cheated on his wife (who has raised his children in his absence) and then married a pretty, blonde, Cindy, almost 20 years younger, who happened to be an heiress to a beer fortune. His wife's Daddy made the money and now he has eight homes and wants to be President.
Now, let's talk about who's elitist. Please.
Obama is the only one still in this race (John Edwards was another) who knows first hand what poverty is.
So, please shut your stupid Rich Liberal yap. You sound like a sad imitation of Little Lord Fauntleroy. Think blue velvet tights.
You should not talk about someone when you don't know what you are saying. That is impolite and deceitful and people know you are lying.
Please stop playing us as being uneducated because most of us are very educated and know exactly where you are coming from. We are sick and tired of being blamed for something we are not. We are sick and tired of liars trying to "throw back" insignificant and untrue diatribe to influence people to think your way when we know better.
People like you throw words up in the air and try to make them stick to Obama but they don't. They fall off of him like water and you end up looking stupid as always.
Wake up and smell the crap you are trying to get us to accept.
If you paid attention to the tax return of Obama you would have noticed he did not make a lot
of money, certainly not near a million. He just paid off his college loan mind you. And get this,
Hillary's grandmother she says she adores was a slum lord. Do some research.
Of course we are bitter .A lot of people are out of work, and a lot more are working for far less than they disserve.This economy seems to be working just fine for John Mc Cain, but it is not working at all for the great majority of Americans. This economy is a disaster, people are being foreclosed on and evicted from the homes, that they can't sell. They can't afford to put gas in the vehicles that they are straining to make payments on, with interest rates as high as 30%. Did anyone expect, that working class people were going to do well, under a Republican administration.
We are faced with crucial choices. The choices include ongoing socioeconomic class wars that pit the poor against each other. Class wars are not confined exclusively or necessarily to race. It is unfortunate that far too many non-black Americans vote against their own best interests in order to appear to be better to themselves and hopefully to others (specifically of another ethnic group and/or racial group). Wake up America! Stop being bamboozled by those whose only interest is in maintaining the status quo--the few politically powerful controlling the wealth of nations.
Mr. Creamer, you may call it "chutzpah", but it could also be "terminal dumb a**". Go figure.
it took chudspah for the shrub, who was born with a silver snifter AND a silver foot in his mouth, to brand al gore as an elitist. but it took the likes of maureen dowd and the whole punditocracy to bury him under the image of robot. they also called him a liar. al gore would have been such a great improvement on the one the supreme court unconstitutionally chose by illegally ordering the state of florida to stop its recount.
I have a problem with the headline of this piece. Simply having money does not make you "elitist" and if it does, we're probably doomed to suffer a string of "elitist" presidents that will last our lifetime and beyond. As the article notes, there are plenty of reasons that McCain shouldn't be throwing around the "elitist" tag, but simply having a bunch of houses isn't one of them. What is more elitist: the fact that Hillary and Bill earned $107 million over the last eight years, or that she voted for a bankruptcy bill that helped no one but the credit card companies who are rolling in usury-driven cash? I say the latter.
Bruce Springsteen earned something like $55 million in 2006. Does that automatically make him "elitist"? (OK, some of you probably call him that, but that's not typically among the words used to describe him.)
[[I have a problem with the headline of this piece. Simply having money does not make you "elitist"]]
Maybe you have a problem with reading comprehension, too. Mr. Creamer explained clearly why McCain's elitism goes beyond merely being filthy rich in the following paragraph:
"If you want to talk about patronizing, or 'elitism', you need look no farther than the way Bush and McCain attempt to use fear and division to divert the attention of middle class people from the economic policies that pick their pockets, lower their wages, destroy their unions, and outsource their jobs. And all the while they use our money to bail out Wall Street, and give giant tax breaks to the real "elitists" -- the economic elite."
An elitist now sits in the White House creating wealth for his cronies and ruin for the rest of the world. McCain will continue that tradition.
The people you describe are not elitists. They are plutocrats and demagogues who deceive, divide, and exploit working people in order to enrich themselves. Elitists pretend to "understand" the behavior of others and are condescending in their attitude to those they deem less intelligent, in particular, but lesser, in general.
It is no surprise that elitists cannot even define the term, because they are so blinded by their elitism they have no comprehension what it even means. Elitists often serve the purpose of the plutocrats and demagogues, but this is only because they are so lost in their own delusions.
Um.. SpaceCadet? Mr. Patronizing? Speaking of problems with reading comprehension -- if you read two more sentences you would have seen that I acknowledged that the article itself contained better points, but as I said, I have a problem with the *Headline* of this piece.
Sheesh.
An "elitist" is seemingly any political candidate who doesn't present a faux populist image and act like something he/she is not. Note that they were trying to tag Mitt Romney with the elitist label during the GOP primary.
I guess Obama needs to wrestle a pig or rope a steer to prove his "regular guy" credentials.
Clear sum brush, drive a pickup, own a baseball team.......you know, down-ta-earth-type thangs.
EXACTLY !! good point Skippy
Being "elitist" is not about your wealth or how many houses you own. It's about talking down to middle class Americans and ridiculing things they value.
No, it's about being a Democrat and running for President. You guys will try to pin the "elitist" label on whichever Dem gets the nomination and you know it. Then you'll come up with whatever logical gymnastics it takes to make it stick.
I can't say I blame you. It worked on Kerry so why quit now?
One day Democrats will figure out why it works, and why it works so easily. And then they'll dismiss the answer because as Democrats, they're really too smart to acknowledge that sort of thing.
Democrats know that the problem is never with their candidates, it's with the voters who are too uncouth to appreciate them.
Are you saying Kerry WASN'T an elitist?
He's certainly richer and more conceited than McCain.
Is this the "our billionaires are good but yours are bad" theory of the Democratic Party? The party that has more, richer multimillionaires in Congress than the Republicans?
It must be.
Let me make sure I' ve got this right. A black man in America is an elitist?
That's the great thing about America. Anyone in this country can grow up to be an elitist.
Since when did speaking to Americans like they were adults become talking down to the middle class?
And your point.....? I don't seem to remember hearing Obama doing any of that!
emm ramirez, i think ur abusing ur men tal capacity. You're obviously just regurgitating what u read few mins ago, hence the inability to defend your comment. I'd respect you more if you put serious effort into reading, comprehension and writing.
I'm afraid all these rational defenses of Obama's truthful remarks are hopeless. This morning the talking heads on This Week with George Stephanopoulos all declared the Obama made a "gaffe" and George Will said it was really really BIG gaffe!!!
They also declared on a previous show that McCain's repeated claims that Iran was training Al Qaeda fighters was a teeny weensy little gaffe that shouldn't hurt his reputation as a foreign policy expert. Us outside-the-beltway nobodies might think that a foreign policy expert ought to know something about the foreigners they want to bomb, and that this might be a huge warning sign that a McCain presidency would be a disaster rivaling that of the equally ignorant George Bush.
But Those Who Know Best seem to be strongly suggesting that we'd be safer with McCain as president with his little teensy gaffes than with Obama with his great big gaffes. so it seems clear who us nobodies ought to put in the White House. McCain is the Chosen One.
Yep. What Obama is saying is very dangerous to these corporations that run the news. Obama is basically calling them out for what they are. Shoving red herrings down the common folk's throats to distract them from the real issues that need to be addressed. The economy, the war in iraq. I fully expect the media to try and drag him down now.
Seems to have worked for the better part of 200 years, why stop a grand old tradition?
Just because the "talking heads" say something doesn't mean is ABSOLUTELY TRUE! Why not listen to your own "gut" feelings instead of others who are trying to influence you to vote their way. This is America and you do have a choice no matter what the "talking heads" try to make you believe. They have reasons for what they say and their reasons are NOT ALWAYS in our best interest. Please be smart and investigate yourself and listen to no one who might be paid to influence your decision. Have a blessed day.
Let's face it, McCain is a weak, feeble candidate who makes Bob Dole seem positively vibrant in comparison. If this interminable primary ever ends, all it's going to take is one Presidential debate. Obama will mop the floor with McCain, and then we can get down to the business of getting this country back on the right track.
John McCain is our next feeble elitist presidente.
You don't have to own a house to be an elitist. Elitism is a state of mind.
Halli Casser-Jayne http://www.thecjpoliticalreport.com
Exactly right. Wealth and elitism are not synonymous.
No, just Democratic presidential candidates and "elitism". Funny how it seems to work out that way. Kind of like how whichever Democratic Senator is running for President happens to be the "most liberal Senator".
Let me make sure I' ve got this right. A black man in America is an elitist?
It's time that Americans wake up and see the pattern. Every single time we get someone who even remotely attempts to tackle the problems of the poor and the middle, that person is smeared and blasted and often overwhelmed by the hopelessly trivial. His or her message is drowned out in a sea of nonsense, noise, distortion, and distraction. Americans keep falling for this diversion game. They keep falling for those bumper stickers and absolutely empty catch phrases. They take on more meaning than the work of people who actually have plans and policies and strategies for effective, progressive change.
I wonder how the Media would treat Jesus today. Can you imagine them going after the most absurd and ridiculously irrelevant things:
"Uh, he's not a regular guy. He wears sandals, for Crist's sake!! Real regular guys wear sneakers!! And he drinks wine!! Well, la di da!! Regular guys drink beer. And the way he talks, all high and mighty like. He must have come from an ivory tower and looks down on regular folks, talks to them in riddles, instead of being a straight shooter, like McCain. And, just the other day, I heard he turned down BBQ pork at an event!! He's history after that. He has no chance with the heartland now!!"
Great, now you want to bring jesus into this. This is the kind of stuff Obama is talking about. People becoming racist and christians because the government makes them so bitter. Enough of the jesus talk please.
This is not at all what Obama is talking about. Obama doesn't get all squirrelly with the mention of Jesus' name, as you seem to. I'm an agnostic who finds Jesus' life story pretty interesting, and nothing to freak out about. I'm hoping you were being sarcastic.
People do not become Christians because the government makes them bitter. What Obama was saying is when people become bitter, they fall back on what they know, which sometimes is their Christianity.
Obama needs to take this narrative head on. He has to actually talk about the idiocy of making such a big deal about ordering orange juice (instead of coffee), for example, while we learn that Bush authorized torture and seems proud of it. He needs to discuss how completely bizarre and ridiculous our Media have become, as they concentrate on the trivial at the expense of the essential. Talk about elitism. The media has dumbed down its coverage of politics to the point that six years olds can probably see through it. They truly must think Americans are stupid beyond measure, that they would actually care more about orders in a diner than Republican policies that kill hundreds of thousands.
He needs to talk about priorities, and how this old trick of diversion is the ONLY way Republicans keep getting elected. If people EVER voted for their own interests, they'd NEVER put another Republican into office again. At least in their current version. Because the vast majority of them don't have "regular guys" in mind when they do policy. They have the financial elite in mind. Every. Single. Time. But they truly are gifted at diverting Americans from the 800 pound gorillas in the room. The economy, the environment, the Iraq quagmire, and so on. They talk a good game of bumper stickers 101. It works all too often to the detriment of this country and the world.
I think he mentioned that in his race speech, didn't he? About how the media can get caught up in soundbites and run with it. How we let ourselves get distracted from the real issues at hand.
I believe he is doing the best he can, he also can't go down to the level of the Clintons and the McBushs either. He can give a speech about it again, but msm is not interested right now, they want juicy headlines................................that is all this is all about.
You should see Obama's response, he wiped the floor with Hillary.
Typical Repubican "Bait and Switch" politics -- attacking the Democrats, accusing them of the very devious methods they, themselves -- the GOP -- employ -- they turn the people against the very party who will serve their best interests by such deception. They have fed a constant diet of fear to Americans as a means to control them while they are paralyzed with fear. The GOP mentality is evil to its core.
The Republicans have simply learned to work together as one to defeat Democrats. Two Republicans who hate each other will gang up on a Democrat. Two Democrats who hate each other but have similar progressive values (as in Obama and Clinton have nearly identical voting records) will beat each other up knowing the winner will beat the Republican because they have right on their side; and shake their head in amazement when it doesn't work that way.
Sad but true. The Republicans are very, very good at winning elections. If they could run a country half as well as they run a campaign we'd be in much better shape than we are today.
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