So we hear a lot about charges of elitism in American politics.
It seems to me that there may be two different forms of elitism - one based on money and the other on smarts.
Consider this article from Daily Kos on Obama’s new-found wealth, which (gasp) could leave him found judged as elitist:
The point of the exercise is to help portray Obama as an “elitist” who’s getting above his station. Here’s how the article concludes:
Claremont McKenna College political scientist Jack Pitney said that although there were no questions of conflict related to Obama’s writings, his wealth could present him with a political problem “because of the issue of elitism,” a charge he has sought to fend off during his campaign.
“With millions in the bank, it is a little easier to make that charge stick,” Pitney said. But, citing Cindy McCain’s wealth, he added, “John McCain is probably not the best messenger.”
Indeed, since Obama is the least wealthy of the three leading candidates, the charge actually is preposterous. Morain doesn’t care to dwell upon that, however. Neither does he tell us that Pitney, the only person quoted in the article, is a Republican political analyst.
I wrote to Morain asking why he quoted only a Republican on Obama’s wealth, and why he failed to identify him as a Republican. Here’s the sum total of Morain’s response:
Thanks for your note. I thought Pitney’s comment was even-handed and thoughtful.
One could laugh if it weren’t so painful to consider that there are legions of people in this country that still use the term ‘liberal media’ in all seriousness!
BUT - this column seems to highlight Obama’s ‘elitist’ problem purely as one of having too much money.
But the flipside of that is Obama has also had to contend with being a ‘cultural elitist’ if you will. Remember how the media pounced on him for eschewing coffee in Indiana diners and wanting - gasp! - orange juice? WHY DIDN’T HE TAKE THE COFFEE? IS HE ‘TOO GOOD’ TO DRINK COFFEE FOR BREAKFAST LIKE OTHER AMERICANS?
And then we were treated to Hillary Clinton attempting to look proletarian by knocking back some Crown Royal (that was always premium booze among my kind) while discussing deer hunting in some Indiana bar.
And God forbid any of the candidates should say anything derogatory about NASCAR. You might as well insult AIPAC for all the good it will do to your campaign.
We’re a strange country, aren’t we? Perhaps the only Western democracy that actively DENIGRATES gaining an intelligence and then using it. From Eisenhower’s time when ‘eggheads’ were derided to now, we as a people, seem to be irritated and intimidated by people who both write, speak and think well.
I was conscious of this at an early age when I went to Catholic elementary school. I would read far beyond my grade level and when I would say something that I thought added to the classroom discussion, heads would turn in my direction and was regarded as some kind of freak. Of course, a part of that was that, as one of the kids whose parents weren’t among the school’s elite I was ’speaking out of turn.’
But I hated and bristled under this because even my nun-teachers seemed to denigrate any type of going beyond what we were being taught. I was always the kind of person who gained most of my own knowledge through reading. I was not content to wait in some classroom to be spoon-fed approved knowledge.
But back to Obama, I think the problem we’re having with wealth is we’re confusing elitism with class. Since we’re forbidden for talking about class in our classless society, it seems the media are not using the term ‘elitist’ to describe monetary class differences.
In the case of the candidates, this is ridiculous as all three of them are wealthy beyond the reach of average Americans. Obama’s wealth has come late and, as the Kos columnist notes in his piece, he’s being accused in a subtle way, of reaching beyond his normal station in life. Which, again, is ridiculous since we seem to have no problem with African-Americans in sports or entertainment making millions - why is Obama as a politician so different?
And again, we can also see how the term ‘class’ might be confused since it also has more than one meaning. To some people ‘having class’ is a different thing entirely than being a member of a certain class. Many financially upper class people in this country show precious little class and vice versa. But when it comes to elitism, the smears seem to run both ways - from financial to cultural.
Again and again we come back to a denigration of intelligence and culture in America. What I find so incredible is that back in the 1930s and 40s, Americans of all economic classes would listen to the New York Philharmonic on the radio - and it was during that performance that we learned of the attack on Pearl Harbor.
Indeed, classical music was once regarded as the cultural food for the masses, Now to like classical music is seen as elitist and out of touch which to like country music somehow makes you one with the people.
And this is reinforced in television commercials where the only time you hear classical music as background is when high priced cars are being advertised or perhaps, investments.
Of course, the ‘elitist’ tag being thrown at Obama smacks of racism as the Kos author points out. And the whole experience with the polling in West Virginia really seems to drive it home. I wonder how many West Virginians were prompted to say ‘ I don’ know where that boy got all that fancy book learnin.’
And it’s equally obscene in a country that used to pride itself of it’s public library system, much of which was nobless oblige from people like Andrew Carnegie, where the storehouse of the world’s knowledge was available for all. AND the fact that the Internet also now makes available to all, the world’s growing storehouse of knowledge.
But to demonstrate that you have any grasp of that knowledge and to express it using proper English AND to have a sense of style and discretion is seen as hopelessly elitist, out of touch and un-American.
And it’s easy to claim that such self-betterment is only denigrated in predominantly African-American schools. In reality, it crosses all racial boundaries, even into solidly middle class white public schools where jocks receive far more popularity than the eggheads. It’s something now built into our American DNA.
And we wonder why we have to import technicians from all over the world to run our computer systems and our medical establishments. Yes we import them - from cultures that have a far greater appreciation of the value of intelligence and education that we do.
And we wonder why we’re getting our clocks cleaned by the rest of the world now.
When we say we want a President we would feel more comfortable having a beer with, we are telling the rest of the developed world, which shakes it’s collective heads sadly, that we no longer want the best and the brightest to lead our nation. That we’re comfortable with syncopants, suck-ups and good old boys - as long as we are comfortable that they won’t put on airs and make us feel insecure about our own lack of academic achievement.
In conclusion, I feel the accusations of elitism and the use of that term is more a pejorative against education and intelligence than wealth. Again, no one seems to mind if athletes and entertainers make fortunes for singing or putting a ball through a hoop. But the people who are to lead our nation must now reflect the worst of our anti-intellectualism rather, like JFK, to speak to the best of our potential.
We need more elitism in that regard in this country, not less.
