John McCain is an elitist.
Ever since the primary there's been this constant refrain that Obama is an "elitist". I was hashing this out with ponsdorf last week and the more I thought about it the weirder this accusation became.
"Elitism" isn't thinking that you're smarter than everyone else is - that's egotism. "Elitism" also isn't just thinking that you're smarter than you actually are - that's arrogance, haughtiness, or conceit. It's also not "talking down" or using unnecessarily obtuse or fancy language - that's being pretentious or patronizing. And it's certainly not believing that the most-skilled or best-qualified person should get the job - that's meritocracy.
Elites are members of the small but dominant privileged social classes. The French aristocracy in Europe. The Brahmins in India. The Tsars of Russia. The Shogunate of Japan. People who didn't necessarily work hard and achieve their positions by the sweat of their own brow - people who were born into privilege. Elitists favor a government ruled and dominated by this elite. They favor leaders who are members of the privileged social classes who traditionally maintain the social order. Elitists want rulers from the elite social classes.
George W Bush is an elite: a descendant of a prominent Connecticut family and a member of the elite class. His Dad got him into Harvard Business School and gave him his political connections. GW's dad Prescott was a Senator, who was given the vice-presidency of the family corporation by George Herbert Walker, son of the dry goods magnate David Davis Walker. The whole Bush clan is a pack of privileged elites circle-jerking their way to power, wealth, and fame. And anyone who advocated voting for Bush because he must have learned a few things from his Dad or because his Dad's advisors were going to make sure he didn't do anything stupid is an elitist - a voter more dazzled by the trappings of the Bush dynasty than the meager merits and accomplishments of the actual candidate.
John McCain is also an elite. His elite father Admiral John S. McCain, Jr. pulled some strings to get him into Annapolis. Of course McCain Jr. had his own strings pulled by Admiral John S. McCain, Sr., who was himself the privileged and elite son of a plantation owner, making Senator McCain a fourth-generation elite (at least) and his son Jack McCain following the family tradition as an Annapolis-trained fifth-generation elite. And that's just on McCain's side - Cindy Lou Hensley is an even richer and higher-level elite, cheerleader, sorority member, and heir to both a massive fortune and political connections.
Who isn't an elite and a member of an elitist family? Who didn't coast to an easy and prosperous life on a road greased by family privilege and connections? Barack Obama, son of a single teenage mother and abandoning immigrant father. Who didn't have an influential debutante mother or rich father to bend the right person's ear? Barack Obama, who spent four years after Columbia working to organize communities of fellow non-elites living on Chicago's south side. Who didn't need a leg up to get into Harvard Law? Barack Obama, who graduated Magna by the sweat of his brow without any big donation or fancy legacy to impress the profs. What did Obama do with his "elitist" Harvard education after graduating? Obama went back to Chicago and litigated on behalf of some of the poorest and least advantaged people in our nation as a civil rights lawyer. And who went out of their way last week to attack and mock anyone who would try to organize a community of poor people rather than get in good with the elites like McCain was doing? The brazen, unapologetic elitists speaking at and attending the Republican convention last week.
To say that Obama is an "elitist" isn't just some minor or subjective point of view - it's a basic, complete, and willful misunderstanding not just the political landscape today but the last two hundred years of these candidates' history. It's one of the most perverse feats of cognitive acrobatics I have ever witnessed to say that a formerly poor and self-made black person is somehow a bigger elitist than the privileged direct descendant of a guy who owned black people. Call him overeducated or "ivy league" if you want, but don't call Obama an elitist.
"Elitism" isn't thinking that you're smarter than everyone else is - that's egotism. "Elitism" also isn't just thinking that you're smarter than you actually are - that's arrogance, haughtiness, or conceit. It's also not "talking down" or using unnecessarily obtuse or fancy language - that's being pretentious or patronizing. And it's certainly not believing that the most-skilled or best-qualified person should get the job - that's meritocracy.
Elites are members of the small but dominant privileged social classes. The French aristocracy in Europe. The Brahmins in India. The Tsars of Russia. The Shogunate of Japan. People who didn't necessarily work hard and achieve their positions by the sweat of their own brow - people who were born into privilege. Elitists favor a government ruled and dominated by this elite. They favor leaders who are members of the privileged social classes who traditionally maintain the social order. Elitists want rulers from the elite social classes.
George W Bush is an elite: a descendant of a prominent Connecticut family and a member of the elite class. His Dad got him into Harvard Business School and gave him his political connections. GW's dad Prescott was a Senator, who was given the vice-presidency of the family corporation by George Herbert Walker, son of the dry goods magnate David Davis Walker. The whole Bush clan is a pack of privileged elites circle-jerking their way to power, wealth, and fame. And anyone who advocated voting for Bush because he must have learned a few things from his Dad or because his Dad's advisors were going to make sure he didn't do anything stupid is an elitist - a voter more dazzled by the trappings of the Bush dynasty than the meager merits and accomplishments of the actual candidate.
John McCain is also an elite. His elite father Admiral John S. McCain, Jr. pulled some strings to get him into Annapolis. Of course McCain Jr. had his own strings pulled by Admiral John S. McCain, Sr., who was himself the privileged and elite son of a plantation owner, making Senator McCain a fourth-generation elite (at least) and his son Jack McCain following the family tradition as an Annapolis-trained fifth-generation elite. And that's just on McCain's side - Cindy Lou Hensley is an even richer and higher-level elite, cheerleader, sorority member, and heir to both a massive fortune and political connections.
Who isn't an elite and a member of an elitist family? Who didn't coast to an easy and prosperous life on a road greased by family privilege and connections? Barack Obama, son of a single teenage mother and abandoning immigrant father. Who didn't have an influential debutante mother or rich father to bend the right person's ear? Barack Obama, who spent four years after Columbia working to organize communities of fellow non-elites living on Chicago's south side. Who didn't need a leg up to get into Harvard Law? Barack Obama, who graduated Magna by the sweat of his brow without any big donation or fancy legacy to impress the profs. What did Obama do with his "elitist" Harvard education after graduating? Obama went back to Chicago and litigated on behalf of some of the poorest and least advantaged people in our nation as a civil rights lawyer. And who went out of their way last week to attack and mock anyone who would try to organize a community of poor people rather than get in good with the elites like McCain was doing? The brazen, unapologetic elitists speaking at and attending the Republican convention last week.
To say that Obama is an "elitist" isn't just some minor or subjective point of view - it's a basic, complete, and willful misunderstanding not just the political landscape today but the last two hundred years of these candidates' history. It's one of the most perverse feats of cognitive acrobatics I have ever witnessed to say that a formerly poor and self-made black person is somehow a bigger elitist than the privileged direct descendant of a guy who owned black people. Call him overeducated or "ivy league" if you want, but don't call Obama an elitist.