When the history of this strange and soon-to-be-concluded Democratic primary season is written, let it be noted that the candidate whose income was modest (in political-class terms) until his books became bestsellers was somehow framed as the representative of the elite — while the one who was able to dip into her own personal coffers to fund her campaign to the tune of $6 million succeeded, with a little help from the media, in casting herself as a woman of the people.
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Fact is they’re both snobs. Neither one is “of the people.” And you know it.
Anyone who is in the US Senate is very much a part of the ruling class. I’m with you on that. (“Snob” to me means something else entirely.)
But only one of these two candidates can dip into her pockets for $6M. And I’m sorry, but it’s funny and strange that she is the one who assumed the mantle of “the little people” this season.
There’s a lot to unpack here, and lord knows the campaign coverage has been horrid as usual, but I think this particular point is not quite what you’re making it out to be. Obama really does appeal to the real socioeconomic groups often labelled as “liberal elites” — coastal, overeducated, socially very liberal, diverse in acquaintances — and Clinton really does appeal more to the group labelled as “real Americans” or “the Heartland”: non-coastal, moderate, older, Protestant. It is outrageous that the media consider my gay African-American atheist attorney friend who voted for Obama from San Francisco “less American” than my white Lutheran inlaws from small-town Texas who voted for Clinton, but the problem is the characterization of THEM, not of the basically accurate assesment of who they voted for.
Don’t forget the candidate who has 8 houses!
It is indeed a sick twist of irony for the Clintons (pick your poison) to be considered more appealing to middle-America. Perhaps if she wins she can bring back the items she stole from the White House 8 years ago.
The one thing that I predict will hold Obama back in this regard is his wife, who, by all accounts, truly seems to regard herself and her husband as being above all others.
As a tangent, his association with Mr. Wright speaks to this also.