A friend of mine, talking of a recent speaking engagement by Michelle Obama, said she looked and sounded angry. But why? She was reacting to the Clinton charge that Barack, her husband, was an "elitist."
At one time the word "elite" meant (and still does in its denotative sense) "the best, the finest, the most distinguished, most powerful." (Webster's New World Dictionary) Today, the emotional value of the word has come to be a pejorative meaning, that is, if one is regarded as elitist that person is suspect because he/she is different from the "rest of us." Most elitists were wealthy, well born, educated at the best schools and suffered advantages most people did not have. Many of our past politicians came from advantaged backgrounds: Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Adlai Stevenson, John Kennedy, and George Herbert Walker Bush. Thus, it was not a handicap to be wealthy or wellborn.
Today, however, it is. Neither John McCain nor Hillary Clinton are regarded as elitist. McCain came from a well-educated naval family; and although Hillary attended "elitist schools," she did not come from extreme wealth. But Barack Obama is being tainted as an elitist, and his attempts to be seen as a "regular guy,"---basketball, bowling, drinking--- have backfired. Obama is perceived to be an "intellectual," one who is comfortable with books, who appears to be a reflective person, one who thinks before choosing a course of action.
Americans want a president who is like them, one whom they can connect with, have a beer with, or sit at a dinner table with. John McCain, Hillary Clinton, Huckabee and Ron Paul, all might fill the bill. Although Mitt Romney, a wealthy businessman (always a respectable and respected background in politics), he wold not be accused of being an intellectual. Eric Hoffer, a longshoreman and essayist, when interviewed by a well-known broadcast commentator, cried, "Ah, Mr Severeid, give intellectuals anything they want, but don't give them power!"
Why not? It is time we jettison manufactured images of the intellectual we may have. Could an intellectual president be worse than the career politician? Of course. Could he or she be better? Why not? That they are reflective, consider their options, read and think ought not be regarded as a handicap. I do not want a Prince Hamlet for president, but neither do I want someone who is like me. In other words, give me a president who is not like the rest of us. So be it.
6 comments on Please! Not Like One of Us!
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Give me a President who is honest, forthright, has the highest levels of integrity in all manners and matters, and is more concerned with the well being of the Nation as a whole and it's people than he or she is for themselves or their influences.
And, by-the-way, that is Ron Paul!
I think the characteristics needed to be President is first and foremost character (what they do behind closed doors is beyond reproach), honesty (telling the truth not what is popular), wisdom (knowing that he/she/party does not have all the answers), humility and a deep love of country and its people.
'Intellectual elite' means nothing except that a person has been through an educational process and that he cultivates bonds with those he perceives to be of is ilk. You ask that we jettison manufactured images of (elitist?) intellectuals but that seems impossible to me. If a person does not fit the image of an intellectual elitist he will not be included in that grouping. The image exists only because there are people who fit it. Obama seems to and his wife certainly does. But even more than that they appear to be secretly harboring racist/communistic elitist ideals.