On presumptions, associations, and elitism

Barack Obama is "elitist." He "doesn't connect with white working-class voters." He agrees with everything his former pastor says. He doesn't wear a flag pin so he must hate America.

I'm getting tired of the bullshit and the people who perpetuate it. We, as Democrats, are supposed to be pulling together and keeping our eye on the prize: beating McCain. We're supposed to be advancing the cause of the Democratic party and yet we are mired in presumptions and misconceptions. It is so hard for me to try and rise above the fray when I see so much that angers me. I've tried to walk the path of restraint, emulating the man I know will be our next president, but I need to get this off my chest. I need to say this and then I will try as hard as I can to keep my focus on the larger task at hand.

I shake my head every time I hear the word "elitist" associated with Barack Obama. There is a school of thought that believes that the more you try and negate an untruth the more people will believe it. I watched and waited for Bittergate to flame out, but it hasn't. Since that time, I've watched Hillary Clinton take a page out of John Edwards' playbook and talk about being the granddaughter of a Scranton millworker, and watched her drink beer and knock back a shot of Crown Royal in a Pennsylvania bar.

Really?  Really, Hillary? This is your story now? You're the blue collar, opposite-of-elitist candidate now?

How did this happen?

How is it that everyone can overlook the fact that aside from John Edwards—who truly did come from a working-class background and who was the son of a millworker (not the grandchild of a millworker who had a successful son who had a daughter who became First Lady and then a U.S. Senator)—Barack Obama has the most working-class roots when compared with Clinton and McCain. Attending Harvard doesn't erase one's upbringing.

John McCain, the son and grandson of four-star Navy Admirals. Graduate of a private prep school. Married to a wealthy heiress: Not elite.

Hillary Clinton, the daughter of a successful business owner, who spent many of her adult years living in a governor's mansion and then the White House: Not elite.

Barack Obama, born to a teenage mother and an African father, who spent his school years living in an apartment in Honolulu with his grandparents while attending a private, non-denominational Christian school on full scholarship: Elite.

Riiiight.

Whoever is weaving this story deserves some kind of prize. The fact that people are buying it hook, line and sinker is mind-boggling. And I thought I was cynical.

And let's talk about Rev. Jeremiah Wright for just a second, even though Cynematic does a fine job of grinding that trainwreck to a halt. The main stream media just can't let go of that story, but let's table that thought for a moment. Obama has explained his relationship with the man twenty-six ways from Sunday, and several days ago finally disassociated himself from him. Yet people still carry on about his "judgment." For twenty years Obama attended Wright's church, what does that say about him?

Well let me tell you a story and see if you can relate. I was baptized Catholic. Half my schooling was spent at a non-denominational Christian school. In catechism class I was forced to watch videos and look at photos which featured aborted fetuses. I was horrified. (I was in sixth grade.) I went on to college at a Jesuit university and went to grad school at another Jesuit university.

Knowing that, what would you presume about me?

I have had people assume that I must be an anti-choice Republican because of my "spiritual choices." That couldn't be further from the truth. My sixth grade experience had the opposite effect on me, and I picked my schools because they are good schools that happen to be Jesuit.

Granted, Obama sat in that church on and off for 20 years, but I am sure he isn't the only person in this country who sits in church and listens to pastors or priests say things they don't agree with. I sure did, but I went for other reasons. To center myself. To hear the music. To apply the message of the service to my life in my own way. If you have done that—if you still go to mass and take communion even though you are pro-choice, if you have baptized kids but aren't raising them to be Christians or Catholics, if you have ever sat in church and sorted sermons into parts you believe in and parts you don't, if you've never attended a black church—then you need to drop your judgment.

If you've ever heard a close friend or a family member make an off-color or full-on racist remark and you choose to overlook it because you love them and didn't want to hurt them, if you've ever made assumptions about a person of color that turned out to be incorrect, if you know what it's like to have untruths said about you, you need to drop your judgment. We have all been there. All of us.

And please. Let's not forget that Wright provided spiritual counsel to the Clintons after the Lewinsky scandal broke. Yes, you can tell a lot about a person by the company they keep. Or the things they say. Or the things they do. You know what my favorite thing Hillary Clinton says is? It's that she won in Michigan and Florida. Didn't she agree, along with Obama and Edwards, that the votes wouldn't count? Then she went ahead and put her name on the ballot anyway and now she wants them counted? I love that.

Why is Barack Obama being held to a different standard? Could Barack Obama go into a bar and knock back shots? Could he bring up the fact that he was born to a teenage mom in every stump speech? What would be said about him then? Why is he referred to as African-American by mainstream media, completely denying him his mother's heritage? As a mixed-race person, that irks me to no end. I really want to know—why the double standard with Barack Obama? I think I know why. And the fact that Obama still continues to take the high road and bring it back to issues, is, well, presidential.

The negative attacks are disgusting. The swiftboating angers me. But the sad thing is, I know that the worst is yet to come. When Hillary drops out, and the Republicans ramp up their attacks, it's going to take all of us joining together to force them to talk about the issues that affect this country. I don't want to be talking about misperceptions and elitism all the way until August. I really don't. I'd like to be talking about healthcare, nuclear non-proliferation, foreign policy, and education.

Obama and Clinton are both politicians and policy-wise, they aren't that far apart. And yet how different they are. I look at the two and see only one candidate who stands up for what I believe in, beginning with no Iraq War, and hey, how about no more wars period. I see only one who inspires me because he inspires so many thousands of others. I see only one candidate who is a role-model for my daughters. For everyone that has been the victim of presumptions or judged by the company you keep or labeled or categorized, yes we can. Yes we can say enough is enough. Yes we can say no to the barrage of negativity. Yes we can bring it back to issues. (Yes I can try hold myself to that standard.) Yes we can pull together and elect a democrat.

Yes.

We.

Can.

MOMocrats co-founder Stefania Pomponi Butler is glad she got this off her chest, and cannot wait until Barack Obama is elected president.

Comments

[Aimee Greeblemonkey]

I could not agree with this more.

Actually, I feel like screaming at the top of my lungs, I COULD NOT AGREE WITH THIS MORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[PunditMom]

I think by definition, anyone who runs for President of the United States is elite. So, yes, I agree we should be done with that discussion. But the Obama campaign has its own, perhaps more subtle, ways of attacking Clinton -- just don't even get me started on that brushing off his shoulders thing.

But without getting started on what and each each one has done, I'll just say this -- none of the candidates are being respectful to each other, and that includes Obama. In a race for president, I don't think we'll ever have a completely respectful campaign. Let's just acknowledge that it's not just Hillary out there attacking the other guy.

[Christianne]

thank you so much for saying all these things. you wrote every single thing i have sat and thought about as i scroll through the news headlines each day. it drives me crazy that the obvious is not, well, i guess not obvious to others. or just that they choose not to see it.

anyway, thank you. i needed to read this message of sanity and likemindedness. it restores my hope to keep pulling for this and keep being involved.

[jen]

this was incredible, S. you have me a bit teary. yes, babe. we can.

we will.

[dana]

Absolutely brilliant. Can't. stop. nodding. my. head.

[Donna]

Thank you for putting the "elite" charges in perspective. To me, the most disheartening thing about the swift boating is that so much of it is being done to a Democrat by a Democrat, and it's destroying what's left of the good will I have felt towards her.

[Elle]

BAM!! Oh, Yes, We Can.

And.

We.

Will.

For ourselves, for our children, for our country and our world: we WILL.

[cynematic]

CityMama tells it like it is. I started nodding my head from word one, and didn't stop til the end.

[Stefania/CityMama]

Joanne, I saw the shoulder brush and don't agree that that was a negative attack, subtle or otherwise. I don't think it any different than a candidate saying that negative attacks don't affect them and that they are tough enough to handle it which they all do. I don't think it's any different than Hillary saying "we need more than speeches" or Hillary ripping off Obama's slogan by saying "yes we will and we should."

Politics is politics, but empirically, looking at the two campaigns, there is one that is perceived to be more positive than the other.

[Gunfighter]

Brava!

If Obama is the "African American" candidate, isn't Clinton "the white woman" candidate? Why am I not hearing that? Oh. Because the media and the Clinton campaign are only talking to white people.

I forgot.

[Kristin]

Ohmigod so totally. To use a phrase from Juno, every time I hear someone say that Obama is elitist, I want them to "shut their friggin gob."

Love how you call it bullshit, because really, what else is it? The guy whose father was once domestic servant and whose mother ended up raising him without much support is...wait for it...the ELITIST? Unlike the other two, both raised upper class and now with access to millions upon millions in their (or in the case of McCain, his wife's) bank account, Obama made his much smaller pot of money from book sales and an honest to goodness salary.

I also can't stand the stupidity factor around Reverend Wright. He does represent/reflect one ideology in the United States and just like Obama listens to Republicans, he listened to Wright. So what? Can people not see that listening and agreeing with are two entirely different things? I for one am ready for a president who actually listens to and can comprehend some element of complex thought. Won't it be nice?

[Kristin]

Oh, and despite the tremendous amount of negative crap, Obama is ahead in Guam and a Rasmussen poll for my homestate of Oregon shows him 9 points ahead. How satisfying that this crap is ultimately NOT going to work. How deeply satisfying.

Just keep saying it -- President Obama. President Obama. President Obama.

[Kristin]

Oh, man -- sorry, last comment...Obama is 11 points ahead, not 9.

[Carrie]

Well done.

[chelsea]

Obama is the best choice out there!
I am tired of this Rev. Wright and Obama's "judgement" stuff. Where was Clinton's judgement when we went to Iraq?
Hillary stated that you can't choose the family you are born into but you can choose the company you keep. That's true so why did she keep her womanizing husband around? I guess it's OK for her to have questionable judgement.
And what about her elitist statement back in the 90's about baking cookies and having teas as if there was something wrong with being a homemaker?

[kym]

Very intelligently written and dead on the mark. You've made me day. Thanks. :)

[debbie]

Due to my complete confidence in his eventually gaining the nomination, I can only say that I'm -- not worried. Disgusted, but not worried. He'll win and he'll SWEEP that nightmare of stupid that is the Republican's embarrassing nominee.

And we will. Because we can.

I say all of this with a solemn tone. It's real. It's serious. We're gonna win.

[chelsea]

YES WE CAN!!!!!!

[Painted Maypole]

this was really great. Obama is behaving so gentlemanly through this whole crappy ordeal (gee, is that what makes him elite? not sinking to Clinton's level?) Although I will say this... Hillary's name was on the ballot in MI and FL before the whole moving forward of the primaries/agreeing not to be on the ballot thing. but she DID agree that they wouldn't count, and she needs to stop talking about "winning" there. you can't win when there's no contest, lady.

[Kevin McGee]

As a male, Canadian interested observer, is it OK just to note that I enjoy the intelligent writings I'm finding as I explore this site? (I just discovered it yesterday). I hope there are great numbers of you, it gives me hope for America and indirectly for the rest of the world.
Kevin McGee

[Amy@UWM]

TELL IT SISTER!!!!

[elle]

i totally agree too. im so annoyed.

[Stefania/CityMama]

Kevin, comments like yours (from people in other countries) are another reason why I support Obama. I have heard from so many people around the world that Obama inspires them. His message of hope goes beyond our country's borders. Yes we can!

[Anne]

At this point, I find all the negative campaigning from both camps annoying. I hate that negative campaigns always crop up now. I hate that as soon as anyone takes the presidency, there are people who do nothing but rip apart their past and try to anything that will make the person seem horrid - even if it is completely out of context.

That being said, I will be pleased to have Clinton or Obama in the White House.

[cynematic]

Forgot to add: Senator Obama's too proud to mention this in his own defense, but as recently as 2000 when he attended the DNC in LA and was trying to pick up his rental car, his credit card was rejected. Twice. (It was finally authorized, but still. It's an everyday person's problem...BTDT, how about you?) Page 355, Audacity of Hope.

Now does that sound like someone who's living the "elitist" life?

[Lawyer Mama]

Yes, you've stated exactly why the Wright flap bothers me so much. Does the Pope speak for every Catholic out there? I don't think so. I think MOST people sit in church and listen to things they don't believe and keep going back every week. To hold Obama to a higher standard is hypocritical.

[LizP]

Excellent post! While I still haven't decided who to vote for (the OR primary is in two weeks) I don't like to have to listen to the poor dead horse being beaten - for either candidate. Talk about the issues people! My husband is voting for Senator Obama and my MIL & BIL are voting for Senator Clinton. I'll probably decide as I am filling out my ballot.

[birdgal]

Hillary's pandering to working-class voters is really grating on my nerves--it's just so...fake. Yet, as you said, they are buying it hook, line, and sinker. And, in my mind, if you're a sitting member of Congress (or, even retired) you ARE a member of the 'elite' class. Hell, if your annual income is in the millions of dollars (whether it's yours or your spouses) you are 'elite'. That Hillary tries to sell herself as otherwise bothers me.

Anyway, as I'm sitting here in North Carolina, I'm just itching to go cast my vote for Obama today after work.
YES WE CAN!! :)

[chelsea]

Hey Moms!
How are we feeling tonight? I LOVE NC!
It's 12:17 AM I am waiting for the results from Indy!
What a great night for Obama--and us!!!
Yes We Can!!!!!!!!!!!
Chelsea

[happybell]

I'm from the other side of the world. Where I live, not much is discussed about the US elections, as a matter of fact, most people here don't even understand what's going on, what's the big fuzz about the delegates and superdelegates since our electoral system is very different.

Around here, people ask themselves whether the US is ready for a President of colour, or a female President; to the extreme that some people say Hillary will win because the average US citizen would rather have a female President than a black President.

Honestly, I hope Obama wins, not because it would be great to see a mixed-race President (it would,but that's not the point), but because I BELIEVE HIM when he speaks. He seems trustworthy, someone that both US citizens and others can trust and believe. He seems someone that will hold his ground about his beliefs, someone honest.

I look at him and see a LEADER capable of inspiring others.

So, Go OBAMA!