Today on the elitist NPR show “All Things Considered,” David Brooks and E.J. Dionne agreed that Obama’s comments re working class people clinging bitterly to religion and guns because their jobs went away are going to hurt him with ordinary people. Brooks said that people want a president who they think they can sit down with and who can relate to them. The president may come from an elite, but he has to know how to chat with ordinary people and feel what they’re feeling. Kerry and Dukakis lost because they were elitists from Massachusetts. Chris Matthews has said the same thing: he’s guffawed at the fact that Obama went into a diner and when the owner offered him coffee, Obama asked for orange juice. He was so uncomfortable, said Matthews. Why can’t he take the coffee and then say, Thanks, man; Oh can I have some orange juice. He can’t sit down with people and chat about the Phils, says Matthews, who is maybe planning to do just that.
The last tiime I stood up for Obama on this issue, Todd Hanvy justly blasted me, I’m going to try and refine my argument. Obama comes from a humble background but he is an elitist by character. It’s who he is. He’s intellectually superior and he knows it; it makes him arrogant. He’s not as wealthy as McCain or Hillary, but he’s aristocratic thru and thru. I don’t think Hillary has the common touch either, but she can try. McCain can relate to anyone.
Brooks–a fair weather populist–is right that people prefer someone with a common touch, but it’s not everything. Kerry lost because of the climate of fear and his gutless reaction to the swiftboating, not because of his mid-Atlantic accent purely. In Obama’s case, people will overlook his hauteur because his strengths are so outsize. People recognize that the country is in a profound mess, and they want dramatic change and intelligent leadership. Those things Obama can provide. Think what a thrill it will be if he is elected, the shock waves it will send through the world and through our society. A lot of voters are surely curious about that, and will vote for him on that basis alone, and could give a damn about his cold personality. McCain doesn’t know the difference between Shi’ites and Sunnis; his atherosclerotic mind is a lot more important consideration than what a personable guy he is. Richard Nixon wasn’t the kind of guy anyone felt comfortable sitting around with; but people overlooked that, saw his intelligence. FDR was the last thing from ordinary, and he fixed the Great Depression. Lincoln was an awkward man who freed the slaves. JFK wasn’t an ordinary guy, but the air of glamour and change was winning. Even Ronald Reagan, the great communicator, is described as a shy private man, very difficult for anyone but Nancy to warm up to.
So ordinariness is a false value. We’ve had two presidents you would love to have a beer with and look what we got for that. Obama’s handlers should tell him never to wax sociological again, never to condescend, but they shouldn’t hide his cerebral detached side. That’s who he is. Aristocrats can be great reformers. Just because he’s not good with ordinary people doesn’t mean that he won’t care deeply about them as a group.
