Remember back in 2007/2008 when Democratic candidate Barack Obama was being called an elitist? Well, if you miss that kind of media coverage, the Washington Post‘s Dana Milbank has got you covered (9/18/09) here, writing up Michelle Obama’s visitto aD.C. farmers market:
The promotion of organic and locally grown food, though an admirable cause, is a risky one for the Obamas, because there’s a fine line between promoting healthful eating and sounding like a snob. The president, when he was a candidate in 2007, got in trouble in Iowa when he asked a crowd, “Anybody gone into Whole Foods lately and see what they charge for arugula?” Iowans didn’t have a Whole Foods.
Peter, at the risk of being snarked on by you or Jim, isn’t it the plain truth that the man (and his partner) *are* elitists?
Of course, Milbank should know, shouldn’t he? And Barack and Michelle could be “just folks” (although no one who’s ever sat on a private john in the White House could seriously be considered as such), and he and the rest of the corpress would still paint them as “out of touch”, wouldn’t they?
So it’s not a false description – it’s a dishonest one. That’s the point I’m being trying to make, regardless of Jim’s take on it. Much of this sort of criticism of Obama, and Clinton before him, is accurate to some degree or another.
But that’s pretty much sheer coincidence, isn’t it? Accuracy ain’t what the corpress is striving for, is it? Maintaining the political paradigm is.
As for Whole Foods, it’d be nice if someone asked the president about their union-busting.
Ah, but his evasive reply really wouldn’t suit their purposes, would it? You don’t play “Gotcha!” with real issues that affect the disempowered, do you?
They – the president, the press, the parties – play at politics at one level, and are deadly serious in defending the status quo at another.
Bereft of bread and circuses, you might call it.
Or not.
It would’ve been better to say “Bereft of bread and choking on circuses”, wouldn’t it?
And while it may been different for the Murdochs, Limbaughs and O’Reillys, the pissing on the president at the Post, Times et al is nothing personal, is it? I mean, Milbank and his ilk rub shoulders with Obamanians, if not with The Man himself, at DC soir
I forgot how accents futz up things here – here’s the rest:
I mean, Milbank and his ilk rub shoulders with Obamanians, if not with The Man himself, at DC soirees, don’t they?
And look at how chummy Slippery William is with these bastards. “No hard feelings, guys – it’s just your job. We’re all working for the same things in the end, aren’t we?”
Of course, there’s no real need for him to actually say that, is there? It’s understood.
At least by the people who count.