I've been watching the race for the 2008 Democratic Presidential nomination very carefully. And sadly, I'm beginning to wonder if the term "white working class" or “blue collar” Americans, to which journalists keep referring, is actually code word for "white Americans who are uncomfortable electing a Black man for president."
I say that because Barack Obama is being accused of being elitist. He's being accused of being "out of touch" with middle and working class white Americans. This position is dubious to me for three reasons:
1)Elitist? Both Obama and his wife were raised in working class and middle class families all of their lives. Yes, they attended the "best" schools and obtained "good jobs" upon matriculating. However, they both defected from corporate America to the nonprofit sector in order to "give back," and they financed their first-rate educations by a ton of student loans that amounted to more than their mortgage for the majority of their married life. It's only been as a result of Obama's recent New York Times Best Selling book that he has been able to alleviate that debt.
2)Elitist? The majority of African Americans are not middle-to-upper class, yet African Americans consistently vote for Barack Obama in large numbers. If Barack Obama was truly elitist, Black Americans would be the last group of people to whom he would appeal. Traditionally, Black people have not been enamored with other Blacks who appear to disconnect themselves from other black people. Point in case: Clarence Thomas and Ward Connerley. On the contrary, Black Americans seem to understand Obama's life story and his struggle to find his place in America--and most can relate. To most Black Americans, there is not one thread of elitism about him.
3) Elitist? Senator Barack Obama has engaged more individuals of every economic level and every race, than any other candidate. He’s raised more money in the history of presidential campaigns and he’s done so from everyday working Americans giving anywhere from twenty-five to one hundred dollars. Most telling, he’s garnered the “white working/middle class” vote in Iowa, Virginia, Wisconsin, Colorado, Alaska, North Dakota, Idaho, Illinois, and Minnesota.
I think if you take a close look at Senator Barack Obama and his life, his work you’ll find that he’s not an elitist. So when I keep hearing the accusation that Barack Obama is “elitist” or "out of touch" it is mind boggling to me. It is then that I wonder if there is not more to the “elitist” claim than what appears on the surface.
It is then that I wonder if "elitist" and "out of touch with working and middle class Americans" is not simply code word for “working and middle class white Americans who find it difficult to elect a Black man for President of the United States of America.”
I certainly hope it’s not true, but I sure wonder.
I say that because Barack Obama is being accused of being elitist. He's being accused of being "out of touch" with middle and working class white Americans. This position is dubious to me for three reasons:
1)Elitist? Both Obama and his wife were raised in working class and middle class families all of their lives. Yes, they attended the "best" schools and obtained "good jobs" upon matriculating. However, they both defected from corporate America to the nonprofit sector in order to "give back," and they financed their first-rate educations by a ton of student loans that amounted to more than their mortgage for the majority of their married life. It's only been as a result of Obama's recent New York Times Best Selling book that he has been able to alleviate that debt.
2)Elitist? The majority of African Americans are not middle-to-upper class, yet African Americans consistently vote for Barack Obama in large numbers. If Barack Obama was truly elitist, Black Americans would be the last group of people to whom he would appeal. Traditionally, Black people have not been enamored with other Blacks who appear to disconnect themselves from other black people. Point in case: Clarence Thomas and Ward Connerley. On the contrary, Black Americans seem to understand Obama's life story and his struggle to find his place in America--and most can relate. To most Black Americans, there is not one thread of elitism about him.
3) Elitist? Senator Barack Obama has engaged more individuals of every economic level and every race, than any other candidate. He’s raised more money in the history of presidential campaigns and he’s done so from everyday working Americans giving anywhere from twenty-five to one hundred dollars. Most telling, he’s garnered the “white working/middle class” vote in Iowa, Virginia, Wisconsin, Colorado, Alaska, North Dakota, Idaho, Illinois, and Minnesota.
I think if you take a close look at Senator Barack Obama and his life, his work you’ll find that he’s not an elitist. So when I keep hearing the accusation that Barack Obama is “elitist” or "out of touch" it is mind boggling to me. It is then that I wonder if there is not more to the “elitist” claim than what appears on the surface.
It is then that I wonder if "elitist" and "out of touch with working and middle class Americans" is not simply code word for “working and middle class white Americans who find it difficult to elect a Black man for President of the United States of America.”
I certainly hope it’s not true, but I sure wonder.
