Elite II

It's happened again.

"Elite" has resurfaced as a dirty word in American culture and politics. Please see my first Elite posting, where I talk about this at length. Enough to say here that anti-intellectualism was at the core of American culture as soon as the founders of this country were all dead: now THEY were elitists. A number of them even spoke French.

Horrors.

Also see where I myself came from in my early blogs, especially Mom and Dad, just so you know that I came from even humbler origins than Obama, though not half black ("as far as I know," to quote Hillary).

Why is it that a feckless, barely literate chimp born with a silver spoon in his mouth, with an immense trust fund at his disposal, and who hasn't had to work a day in his life, isn't called an elitist? Because his elitism lies in money. That's OK in our country. If our elitism lies in brains, personal achievement or cosmopolitan awareness of the world, that's not OK. That's why Obama is not OK: he did it himself without using anyone else's money, especially his black daddy's. Talk about bootstraps!

How can a woman who owns half of a hundred and nine million dollars and who served on the board of Walmart call someone else an elitist? See above. How can a man who married rich the second time and no longer has to work for a living call someone else an elitist? See above.

Why is it that Obama offends so many so often? Because he is highly educated and much smarter than his current opponents, 90% of the Republican Party, and most of the presidents whom we have elected, with the exception of JFK, FDR, Lincoln, and Jefferson. And because he is unflappable, counterattacks with facts when assaulted, maintains his cool, and--most unforgivable of all--tells the goddamn-often-unpalatable truth again and again in the face of half-truth, innuendo and lies. He also has a conscience his enemies can't forget and for which they hate him all the more because they themselves are impotent in the face of its power.

And guess who volunteered for the marines and served in Vietnam while chicken hawks Bill and Dick (and I) were getting deferment after deferment and chicken hawk Dubya was drinking and malingering in Alabama while supposedly with the Texas Air National Guard (a post his daddy wangled to keep him out of the war)?

Jeremiah Wright, Obama's maligned minister.

Dass who.

And let the Republicans and sportscasters wear that stupid lapel pin, Barack. You keep it off. You're a better patriot than all of them put together without it.

So am I.