Kerry: Obama no elitist
Senator John F. Kerry, who was tagged as an elitist as the 2004 Democratic presidential nominee, said today that Barack Obama won't let the same happen to him.
Obama has been attacked after he wore a tie while bowling a 37 (albeit in only seven frames) and after talking about arugula in Iowa.
"Barack Obama has done a fantastic job fighting back against it," Kerry said on MSNBC. "He is showing presidential leadership. The American people will not be fooled by those kinds of games again."
The Massachusetts senator, interviewed from Capitol Hill by NBC news anchor Brian Williams, said Obama has a "terrific story" of lifting himself by his own bootstraps that has "yet to be fully told." And Obama will have enough time and money to tell that story once he secures the nomination.
Kerry, who gave a high-profile endorsement of Obama, said he didn't have those advantages in 2004, when Republicans and their allies portrayed him as a flip-flopping windsurfer.
He also acknowledged that he and his campaign should have done a better job answering the criticism. He said he thought people would see through the attacks, but learned the hard way that in today's politics, a candidate has to fight back aggressively.
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Some of Barack Obama’s detractors have accused him of being an elitist, and they are perfectly happy if voters continue to confuse being a member of the elite with being an elitist. Let’s be frank – you don’t get to run for President of the United States unless you are a member of the “elite” – someone with power, wealth, talent, and/or intelligence. John McCain is a member of the elite, as is Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama. There’s nothing wrong with being elite.
But there is something wrong with being an elitist - a person who believes that society should be dominated by the elite, and that government should function for the benefit of the elite. Who comes to mind? Why, George Bush, of course! He rode the coattails of his rich and powerful family to become arguably the worst President in American history. In spite of an impressive list of failures, he has been astonishingly successful at furthering his elitist agenda, which is helping to build wealth and increase power for his real constituency – the richest and most powerful people in the nation. Instead of being inspired by the anti-elitist American ideal of the “public interest”, Mr. Bush has implemented an array of tax cut and deregulation policies designed solely to make the rich and powerful richer and more powerful while ignoring the needs of all other segments of American society. This is the very definition of elitism and elitist behavior.
Mr. Obama, on the other hand, is a member of the elite who believes that government should work for the public interest, for the benefit of ALL the people, not solely for the rich and powerful elite. Based on his comments during this election season, it appears that Mr. McCain would continue Mr. Bush’s elitist approach to governing, while Mr. Obama would move the country away from elitism and towards the egalitarianism that was envisioned when the country was founded.
Great and well-written.
Hillary should be ashamed of herself for using the Karl Rove playbook against a fellow Dem......she wants this job WAY too much!
I am having none of it.
This blogger might want to review your comment before posting it.