Who’s Elite?

Elite, according to my dictionary, means part of a small, privileged, usually very rich, often powerful group. It is ironic that the label has been pinned on Sen. Barack Obama (rather than a lapel flag) by his two opponents, Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) and Republican Sen. John McCain (Ariz.).

The Wall Street Journal just reported that former Naval Academy officer and longtime Sen. McCain’s recent tax return disclosed he paid $270,000 last year for household help, and paid taxes on $852,000 of his 2007 income. His wife, Cindy, the cookbook adapter, has the real money (as if $852,000 was small stuff) in the McCain family, as the holder of an approximately $100 million stake in the family beer distributorship.

President (ex-governor, Rhodes Scholar) Bill and Sen. (Yale law grad, former first lady) Hillary Clinton’s joint tax return disclosed they reported earnings of $20 million last year. Their estate reportedly is over $100 million. Their situation should be compared with Sen. Obama’s (D-Ill.) joint return reporting $4.2 million last year, his first report of serious income, mostly royalties from his successful books. As Michelle Obama wryly pointed out, they just paid off their school debts. How’s that for elite?

It is ironic that two veteran Washington power-player, multimillionaire senators are calling their nouveau-riche opponent elite! It reminds me of the old line: In Washington politics, the only standard is the double-standard.