Elitism and the Democratic Party

Elites don’t bowl. And they don’t drink shots of whiskey.

That could be the headline coming out of the weekend’s battle over who is and who isn’t the elitist in the Democratic Party.

Of course, the irony is that the Democrats are an elitist party.

Republicans are the party of Wal-Mart; the Democrats are the party of Starbucks.

Republicans are the party of those who go to church; the Democrats are the party whose members pray at the altar of secular humanism.

Republicans are the party of guns; the Democrats are the party of gun control.

Of course, this is a gross simplification.

And the problem with Republicans is that they have lost both the Wal-Mart crowd and the CEO crowd.

But that doesn’t mean that Democrats can easily shake the elitist label.

Barack Obama is following in a long line of elitists who look down on the habits of normal Americans. Remember Adlai Stevenson? George McGovern? Al Gore? John Kerry?

Bubba Clinton was the picture of anti-elitism, which is why he won twice, and Jimmy Carter ran as a Bible-thumping man of the people. It turned out that Carter was just another elitist, which is why he was quickly bounced.

Of course, Hillary Clinton is an elitist, too. But at least she can drink a boilermaker.

Now, Barack Obama’s story of struggle growing up a black man on the South Side of Chicago may make it seem like he is not an elitist. But that is not the whole story.

His mother was very much an intellectual elitist, as was his father. His unique upbringing, including stops at elite East Coast universities, gave him an elitist outlook that showed itself in his speech to a roomful of elite (and rich) San Francisco liberals.

Take one look at how Barack Obama bowls. He bowls like an elitist, which is why so many elitist Democrats love him so.

This label will stick, and it will hurt more than the media elite really understand.