Wednesday, April 16, 2008

BARACK OBAMA

“As a white person, this term, the way it is being used against you, it isn’t far from ‘uppity,’ OK?”

One of my readers suggested that Obama would be in trouble the moment his unofficial slogan became, "An Obama Presidency: A Four to Eight Year National Conversation on Race."

It would appear that Obama's supporters - though wisely, not the candidate himself — are contending that suggesting their man is elitist is not that easy to distinguish from racism:

The individual who asked about the comments suggested the charges of elitism had racial overtones.

“As a white person, this term, the way it is being used against you, it isn’t far from ‘uppity,’ OK?” the man told Obama angrily. “And I think the Clintons are getting away with something that they must be called on. They will continue to do it until somebody states, ‘Mrs Clinton, you’re really close to prejudice here. This is wrong.’”

Obama said it was “nice to say that,” but he didn’t think racial overtones were shading the debate.

“I think that, you know, it’s politics,” he said. “When we start getting behind in races, then we start going on the attack.”

Elsewhere, Jen Rubin notes that Obama is talking about his humble roots to dispel the charge of elitism and snobbery. (He apparently keeps referring to his three-bedroom condo as a one-bedroom.) But snobbery is less about income than it is about one's attitude towards other people — most often expressed when one is among one's own (say, while drinking wine among San Francisco's elites).

Bill Gates is the wealthiest man in the country, but I don't know if Americans think of him as a snob. A nerd, maybe, but not a snob. Professional athletes, musicians, and actors all make enormous sums of money, but the appeal of the latter groups depends on their ability to establish an emotional connection with the much less wealthy members of their audience. George W. Bush is enormously wealthy, but he, too, rarely gives off a snobbish vibe, and I'll bet many Americans actually look down their nose at him as unsophisticated.

Barack Obama's statement to the San Francisco crowd was essentially, 'I know these people in small towns in Pennsylvania, I understand why they're skeptical about my candidacy, I know what motivates them. I know what motivates them better than they know themselves.' Then he argued that five separate behaviors, jumbling together good and bad — gun ownership, religious belief, antipathy towards those different (racism, presumably?), antipathy to immigrants (xenophobia) and opposition to trade deals — all were triggered by economic hardship. That's what's getting small town Pennsylvanians irked — it's that he's saying when he's not around them, "these people think they own guns and have faith because they like guns and organized religion — but I know it's a result of their economic conditions."

04/16 08:47 AMShare