Posted on 08/08/2004 8:48:54 PM PDT by Rummyfan
During their triumphant 1939 tour of Canada, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth took a brief detour south of the border to visit the Roosevelts at Hyde Park. It was the first time a reigning monarch had set foot on American soil, and to mark the occasion president and Mrs. Roosevelt introduced the royal couple to a local delicacy called "hot dogs."
There's an important lesson there: An American president, even one as wealthy as FDR, is obligated to share the tastes of the people in a way that the House of Windsor is not, even today. Try to imagine the roles reversed: the Roosevelts at Windsor, and the King serving up jellied eels and mushy peas.
And that's the problem with John Kerry: It's not that he's rich but that he's rich in a very un-American way.
His swank has a European air about it. When he eats a hot dog, it appears as foreign to him as it did to George VI. Even though his regal lifestyle is funded by the enduring popularity of his wife's hot dog condiment.
Case in point: On Friday, the Kerry campaign bus was passing through Newburgh, north of New York, and stopped at the local Wendy's. That's a fast-food chain, famous for using square patties between round buns so it's fun to nibble the corners off. Hence the last time Wendy's figured in a presidential campaign, 20 years ago, when Walter Mondale appropriated their taunt to their competitors and turned it on Gary Hart: "Where's the beef?"
The preceding explanation is for the benefit of non-American readers. It should not be necessary to explain what Wendy's is to any American, even presidential candidates.
So the campaign team dropped in at the burger joint. Elizabeth Edwards, the wife of Kerry's running mate, had told a heartwarming personal anecdote at the convention about how every anniversary she and her husband celebrate at Wendy's because on their wedding night it was the only restaurant they could afford to eat at. John Edwards' campaign theme is a slice of warmed-over Disraeli: There are "two Americas" – one for the rich, one for the poor and, even though he's part of the former, he wants you to know that he started out in the latter. Friday was the Edwardses' 27th anniversary, so in keeping with tradition they hit the Newburgh Wendy's, along with the Kerrys' campaign mascot Ben Affleck and accompanying press crew.
The photo-op didn't go smoothly. Kerry went over to say hi to some marines, who turned out to be Bush supporters and resented the interruption to their lunch. More telling was Teresa Heinz Kerry. She pointed to the picture of the bowl of chili above the clerk's head: "What's that?" she asked. He explained that it was something called "chili," and she said she'd like to try a bowl. The senator also ordered a Frosty, a chocolate dessert. They toyed with them after a fashion and then got back on the bus.
It then emerged that Wendy's had just been an appetizer. The campaign advance team had ordered 19 five-star lunches from the Newburgh Yacht Club for Kerry, Edwards, Affleck, & Co. to be served back on the bus: shrimp vindaloo, grilled diver sea scallops, prosciutto, wrapped stuffed chicken, etc. I'm not sure whether Ben had the shrimp and Teresa the scallops, but either way, it turns out John Edwards is right: There are two Americas – one America where folks eat at Wendy's, and another America where the elite pass an amusing half hour slumming among the folks at Wendy's and then chow down on the Newburgh Yacht Club's specials of the day.
The Elizabeth Edwards anniversary-at-Wendy's shtick was meant to emphasize her husband's authenticity, but it now looks as inauthentic as Kerry's own blundering "regular guy" routine. I scoffed at Edwards' "two Americas" riff when he was peddling it in New Hampshire because its notion that there's the toffs in their mansions and the great unwashed in their Dickensian workhouses and ne'er the twain shall meet seemed complete bunk.
On reflection, I now see there might indeed be something to the idea of a remote privileged class hermetically sealed off from the masses. Unfortunately, John Kerry seems to be the best living exemplar of it. He may not enjoy eating at Wendy's, but his faux lunch order captures the essence of his crowd-working style: chili and Frosty. If I were the Wendy's marketing director, I'd make it the John Kerry Special from now through election day.
In 1992, pictures of a baffled George Bush pere marveling as a supermarket clerk demonstrated a barcode scanner were seized on by the media as evidence of how out of touch he was. But barcode scanners were introduced to supermarkets during his 12 years at the White House, and a sitting president or vice-president doesn't get many opportunities to go grocery shopping.
The difference between Bush Sr. and Kerry is that Prince John of Gaunt seems far more isolated from the rhythms of American life, and he hasn't even gotten to the White House yet.
The tonal disconnect is only going to get worse between now and November. At the convention last week, Ted Kennedy urged Americans to make sure that this January John Kerry has a "nice new home." But, thanks to his wife's first husband, he already has five multimillion-dollar homes, including a 15th-century stone barn dismantled and shipped over from England to serve as their ski chalet in Idaho. By contrast, George W. Bush has one modest ranch in Crawford, a town no one would choose to live in unless it genuinely was his home.
As Noemi Emery put it in The Weekly Standard, Kerry is not just "the richest man ever to run on a national ticket" but also "the most self-indulgent in his lifestyle, and the most quasi-royal in his sense of himself."
That gives a whiff of condescension to his chant of "Help Is on the Way," a slogan already a tad too crudely nanny-statish. On the other hand, it's a very good catchphrase for Senator Kerry if he's back at the 15th-century ski chalet in Idaho and Teresa's complaining because she rang for a Scotch five minutes ago. "Don't be so impatient, lovey. The help is on the way."
Ping!
"John Edwards is right: There are two Americas – one America where folks eat at Wendy's, and another America where the elite pass an amusing half hour slumming among the folks at Wendy's and then chow down on the Newburgh Yacht Club's specials of the day."
And higher taxes (for the ordinary Americans) are on the way!
Apparently the "Same Values, Different Tax Bracket" Tour hit a gaffe.
I swear if Kerry manages to pull off this election, it'll be the biggest scam since the invention of the Pet Rock - which, by the way is far more charming than Kerry ever was.
I love reading unabridged Steyn! Thanks so much.
This tendency for things to get out of control without regard for the facts is a disturbing part of journalism these days. Oddly the reaction is to dismiss or underweight certain information because of the track record of the media in general. Thus - stories like the allegation of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth are not evaluated on the truth or falsity of what they say - but are shot down ab initio as being "immoral" (Bill O'Reilly made this indefensible remark) or "gutter politics" Ugh!
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