Mark Steyn: The Upper-Class Downer ("...Obama belongs to the upper class...")

National Review Online ^ | February 16, 2010 | Mark Steyn

[neverdem]

Jim Geraghty drew attention to this poll over in his fiefdom, and it's certainly worth a look:

CNN Poll: Anti-Incumbent Fever At Record High

Wasn't that the headline in the Oct. 24, 1917 edition of the Winter Palace Court Circular? Despite CNN's best efforts to present this as bad news for incumbents in general as opposed to any incumbents in particular, real news breaks through 137 paragraphs down:

According to the poll, 44 percent of registered voters say Obama deserves re-election, with 52 percent saying the president does not deserve a second term in office. The survey also indicates that 49 percent of Americans approve of the job Obama's doing as president, with half of the public disapproving of his job in the White House.

"One problem Obama faces may be the perception that Obama is not a middle-class kind of guy," Holland said. "Only 4 percent of Americans describe themselves as upper class. But a 45 percent plurality say that Obama belongs to the upper class, with 42 percent saying he is from the middle class and 12 percent describing him as working class."

But why would that surprise you? It's not just that, unlike Bill Clinton, President Obama lacks the common touch. The "upper class" number is also the entirely logical consequence of the he-is-not-as-other-men mythmaking that was the defining characteristic of his campaign. See this German cartoon for how that worked out. That was Obama 1.0: The omniscient leader who would heal the planet.

A year on, with hope and change curdling faster than a bad Hollandaise sauce, the preferred defense of this administration's palace guard in the media is to insist ever more shrilly that the Smartest President of All Time is simply too intelligent for the American people. Obama 1.1: The omniscient leader you're too dumb to appreciate. If that's the message, his "upper class" numbers will rise, and not in a good way.

And the "upper class" poll number is itself a kind of euphemism. The rest of the planet is increasingly cutting to the chase. The opening sentence from the Jerusalem Post's Caroline Glick:

US President Barack Obama is an inept, incompetent leader.

That's easy for world opinion to say. In America, Obama's incompetence reflects not merely on him but on the electorate that fell for such an obviously unqualified bungler. Hence, the president's elitism becomes a kind of extenuating circumstance: Whether or not we're too dumb to get him, he's too rarified to get us, poor man. Obama 1.2: The non-omniscient leader whose monarchical detachment from ordinary life we're still willing to make excuses for.

At some point, even the Joe Kleins have to figure out this isn't going anywhere good unless you think Jimmy Carter in Adlai Stevenson drag is great market-positioning.

[neverdem]

Ping

[RC2]

Add this to the list. You may have heard this but worth listening if you haven’t. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=maP4yHwrkTY

[neverdem]

Thanks any way, but my system is too old for youtube using the latest Adobe flash player.

[MaryFromMichigan]

It was pretty good!
Here's the lyrics and a screen snap-

Two Trillion Bucks - Tennessee Ernie Ford Revisited

Obama got elected, now there is no end;
The Democrats wanna tax and spend,
Tax and spend us into bankruptcy,
With a tax-cheat runnin’ our Treasury.

You spend two trillion bucks, and what do you get?
No recovery but deeper in debt.
St. Peter better call me fore it's too late;
I owe my soul to the welfare state!

Obama is a leftist, as he can't deny;
Govern from the center, was a great big lie.
Karl Marx Manifesto is his playbook,
And you and me soon will be on the hook.

You spend two trillion bucks, in unsecured cash;
Soon the dollar will be pure trash.
Our bond holders we have to appease;
We owe our soul to the Red Chinese.

Obama and his people are makin’ a mess,
Bernanke’s fired up the printing press,
Printin’ money that don't exist,
No wonder America is gettin’ (peeved?)

You spend two trillion bucks,
They aint done yet!
Obama and Pelosi are pilin’ up the debt.
I work hard for the money, this I don't deserve
We owe our souls to the Federal Reserve!

[HowlinglyMind-BendingAbsurdity]

.......

Too much Harvard and arugula?

[mc5cents]

[freekitty]

How would anyone know what Obama is? No one knows who he is.

[mc5cents]

That's easy for world opinion to say. In America, Obama's incompetence reflects not merely on him but on the electorate that fell for such an obviously unqualified bungler. Hence, the president's elitism becomes a kind of extenuating circumstance: Whether or not we're too dumb to get him, he's too rarified to get us, poor man. Obama 1.2: The non-omniscient leader whose monarchical detachment from ordinary life we're still willing to make excuses for.

Steyn you magnificent bastard! I read your book, too.

[neverdem]

Thanks for the lyrics & toon!

[Woebama]

I am nuetral on the upper class. George Washington good. Thomas Jefferson good. George Soros bad. Tim Geitner bad.

[Zeppo]

At some point, even the Joe Kleins have to figure out this isn't going anywhere good...

Clearly Steyn is giving Joe Klein the benefit of the doubt here...

[Ouderkirk]

[Slings and Arrows]

Needs bigger ears.