The gas-tax holiday was never an economic or policy issue. It was meant to position her culturally. It heightened her identification with her white working-class constituency. Obama played his part by citing economists in opposing it. That completed her narrative: He had the pointy-headed professors on his side; she had the single moms seeking relief at the pump.What pisses me off is that Krauthammer has no affinity for the life of the ordinary American. He was born in New York City to Jewish parents of French citizenship, and was raised in Montreal, where he attended The Royal Institution for the Advancement of Learning, or McGill University. Then he attended Harvard Medical School. He's a board-certified psychiatrist who ascended from HMS to the Carter Administration in 1978, writing speeches for Mondale before leaving in 1981 to start writing full-time for The New Republic.
Has this man ever found himself shopping at Wal-Mart or comparing truck tires for his Chevy half-ton? He's about as far removed from working class America as his beloved president. Which makes his commentary about Clinton's transformation from a Bush-bashing leftie to a centrist Everywoman all the more pernicious. As he sees it, Clinton understands that "the way to run against Obama [is by going] back to the center — not ideologically but culturally, not on policy but on attitude." On attitude. Screw policy, screw issues. This is the Rove maneuver of political warfare. Make the other guy wrong to rely on economics, science, and reason. Call him out of touch for forgoing unhealthy foods at the local eateries. Paint him as a clumsy gork for bowling gutter balls; ridicule his playing an urban game like basketball.
And of course we all know which way those "pointy-headed professors" lean. McCain should kiss her ring and pick up the next round of Crown Royal with a beer back.
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