Who's the Elitist?

Newsweek's Andrew Romano scoffs at McCain's attempts to paint Obama as an elitist.

Simply imagine the memo David Axelrod could send to reporters about the Republican nominee. "Only a celebrity of John McCain's magnitude could star on blockbuster television shows like '24' and appear in big-budget motion pictures like 'Wedding Crashers,'" it would read. "These are not campaign commercials or news interviews, but major Hollywood productions--which is no surprise, given that he's pals with Warren Beatty. Only celebrities like John McCain own seven homes, date Brazilian models, marry blond, jet-owning heiresses worth $100 million, ring up $500,000 a month on the family credit card, forget the last time they pumped their own gas and wear $520 black calfskin loafers by Ferragamo." Get the picture?

And just what would be wrong with this memo, or a commercial with a bunch of working class Obama supporters reading the copy directly into the camera? Democrats have been wimps for far too long, and mostly never stand up and dish it out like this. Kerry didn't do it, and he got trounced. It was reported in the NY Times in 2004 that it granted anonymity to Bush campaign operatives so that they could tell the paper that they were to say that John Kerry "looks French," a reference to the fact that Kerry spoke fluent French. The article also reported that the Bush campaign was calling John Edwards "The Breck Girl of politics." These kinds of attacks, when picked up by the corporate media, snowball so fast that it's often too late for the recipient of the attack to strike back; if he does, he's often slammed for "going negative." Obama did hit back this time, pretty effectively:

"We want to have a serious debate. But so far, we've been hearing about Paris Hilton and Britney Spears. I do have to ask my opponent: is that the best you can come up with? Is that really what the election is about? Is that worthy of the American people? Even the media has pointed out...that McCain has fallen back into ... predictable political attacks and demonstratively false statements... Spending all this time talking about me instead of talking about what he's going to do. That's not going to lower your gas prices. That's's not going...to help you find a job if it's been shipped overseas. It doesn't do a single thing to help the American people. It's the politics of the game. But the time for game-playing is over. That's why I'm running for President."

Watch out, McBushie! Obama's going to serve you good!