Sunday, April 13, 2008

Is Barack Obama an elitist liberal?

Alan Stewart Carl on Obama's views of working class social conservatives:

Obama is displaying the elitist liberal tendency to see blue-collar and rural “red” voters as misled people who would surely vote Democratic if only they were better enlightened. Then they wouldn’t cling to such unnecessary matters as religion and guns.

I can’t use this one comment to brand Obama as undoubtedly elitist, but at the very least, it shows how, when going off-script, he’s likely to reach for the elitist liberal ideology to frame his opinions. His own experiences show he understands the value of religion and his opposition to NAFTA shows he doesn’t really think anti-free trade sentiments are merely something to cling to (unless he’s a hypocrite, which is possible), but this comment is nevertheless revealing.

As I’ve said many times before, this is the problem with Obama’s inexperience. He simply doesn’t have a deep enough public record for us to know who he truly is and where he truly stands. He’s highly scripted, so when he goes off-script we have to give those remarks real weight. Is he a liberal elitist at heart? I don’t know but I suspect he’s much closer to being one than his unity rhetoric leads some to believe.

Clinton Says Obama's 'Bitter' Remark Could Cost Party General Election

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