you Elitist, you.

As you know I have been trying to stay away from the politics. But, it is an addiction I cannot quit. When I get my feathers ruffled I try to sit back and mellow out. However, sometimes things fester. Elitism has festered for a couple of weeks.

As you all know, the world has been abuzz the past few weeks regarding which US Senator educated at an Ivy League college (or comparable school) with an income in the upper .5% of nation is less Elitist. Apparently the former 1st Lady from an exclusive Chicago suburb and the son and grandson of Navy Admirals are less elitist than the son of an immigrant raised by a single mom (and then educated at exclusive schools). Give me a break. When was the last time we had a president that was not an Elitist?

Dubya? son of a president, former oil man, Yale and Harvard grad. But, he is a bit dense- so we think he is "one of us."
Clinton? raised by single mom. lived in trailer. But, studied at Georgetown, Yale and Oxford.
Bush? son of a Senator. Yale grad.
Reagan? Hollywood. California.
Carter? Our least elitist president in a couple of generations. How did that work out for most people?

Face it. Our presidents and our senators are elitists. How can they be anything but? But, we want them to pander to us and act like us. We want them drinking beer, bowling, hunting and fishing, flipping pancakes and fixing lawnmowers. I could care less about any of this. I want them to solve the world's problems and make the US a better place to live. A guy like me cannot do that.

Here is one of the best quotes regarding the relative importance of "Elitism" among the presidential candidates (thanks to Andrew Sullivan):

"If Barack Obama or anyone else really cares to know what I think, I will simplify it all down to this. The landmark political fact of our time is the replacement of our middle-class republic by a plutocracy. If some candidate has a scheme to reverse this trend, they've got my vote, whether they prefer Courvoisier or beer bongs spiked with cough syrup. I don't care whether they enjoy my books, or would rather have every scrap of paper bearing my writing loaded into a C-47 and dumped into Lake Michigan. If it will help restore the land of relative equality I was born in, I'll fly the plane myself," - Thomas A. Frank, Wall Street Journal.

However, the best thing said on the subject was by Jon Stewart last week. It is 9 minutes long, but well worth it. The money quote is around 7 minutes in, where Jon points out that Elite is a good thing! We need a president that is an elitist, not one that is a Frat brother that we can do shots with. We need a president that can go toe to toe with Russian leaders, not bowl 225 after a day of duck hunting. As Jon says, we need presidents that are "embarrassingly better than" the rest of us.