Obama is not an Elitist, But I Am

Yeah, I’ll admit to it: I am an elitist. Every single time I hear Barack Obama or any other politician—even if the context of their pronouncement is a noble one—say something along the lines of “The American People are smarter than that” I have to respectfully disagree. I’m sorry, but no, we are not.

If we were that smart, then we would’ve asked to impeach a president who did NOTHING about the threat of imminent terrorism on our shores, and when on his watch it happened, he used the blood of the innocent as a pretext to lie us into a war for oil, tried to cover it up, and now, 5 years later, this tragic mess has cost the unnecessary death of more than 4,000 servicemen and women, $10 billion a month and a weakened country financially, militarily and diplomatically. Oh, if Bill Clinton had done this! He who, in essence, was to be impeached for lying about a blow job. He’d be sentenced to two dimes at Leavenworth. Meanwhile, W is going home scot-free to Crawford to clear some brush. And a third of the country is STILL behind him, the worst president in history.

If we were that smart, we would send John McCain packing, after having done a 180 degree turn on almost everything he has stood for in his life and shamelessly proceeded to tell us that he puts his country first, despite the blatantly political move of placing an ignorant neophyte possibly a heartbeat away from running our country. We should’ve shunned him right after he stated that he, and not Barack Obama, will be an agent of change in Washington. Of course, his 90% lockstep with the policies of George W. Bush and the presence of top tier lobbyists in the upper strata of his campaign is a Democratic smokescreen. McCain wants us to pay attention to his words and not his political deeds. And guess what? We are: he is now leading Obama in the polls!

If we were that smart, we would judge people running for office on the merits and achievements directly related to the job they are campaigning for. Not on how much fun it might be to have a beer with them, engage in some sports-related extra curricular activity, or the dually narcissistic and ignorant thought that their lives should resemble ours in any way, shape or form. But we’re not that smart. That’s why McCain’s campaign manager made the ludicrous statement that this election was not about the issues but about personalities. He knows we’re not smart enough to put aside whatever superficial connection we’ve been made to feel about a candidate and truly discern what is best for us and our future. Not to mention how this backwards thinking nonsense of ours got us 8 years of the current disastrous administration.

So, because I really don’t give a rat’s ass if a candidate has the same ethnicity, whisky preference, baseball team allegiance or music selection on their iPod as I do, I’ll be branded as an elitist. Because I want my elected officials to be smarter than me, with a decent grasp of the economy and foreign affairs, even keeled, with a tangible relationship with those less fortunate, true to their word, and as untainted as possible by the dark underbelly of the particular corruption unique to Washington, I am an elitist. Hey, it could be worse: I could be undecided.

Perhaps the one thing that the loathsome Ann Coulter and I agree on is our mutual disdain for undecided voters, especially in this presidential campaign. Despite McCain’s recent empty, co-opted and untrue rhetoric, the two choices are in stark contrast of each other. Yet, there are people truly undecided. And enough of them to swing the election one way or another. You would think that anyone paying attention would’ve made up their minds by now.

Unfortunately, we’re not smarter than that.