Maureen Dowd Massacres Obama's "Elitism"

Maureen Dowd: "Behind closed doors in San Francisco, elitism's epicenter, Barack Obama showed his elitism, attributing the emotional, spiritual and cultural values of working-class, 'lunch pail' Pennsylvanians to economic woes."

Now this is a pleasant surprise - Maureen Dowd's "Eggheads And Cheeseballs," a mediation on Obama's San Francisco gaffe in which he told a group of wealthy donors that


It's not surprising, then, they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.


The liberal Dowd hasn't shrunk from mocking Obama ("his smooth-jazz facade") and Clinton in the past, but Wednesday's passionate, snark-less defense of her roots in a family of Reagan Democrats could have come from a conservative:


I'm not bitter.


I'm not writing this just because I grew up in a house with a gun, a strong Catholic faith, an immigrant father, brothers with anti-illegal immigrant sentiments and a passion for bowling. (My bowling trophy was one of my most cherished possessions.)


My family morphed from Kennedy Democrats into Reagan Republicans not because they were angry, but because they felt more comfortable with conservative values. Members of my clan sometimes were overly cloistered. But they weren't bitter; they were bonding.


They went to church every Sunday because it was part of their identity, not because they needed a security blanket.


Behind closed doors in San Francisco, elitism's epicenter, Barack Obama showed his elitism, attributing the emotional, spiritual and cultural values of working-class, "lunch pail" Pennsylvanians to economic woes.


The last few weeks have not been kind to Hillary, but the endless endgame has not been kind to the Wonder Boy either. Obama comes across less like a candidate in Pennsylvania than an anthropologist in Borneo.


Expect many liberal Obamasupporters to suddenly discover that Dowd is often shallow and catty.