"Elitism" is the new "uppity"

[EffieBlack]

Commentators and politicians have been talking about "angry white men" for years and I have yet to hear them called "elitist.".

Yet all of a sudden, when Barack Obama mentions these men - not defining them by race and gender but includes them as part of a larger group - and treats them as more than just the latest tag-word demographic stereotype, showing an insight into WHY they are angry and bitter, HE'S accused of elitism?

Excuse me?

Joe Scarborough bleats on daily about "Joe Sixpack in Youngstown, Ohio" who doesn't want a Harvard-educated lawyer (as opposed to a Yale-educated one or a Air Force Academy officer) telling him about hope or talking to him about race and civil rights. Not a word of complaint from Clinton, McCain or the chattering classes that Joe former Congressman with his own talk show is treating Joe Sixpack as if he's a stupid bigot.

Chris Matthews spits and sputters several hours a week about how "regular people" (which he defines as non-college educated white people) can't connect to Barack Obama. Not a peep from Clinton, McCain or the 24-7 punditry complaining that Matthews with the million-dollar salary is looking down on "regular people" as uneducated bigots.

Commentators have been analyzing for years how politicians can capture the votes of the "angry white man. Did I miss the outrage from Clinton, McCain and the brilliant analysts who certainly must have been HORRIFIED at the condescension, not to mention race-baiting - of these commentators. How DARE they deign to single out these men by race and call them "ANGRY!"Barack Obama simply pointed out something we all know. There are many people in these communities who are bitter (angry) about circumstances beyond their control. But apparently, although this phenomenon has been discussed ad nauseum by countless people up until now - albeit with abject superficiality - HE's not supposed to mention it. And even though he managed to provide more depth and insight about the matter in 30 seconds than those people have offered in years, the very fact that HE had the temerity to mention it supposedly proves that HE's elitist.

It is unmistakable and plain as day:

"Elitist" is the new "uppity.".

[Evergreen Emerald]

1. more shouts of "Racism!"

[jackson_dem]

30. They don't understand how harmful this is to Obama

Eventually this will come back to haunt him. Perhaps it already has began...

[grantcart]

34. wise words from one of the most clueless.

[Catherina]

48. Harmful? Watch and see.

The person who's really going to be harmed is Hillary who, along with her supporters, is going to confirm opinions about just how out of touch they are with real America. Don't pick the drapes yet- especially when you don't have the cash to pay the little people who make those drapes.


A little person vendor requesting payment for her labor making the royal blue drapes that so compliment Her Majesty's cheeks

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

52. Yep, BombBomb and Hill foolishly asked to go into the bramble bush

they will find that Obama can use his ju-jitsu on them.

[roguevalley]

67. Finally, someone put it down. It is about uppity. I am waiting for

someone to say "negro" any day now. You watch. It will happen.

RV, who lived during Jim Crow and is SICK to see it coming back into style.

[EffieBlack]

71. More claims that a post that discusses race is a shout of "Racism!"

Do you all get tired of that same old whiny, delusional rant?

[TexasObserver]

2. Exactly right. More false outrage and implicit racism from Hillary.

How dare he?! (sarcasm)

Once again, he's BLACK, and black politicians can't talk that way about white rural people. If he were white, he could, of course.

Once again, he's not white, even though his mother was. More Tiger Woods racism directed at Obama.

There is a group of people in this country who simply cannot depart from the old racism of the old days. They come up with reason after reason, but the real reason is ... he's black. It is no coincidence that Hillary's strongest supporters are, like her, white people over 60. Those who graduated high school before about 1966 lived their upcoming years in a world of segregation and open apartheid. They can't easily give up that sense of being better, that sense that blacks who don't "watch their tongue" are too "uppity."

[DesertFlower]

11. good points. nt

[TexasObserver]

19. It's like all the phony outrage about his grandmother being a typical white person.

"Typical? Who you callin' "typical," boy?!!"
---- the unspoken message that was really their point

[DesertFlower]

21. the people who don't support him

will take everything he says and twist it. i've come across a few people who actually hate him. i lost a friend because of my support for him.

[TexasObserver]

27. they're eople who get their news from emails sent by the elderly ...

Every email I get that is forwarded and attacks Obama for some bogus history is from someone who is over 60 years old and white. And you cannot talk sense to them. They are hysterical at the idea of a black president. They dress it up in outrage about the pledge, or whether he's a Muslim, or some such nonsense, but it's really because he's not white.

[DesertFlower]

47. some of my jewish friends don't

like him. they say some of his advisors are anti-israel, yet his voting record is pro-israel. they're not getting these e-mails. they're searching around the internet and they come up with all kinds of stuff. they're real nervous because of pastor wright's connection to farrakhan, although i don't think obama has ever met the man.

it's very frustrating.

[Yurovsky]

79. Agree 100% ...

even if you can calm the person down and talk sense to them - even if you get them to understand whatever email they've read is complete BS - they still won't budge. It's just plain, old-fashioned racism. Most people of color are more attuned to it, having been on the receiving end. What is amazing me is how many of my white friends are pointing it out, whether it be from discussion with their family, coworkers, or white friends.

I hope that an Obama presidency would help get some of these folks' hearts to grow (a la the Grinch), and leave their racist tendencies behind them. Sadly, I think a lot of these people (especially the older ones) are going to take their racism with them to the grave.

[Catherina]

51. Word n/t

[Evergreen Emerald]

56. ohmygod. Any critcism of Obama and out come the shouts of "Racism!'

Well, it does work politically.

It is a lie of course, but it seems to work to shout "Racism!" and feign outrage.

[stillcool]

59. I think that the

The faux outrage over 'bitter', is answered with the very real outrage over the use of hurtful and harmful racial comments made by the Clinton Campaign and it's posse. Are you proud of that?

[Vinca]

3. You should have heard callers to the Washington Journal this morning.

Several actually used the word "uppity." It was kind of shocking.

[DesertFlower]

22. Jesus H. Christ. we have to face it.

there are still a lot of racists in this country.

[Yurovsky]

29. The national Klan meeting is all set ...

for Sept. 1-4 in Minneapolis/St Paul.

The sad thing that Senator Obama's ascension has shown me is just how many racist Democrats there still are. Not a majority, mind you, but a very healthy percentage. I had a white friend of mine tell me that his mother, about as dyed-in-the-wool Democrat if there ever was one, is voting for FUCKING McCAIN since the Democrats are going to nominate a black man. I can't believe the level of stupidity and ignorance that would lead people to vote againt their own self-interest purely on old racial hatreds and stereotypes (the "uppity, elitist" Obama probably gave the poor woman the vapors... :eyes: ).

What year is this? 1948?

[VolcanoJen]

41. It's been illuminating, and painful, to learn this lesson.

I actually had no idea how much prejudice still existed within our party. I've learned a lot during this campaign, more than any in my life.

[DesertFlower]

50. see my post #47.

when obama was starting to rise in the polls i mentioned that we still have racists in this country and i was almost "flamed". people didn't want to believe it.

[Bolo Boffin]

25. You are kidding.

I work for the company that does closed captioning for "Washington Journal." I'm on my weekend break right now, but I never thought I'd have to make sure the vocabulary knew how to say "uppity."

Sigh.

[crankychatter]

4. You nailed it Effie... thank you

it's been the same all along

"rooty poot, light skinned, smooth talking, hustler, empty suit, change you can xerox, next he'll be saying he DIDN'T STEAL CARS..."

now "elitist" meaning "uppity" and "boojie," at the same time.

preying on the fears and prejudices of mature people, both White and Black.

these people are despicable

[geek_sabre]

5. umm

"Elitist" was thrown around at Kerry & Gore. This isn't a new description for snobby politicians.

[EFerrari]

8. It's not a new term for the right wing to throw at us. n/t

[Garbo 2004]

10. It's a word the right wing throws at Dems & liberals. n/t

[DesertFlower]

23. right. kerry was the

"wind surfing" elitist.

[EFerrari]

6. F3ck me, Effie. People have called me "uppity" for years.

Arrogant, elitist, condescending, whatEVER.

I proudly take responsibility for the education I wrestled from the sexist, racist, class bound system over many years.

And anyone who tries to put down the manual labor I did to support my family since I was a little girl, who tries to discount it or who tries to minimize it, well, they can kiss my remote.

In other words, take your wedge and SHOVE IT! We're not as stupid as you think.

:evilgrin:

[crankychatter]

12. I love a good rant and cranky people

crankychatter <<< West Bay Grease, when Bayshore was two lanes and Redwood City had a Rodeo

My son's at SFSU now... Kucinich guy

I'm languishing in Crackerville, KS

I kind of like it actually... folks always surprise me

... but sometimes I miss the Left Coast

[EFerrari]

16. Just hope he doesn't hook up with any troublemakers like me.

lol

:hi:

[DeposeTheBoyKing]

7. Excellent post

I am so sick of the media - Hillary could murder 20 schoolgirls and McCain could rape boys on the Capitol steps and they wouldn't utter a peep, but when Barack Obama utters something which is the DAMNED TRUTH they have to pick him apart and keep the alleged "controversy" going for weeks.

"During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act." (Orwell)

[DearAbby]

9. How dare a Black man feel empathy for White Americans!!

"Elitist" is the new "uppity."

[Romulox]

13. I didn't read his comments as "empathy"! nt

[jackson_dem]

15. I am better than you, I know what you should do and I feel sorry four your stupidit

It is elitist empathy. With friends like this...

[EFerrari]

17. Exactly. n/t

[jackson_dem]

14. Effie, you seem to have forgotten the rethugs used this card against Gore and especially Kerry

The difference is neither ever said anything condescending about a large bloc of voters...

[VolcanoJen]

45. I think one of the points here...

... is that maybe you've forgotten that the Rethugs used the "elitist" card against Gore and Kerry.

That's pretty much why so many of us are turned off by Hillary playing the same game, in (only slightly) more muted tones.

[eridani]

75. DingDingDingDing!

Dems who use rethug framing always get beaten by real Rethugs. Clinton is no exception.

[BumRushDaShow]

18. K&R

:kick: this bad boy.

[Bonobo]

20. Ding, fucking, ding. I been saying that all day.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=5468877&mesg_id=5472617

[ampad]

24. Once again Effie

You nailed it. I'm sure some of the racist that have been shown the door here are pissed that they missed this opportunity to show their racist ass on this board in regards to this. Good job!

[BenDavid]

26. obama does not have to think about being president anymore

the man put his saddle on a horse he should have never tried to ride, and it cost him his chance at becoming president,, He single handedly shot himself in the head. Did it all by himself.He is not Presidential material for small and middle America, He committed political suicide, and is done.

told ya obama was a bigot and racist

[MoJoWorkin]

33. Who is the racist? Look in the mirror.

Hillary is the one who has been caught as an habitual liar. SHE is the one who has gotten down in the Rovian muck in this campaign. SHE is the one who has turned on her own Democratic Party. SHE is the one that has disqualified herself as anything remotely resembling Presidential material.

And your "shot in the head" remarks go beyond the pale!

[jackson_dem]

36. Do you really believe all of that?

[MoJoWorkin]

39. Yes

[zalinda]

28. You must have had your head in the sand in 2004

if you never heard a white guy (Kerry) called elitist, but nice race-baiting.

zalinda

[Skidmore]

31. Effie, "elitist" is a tired old saw birthed in Frank Luntz's focus groups

and trotted out by every Republican pol and hack since Rove set about creating his permanent Republican majority. Everytime I see this language used in the press and by posters on these forums, in particular, I cringe. The media's use of it can be chalked up to pathological laziness and greed. Posters on DU who use Luntz wingnut descriptive language as a matter of course are always suspect to me. That Hillary Clinton seems content to let her campaign use Republican tactics and language says to me that her motives are suspect as well and she is in bed with the worst of the right wing.

[Tom Rinaldo]

32. Where have you been for the last few decades?

Calling Democratic polticians "elitists" has been a staple of the right wing since Nixon: Elitist Liberals who coddle criminals because they live in gated communities and don't have to worry about crime. Elitist Liberals who support busing children all the way across cities to integrate public schools because their kids are in private schools. Elitist Liberals sipping lattes and driving BMW's who think good old patriotism is laughable, who are more than willing to give moral support to the enemy when our nation is at war while working class men and women are off fighting for their freedom.

Half of the 2004 Republican campaign was devoted to painting John Kerry as a wind surfing french speaking rich elitist liberal from the upper crust of Boston. Being attacked as an elitist isn't something new thought up just because Obama is African American.

Here is a clue. Obama is right to keep the focus on the part of his remarks that talked about the bitterness some Americans might feel, because that part isn't what was controversial. The part that was controversial was talking about people in small towns clinging to guns and religion and a fear of outsiders because they are frustrated and bitter. Having to cling to anything is common slang for being weak and needing some crutch to prop you up, and that which you cling to is the crutch. That is the controversy, not Obama calling some people bitter over the unfair treatment they have received. It was a poor choice of words and it opened him up to this line of attack. Uppity has nothing to do with it.

[Butch350]

42. Uppity has nothing to do with it

...But unfornately some of the time it does!~

[grantcart]

35. hammer . . . head. . . nail. . .

[MoJoWorkin]

37. I am a white woman, and I can clearly see what the two Republicans

McCain and Clinton are doing. They are the ones that are being condescending.

Effie is right on the money.

What is sad is that I believe that Hill and John know EXACTLY what they are doing, where as some of the commentators are clueless. It just doesn't register in their world.

Yes, the Republicans called Gore and Kerry elitists too, but make no mistake, the fact that it can also strike a nerve with those "good ole boys" regarding that "uppity" black man is considered a bonus by the Clinton/McCain camps.

[VolcanoJen]

38. Another spot-on post by Effie.

And gawd, isn't Scarborough just noxious? These days, I call his show "Morning Poison."

[2rth2pwr]

40. This can't be your first dance. Kerry was branded an elitist as was Edwards

Jay Rockefeller, Ted Kennedy etc,etc..

Where do you think the terms Latte Liberal and Limosine Liberal come from, Klan meetings?

[EffieBlack]

53. An important distinction that you and several others are failing to make:

Kerry, Edwards, etc. were called "elitist":

1. By Republicans, not fellow Democrats; and

2. Because of specific actions that were seen as activities engaged in by the wealthy, e.g., windsurfing, expensive haircuts, purchasing and living in opulent homes, etc., activities that are far out of reach of most Americans.

They were NOT accused of being "elitist" by fellow Democrats, nor were they labeled as such in response to their speaking up for small towns, or common people, or the middle class or any other entity or group of people not deemed to be wealthy or privileged.

For example, John Edwards, an extremely wealthy person, spent a good part of his campaign speaking for the "common man," yet neither Republicans nor Democrats - or the media, for that matter - ever claimed he had no right to speak for such people or attacked him for doing so.

This attack on Obama is very, very different than any "elitism" criticism leveled against other Democrats.

And anyone who takes half a look at this can see it and knows exactly why, whether they choose to admit it or not.

[2rth2pwr]

54. This is the primary it's Dem on Dem. Elite and black person doesn't seem like

a deep rooted stereotype that came from the deep south.

You are willing to call people who disagree with Obama racists with no evidence whatsoever.

[EffieBlack]

68. And you, as usual, are all-too-eager to accuse people of calling others racist

with no evidence whatsoever.

I have not and never had "called people who disagree with Obama racists," no matter how many times you and others like you try to deflect these discussions away from facts you seem extremely uncomfortable facing.

It's quite interesting that you seem much more offended at the thought - even with no evidence supporting it - that someone might possibly be considered a racist than at the very obvious, demonstrable, and undoubtable fact that even some Democrats are less than sensitive and can stand some education on the issue of race. You and your buddies throw yourselves into every thread in which the topic comes up, whining, moaning, accusing, bitching, crying and nagging that those of us who actually see the world in any way differently than you do are the REAL problem.

If you expended even the tiniest fraction of the effort you spend defending every insensitive, offensive - and yes, at times, racist - act engaged in by people you have chosen to align yourself with (or against those whom you see as some kind of political enemy) in actually learning more about how others see and feel about the issues you are so eager to lecture the rest of us about, you would do considerably more to address the problems you claim either don't exist or exist only because we have the nerve to point it out than years of pontificating on your part would accomplish.

But maybe that's too hard for you to wrap your mind around - so you fall back into your comfortable guise of screaming, "STOP CALLING EVERYBODY A RACIST!" at us.

But your act is growing really old, you don't even need to post anymore - we know it by heart.

[2rth2pwr]

55. Fellow Dems

More than 50 centrist Democrats, including Virginia Gov. Mark R. Warner, met here yesterday to plot strategy for the "New Democrat" movement. To help get the ball rolling they read a memo by Al From and Bruce Reed, the chairman and president of the Democratic Leadership Council. The memo dismissed Dean as an elitist liberal from the "McGovern-Mondale wing" of the party -- "the wing that lost 49 states in two elections, and transformed Democrats from a strong national party into a much weaker regional one."
http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian/1892
"It is a shame that the DLC is trying to divide the party along these lines," said Dean spokesman Joe Trippi. "Governor Dean's record as a centrist on health care and balancing the budget speaks for itself."

As founder of the DLC, From has been pushing the Democratic Party to the right for nearly 20 years. He was in tall cotton, philosophically speaking, when an early leader of the DLC, Bill Clinton, was elected president in 1992. As Clinton's domestic policy guru, Reed pushed New Democrat ideas -- such as welfare reform -- that were often unpopular with party liberals.

"We are increasingly confident that President Bush can be beaten next year, but Dean is not the man to do it," Reed and From wrote. "Most Democrats aren't elitists who think they know better than everyone else."

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian/1436
August 16, 2007
Support from Academic Elite Not Key to Winning
A new Gallup poll found that Sen. Barack Obama has much higher support among the most educated voters while Sen. Hillary Clinton receives more support from those with a high school diploma or less.

However, while support among educated elites may be responsible in part for Obama’s excellent fundraising, it will not necessarily translate to electoral victory. Gallup points out that in the previous three election cycles the democratic candidate receiving the most support from the most educated -- Howard Dean in 2004, Bill Bradley in 2000, and Bob Kerrey in 1992 -- did not go on to win the party’s nomination (despite a boost in fundraising). The last democrat to win the nomination with similar skewing in support by education was Michael Dukakis in 1988.

[eridani]

76. What do they call the fat cats who are Clinton's donor base? n/t

[BadgerLaw2010]

57. That would be because they didn't say mindblowingly stupid stuff like this during the primary.

[EffieBlack]

58. ah, yes because "You have all these economically insecure white people"

"who are scared to death - they scare the living daylights out of them so they can divide us by race" is SO much less "elitist" or controversial than referring to people in small-town America being "bitter."

I guess Obama should have said "economically insecure white people" instead of people in small towns" to avoid being called elitist, eh?

[Igel]

65. Can't agree.

That HRC-folk are throwing RW terms at Obama is beside the point. BO-folk are doing the same with HRC. If you haven't noticed, neither side's ground is so much as a millimeter higher in morality than the other's; there is no moral high ground here, just morale high ground.

As for "elitist", it is the word that came to mind when I read the latest Obama blip. "Elitist", as in "Ivy League". "Uppity" goes with "presumptuous", and certainly overlaps in meaning with "elitist", but has areas that don't overlap. In this case, it's not just presumption: It's the belief that without actually knowing the people, he can make statements showing that he intellectually understands their motivations better than they know themselves, and has solutions and insights into their problems that mere working slobs have no chance of kenning. It's not merely rising above his proper station; that's "uppity". It's overweening self-conceit.

Both HRC and BO are among the US' elite. Both, at times, are elitist. This isn't really true of all the "elite" folk that I've met, to be honest, so there are non-elitist elites (just as my aunt was a "working-class elitist"). Some just knew they had a lot more money, but figured that made them richer people, not better people--it didn't make them any better "rulers", just rulers over their own little fiefdoms. Actors, academics, and politicians were the worst, self-made business people, not usually so bad.

[bigtree]

43. bullshit.

now you're just making it up.

[blogslut]

44. Screw angry white men

The majority of them won't vote Democratic anyway. Joe and Chris can pitch fits until they turn red in the face. The days where a penis and white skin embued magical powers are coming to an end.

[IntravenousDemilo]

46. There's nothing wrong with elitism if it's warranted.

Most of the people who piss and moan about "elitism" are knuckle-dragging, mouth-breathing, bootless and unhorsed neanderthals anyway, and their opinion is worthless. They probably shouldn't even be allowed to vote until they've cleaned their fingernails and crammed some book-learnin' into their pointy heads.

[Binka]

73. Oh God I Love You

You made my Saturday night!:loveya:

[IntravenousDemilo]

77. Well then, my work is done.

:)

[dpbrown]

49. BS - Liberals have been labeled as elitist for years, Obama just channels it more overtly

I'm getting kind of tired of any criticism of Senator Obama being labeled racist.

[stillcool]

60. Effie..it's a standard right wing attack..

the only difference is it's being led by a fellow Democrat. It's all horse shit. You won't see the Clinton's or the media talking about this stuff though....


Not This Time.

[oasis]

61. John Kerry's "elitism" : ordering a Philly Cheese steak sand with "the wrong cheese"

and windsurfing.

The perception applies equally to Obama. He's not the victim of racial bias that you're making him out to be.

[EffieBlack]

62. You equate talking about small town America being bitter with ordering "the wrong cheese?"

It must REALLY piss you off to hear people talk about the "angry white man," eh? Or is that somehow different?

[oasis]

63. What "REALLY" pisses me off is posters who cry "racism" every time

their guy gets criticized for putting his foot in his mouth.

Now, back to the point. The media's charge of elitism has been equally applied to both Kerry and to Obama.

"Elitism" is NOT the new "uppity".

[EffieBlack]

69. See Post #68 - it applies to you, too

[oasis]

72. See my original post. It applies to this thread and all similar threads.

Now, have a nice day. :hi:

[McCamy Taylor]

64. Well intentioned but actually "elitist" is how they kept the working classes from socialism. It is

more anti-Semitic in its classical use. When unions and socialists would come into a community and attempt to organize workers, the bosses would hang around the workers, playing good old boys. They would make fun of the fact that the union organizers were often from other states and were often college educated and maybe different religions and ethnicities and they would insist that the socialists and union organizers were really just con men who were doing this in order to solidify their own power base. They wanted votes or dues or to control an industry. They would be far away from the workers----elite---and therefore like King George III of England they would not really care about the needs of the worker, not the way that the bosses who were on the scene cared.

Workers, who already lived on the edge, were scared to try something new. Safer to live with the devil they knew than to risk a worse devil.

So, "elitism" is a fear of casting off the known abuser and going out into a world where you may be abused by a master who will treat you twice as bad, some faceless corporation in California that will downsize you and send your job to Mexico.

And do not forget that race baiting was always used by the bosses, "The unions will take your jobs and give them to the Irish" or the Chinese. Or the Blacks.

It is all divide and conquer.

[HuffleClaw]

66. *yawn* suuuuure it is

find something legitimate to carp about. every time obama fucks up we have to hear this crap. its beyond tiresome.

[EffieBlack]

70. The only thing odder than posting illegitimate, tiresome crap is taking the time to respond to it.

Thanks for posting.

[HuffleClaw]

80. and responding to the response is ? n/t

[Binka]

74. Don't You Need To Clean Your Ears With Your Car Key

Or shave your back? You are tiresome.

[HuffleClaw]

81. cheap insults?

that is even more tiresome.

[K Gardner]

78. 100% correct.

[woo me with science]

82. Oh please.

This is just silly.