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September 19, 2008

Lady Lynn Forester de Rothschild explains her switch to McCain and why she calls Obama "elitist."

Topics: Political News and commentaries

You can't help but notice how annoyed Campbell Brown is that Lady Forester de Rothschild believes that Barack Obama is bad for the middle class and believes he is an elitist.

In the article she references in the video, "Democrats Need to Shake The 'Elitist' Tag," Mrs de Rothschild wrote that despite Barack Obama's assertions that his campaign is about "you," much of his campaign is, in fact, all about him, and should Barack Obama lose the presidential election, it may well be the result of a public perception that he is detached and elitist -- a politician whose expressions of empathy for hard-working Americans stem more from abstract solidarity than a real connection to the lives of millions of citizens. Here's more of what she had to say at the WSJ:

[...] While Obama supporters attempt to dismiss the charges about their candidate's perceived hauteur, they confuse privilege and elitism. Elitism is a state of mind, a view of the world that cannot be measured simply by one's net worth, position or number of houses. Throughout American history, there have been extremely wealthy figures who have devoted themselves to genuinely nonelitist principles. (Franklin Delano Roosevelt is probably the best-known example.) At the same time, many from modest backgrounds, like Harry Truman's foil, Thomas Dewey, personified elitism.

I'm a longtime Democrat. I worked for Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan and supported Sen. Hillary Clinton in her presidential campaign. But I must face the uncomfortable truth that liberal elitism has been a weakness of the Democratic Party for more than half a century.

[...] ... Mr. Obama is not connecting to millions of middle- and working-class voters, as well as women voters of all classes. Not only is his legislative record scant on issues that make a difference in their lives, but his current campaign is based mainly on an assumption of his transcendence.

Despite Mr. Obama's assertions that his campaign is about "you," much of his campaign is, in fact, all about him. In the months since the primaries ended, his creation and display of a mock presidential seal with his name on it, his speech at a mass rally at the Prussian Victory Column in Berlin, and his insistence on delivering his acceptance speech in front of fabricated Greek columns in a stadium holding 80,000 chanting supporters have crossed the thin line that separates galvanizing voters and plain old demagoguery.

It is ironic that the candidate who comes from a more privileged background -- John McCain -- can genuinely point to at least one crucial moment in his life when elitism went by the boards. Because John McCain's father was a high-ranking Navy Admiral, he was offered freedom from a Vietnamese prisoner of war camp. He refused, saying that he would leave only when every prisoner who had been captured before him was also released.

Mr. McCain can truthfully tell the story of when he refused to be treated as special, and stood unflinchingly beside less-privileged Americans. It is a story that suggests the way he would govern as president of the United States.

Clearly, Lady Lynn Forester de Rothschild knows why she won't be voting for Barack Obama and instead will be voting for John McCain. She also offers many good reasons why others should also.

Posted by Richard at September 19, 2008 12:01 AM

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• Lady Lynn Forester de Rothschild explains her switch to McCain and why she calls Obama "elitist." - Sep 19, 2008