Found an interesting comment on the Obama gaffe from a blog at The Atlantic, by a self-described liberal academic:
Interestingly, I can't find much evidence of Obama's "working-class" upbringing in the myriad stories about his early life or in his own books. I think that's part of the myth. Mrs. Obama was unquestionably raised in a classic southside working-class home, but the senator was not. According to Obama himself, his mother seems to have had a longing for the exotic, and fantasies of a third-world idyll; this translated into becoming pregnant and marrying the senator's father just a few months after they met, when she was still in her teens. Twice she left Barack with her parents in Hawaii while she lived overseas; during one of those stints he attended Hawaii's version of an elite prep school. Her own parents were by no means impoverished, and his grandmother in particular seems to have done much of the childrearing while his mother pursued her own interests. I think he's borrowing some of that working-class idiom from his wife's upbringing. As for the community organizer days, three years in his 20s doesn't make for much of a working-class existence. As we all know -- at least those of us who have operated in that mileu -- young men from Columbia pursue that kind of work en route to Harvard Law as a means of gaining street credibility. All of this is part and parcel of the myth that Obama has a unique understanding of those without privilege. In fact, he does have a unique understanding of the biracial double bind. But he never lived the typical urban life of a young black man in mainland America. It's very easy to forget that amidst the hype.
As a liberal academic I know Obama is out of touch with working class voters. So are we all. We offer prescriptions based on distance, not proximity. Obama is no different. Unfortunately, while his comments reflect the views of people like me who live inside the beltway, they are diagnostic and highly prejudicial. They will offend many working-class and even middle-class voters who simply don't see their religious faith or political beliefs or prejudices in those terms. I recognize my own condescension toward the people Obama was speaking of, but I don't think the senator recognizes his. This will cost the Democratic party votes in the fall, absolutely.
Posted by ezr | April 12, 2008 9:45 AM
marcambinder.theatlantic.com |
