The Breakfast Factor

Maureen Dowd peers into the mind of Barack Obama and discerns his taste in breakfast:

In the final days in Pennsylvania, he dutifully logged time at diners and force-fed himself waffles, pancakes, sausage and a Philly cheese steak. He split the pancakes with Michelle, left some of the waffle and sausage behind, and gave away the French fries that came with the cheese steak.

But this is clearly a man who can’t wait to get back to his organic scrambled egg whites. That was made plain with his cri de coeur at the Glider Diner in Scranton when a reporter asked him about Jimmy Carter and Hamas.

Haha, after all everyone "knows" Obama is the wine track candidate in this race so he must hate waffles and only eat egg whites. Back in the real world, though, Obama's state senate district was a mixed-race, mixed-income urban neighborhood (it's no Chappaqua) not unlike the one I live in. And not to overgeneralize, but the U Street area features plenty of heavy breakfast joints (see Florida Avenue Grill above) and spots like Ben's Chili Bowl and you wouldn't make it very far in local politics in a place like that if you were really so averse to unhealthy eats.

But since the wine/beer narrative has some explanatory force in the 2008 primary, we must now allow it to dominate our characterizations of everything -- never mind the facts or the complicating factors of actual biography, race, etc.

Photo by Flickr user Intangible Arts used under a Creative Commons license

Comments

that woman is a worthless waste of newspaper space

Posted by cleek | April 23, 2008 2:17 PM

I don't do this lightly but here goes: Maureen Dowd is a c**t. That felt better.

Posted by drjimcooper | April 23, 2008 2:18 PM

Dowd is a very lazy writer, and that is among her least terrible qualities as a journalist.

I will say this, however, in regards to the waffle throwdown; if candidates just want to eat their breakfast, a perfectly reasonable desire, then they would serve themselves better by not turning their breakfasts into photo-ops.

Posted by Will Allen | April 23, 2008 2:22 PM

Has MoDo ever been married? Either way, columns like the one MY talks about are precisely why she has a hard time finding a man presently. Tell me what man would want to hear her whine about crap like this incessantly.

Posted by Joe Klein's conscience | April 23, 2008 2:22 PM

Hey blue collar small town America, listen to some snotty glorified gossip columnist from New York tell you what you're thinking!

Posted by Jake H. | April 23, 2008 2:23 PM

But this is clearly a man who can’t wait to get back to his organic scrambled egg whites.

That column has to set some kind of record for pointless condescending nastiness. It's not even clever, or funny, or anything--it's a beyond-insecure 15-year old girl trying to take down the one of the popular kids.

Posted by James Gary | April 23, 2008 2:23 PM

Forcing down some scrapple might have kept it in single digits.

Posted by Lord Growing | April 23, 2008 2:23 PM

The true wine track candidate would not eat egg whites, which would be the province of the beer-track late-middle-aged candidate getting crap from his/her doctor.

No, the true wine track candidate would eat and asiago, spinach, and basil omelet made with organic brown eggs from the farmer's market, but only do so once a month.

Wow. I should really see if the guy who writes StuffWhitePeopleLike would allow me to make occasional contributions.

Posted by Tyro | April 23, 2008 2:24 PM

Wow. I would've thought that was parody.

Posted by Neil the Ethical Werewolf | April 23, 2008 2:26 PM

MY: "Back in the real world, though, Obama's state senate district was a mixed-race, mixed-income urban neighborhood (it's no Chappaqua) not unlike the one I live in."

Shorter MY: Me and Barack are cool, hip and live near some black people! Hillary not cool!

Sorry, it was too tempting.

On point, yes, Dowd is a national disgrace.

Posted by Andruw | April 23, 2008 2:26 PM

Because presumably it would be a bad thing to have a President who eats healthy foods instead of salty, fatty crap? But hey Barack was a long time cigarette smoker. That has to give him some beer track cred, right? I hate the media.

Posted by Ron | April 23, 2008 2:26 PM

Hey blue collar small town America, listen to some snotty glorified gossip columnist from New York tell you what you're thinking!
Posted by Jake H. | April 23, 2008 2:23 PM

LOL
Ahhh Maureen wrote this one like all her other columns: on her back. Lazyness does not even begin to describe her musings.

Her and Richard Cohen are peas of the same pod.

Posted by Northern Observer | April 23, 2008 2:29 PM

He split the pancakes with Michelle, left some of the waffle and sausage behind, and gave away the French fries that came with the cheese steak.

I think that's called being in your mid to late 40's and not wanting to be obese, which I guess is Dowdspeak today for elitist.

Posted by SoCalJustice | April 23, 2008 2:30 PM

Let's bag on Obama because he cares about his health?

America has already become a nation of fat pigs. Do we really need the NYT encouraging people to get even fatter because it makes them more authentic?

Posted by blah | April 23, 2008 2:33 PM

Apparently, "the candidate you could have a beer with" has been replaced by "the candidate you could enjoy some trans fats with".

Posted by Royko | April 23, 2008 2:35 PM

Her and Richard Cohen are peas of the same pod.

Yes. Exactly. This is the flip side of RCoh's claim:

He's an honorable man who has fudged and ducked and swallowed the truth on occasion—about the acceptability of the Confederate flag, for instance—but always, I think, for understandable although not necessarily admirable reasons.

RCoh and MoDo know these things to be true because they just know it.

Posted by ed | April 23, 2008 2:36 PM

Lay off the sexist attacks on Dowd, dudes, and just attack her ridiculousness as a "journalist." She has many inadequacies and downright evil traits you can pick on, but being female isn't one of them.

That said . . . if she, or you, or anyone had to eat diner food for two years on end as part of a job interview, would any of us finish the meal every time? Good G*d Amitey, he "left some of the waffle and sausage behind"!!!! He's not a good little boy like George, who always cleans his plate? What the friggin hell?

Posted by rm | April 23, 2008 2:36 PM

Just for clarity, is this "cri de coeur" his asking for orange juice instead of coffee, or is it something I haven't heard about? Is orange juice some sort of elitist drink now?

Posted by Anonymous | April 23, 2008 2:36 PM

Lay off the sexist attacks on Dowd, dudes, and just attack her ridiculousness as a "journalist." She has many inadequacies and downright evil traits you can pick on, but being female isn't one of them.

That said . . . if she, or you, or anyone had to eat diner food for two years on end as part of a job interview, would any of us finish the meal every time? Good G*d Amitey, he "left some of the waffle and sausage behind"!!!! He's not a good little boy like George, who always cleans his plate? What the friggin hell?

Posted by rm | April 23, 2008 2:36 PM

On the plus side, doesn't everybody love going out with their one friend who orders fries for themselves then gives away 2/3 of the basket?

"Obama '08: Anyone Want to Finish These Fries?"

Posted by drjimcooper | April 23, 2008 2:37 PM

Ha ha! He likes organic egg whites! This makes him a gay wimp elitist! Ha ha ha!

I am not an elitist and every morning I make sure and eat 5 lbs of Jimmy Dean sausage deep fried in lard with waffles with extra syrup & sugar and also bacon and Dunkin Donuts coffee so I can know I am not an elitist.

Ha ha!

Posted by El Cid | April 23, 2008 2:39 PM

Didn't Huckabee go on some big health food kick, lose a ton of weight, then write a diet book?
Wasn't he supposed to be down with the common man? Do you think Chuck Norris eats pancakes and waffles and sausage for breakfast?

Posted by blah | April 23, 2008 2:42 PM

I'm sure everything tastes really good, but after a year or two of campaigning, I'm surprised these candidates don't just fall over dead from heart attacks. Christ, every time they hit the trail, they have to mix with the regular folks at these local favorite diners, all of which seem to have some sort of signature dish (which the candidate just has to try), each of which looks like it has about 3,500 calories and 85 grams of fat. Good thing Huckabee lost early, or he might have put all that weight back on.

Posted by Seitz | April 23, 2008 2:45 PM

Green eggs and Hamas?

Posted by Jeffrey Davis | April 23, 2008 2:47 PM

Well, you know Chuck Norris is a 1/4 Native American, cause he literally ATE- okay, no Chuck Norris facts.

Posted by Jack | April 23, 2008 2:47 PM

The two are not mutually exclusive. I try to eat organic, but I did have a Philly cheesesteak on monday and I've enjoyed meals at Hyde Park's own Valois "See Your Food!" Cafeteria.

This is worse than Chris Matthew's "regular people don't drink orange juice," wherein Matthews made hay of how Obama was not a regular guy because he felt somewhat awkward going up to people at a diner. Don't most people feel a little bit guilty about interrupting perfect strangers' breakfasts? But still: "I watched Obama eat n/X. This proves he eats Y." Do columnists have editors?

Posted by David B. | April 23, 2008 2:47 PM

She has many inadequacies and downright evil traits you can pick on, but being female isn't one of them.

You're right. I suppose there are male writers in the world who approach her level of vicious cattiness. I can't think of any, though.

Posted by James Gary | April 23, 2008 2:50 PM

What the fuck is wrong with her and the NYT? She just pulls this stuff right out of her ass. She's an insult to the idea of reason.

(Come on folks, it's not hard to put her down without being sexist.)

Posted by Chris | April 23, 2008 2:54 PM

Sweet wounded Jesus, Dowd is now just recycling material from earlier campaigns. We got the "girly men" jokes the two times you used them regarding Gore and Kerry.

Time for our dull-eyed little kitten to come up with some new material.

Posted by Helter | April 23, 2008 2:57 PM

I'm seriously sick of Maureen Dowd. Since when are waffles and sausage elititst? Also, another line of her's, about "Why can't I just eat my waffle?" having the subtext of "Why can't I just be president?" Really? I thought he just wanted to eat his damn breakfast. She is queen of the non sequitur.

Posted by scruncher | April 23, 2008 2:57 PM

Hmmm...

"honey-crusted-nut-bar meltdown"

"husband is going crackers"

waffles, pancakes, fries, cheese steak.

Sounds to me like this woman is on a demanding diet and is obsessing about food.

For what it's worth, Obama's favorite breakfast haunt from his Chicago days is often said to be the Valois Restaurant. From the Denver Post:

"Before he become senator, he was always around the neighborhood, organizing and helping," said Spiros Argiris, Valois' Greek owner. "He was here off and on. Sometimes he'd be by himself, sometimes with friends, sometimes with family."

Obama leaned toward Argiris' massive bacon and cheese omelets but also bounced around the menu, from his fluffy pancakes to his $12.95 prime rib. Argiris often sent food to Obama's office when he was too busy to stop.

So with all due respect to the good breakfast-eaters and diner-owners of Pennsylvania, maybe Obama's problem isn't pancakes, waffles, and yolk-filled eggs, but crappy pancakes, waffles and yolk-filled eggs. He may also prefer good Chicago bacon from the "hog butcher of the world" to the Pennsylvania penchants for sausage and scrapple.

Posted by Dan Kervick | April 23, 2008 2:58 PM

Supposedly Obama's favorite breakfast place in Hyde Park was Valois. And if you think the frenchy name implies something fancy, then let me disabuse you: it has been around since something like 1920, and is actually cafeteria style. The big things there include the roast beef sandwich, mac n' cheese, and most importantly breakfast food until 4 pm.

Posted by DTM | April 23, 2008 2:59 PM

should writers who want to be in with the sausage and eggs crowd really use expressions like "cri de coeur?"

Posted by dj spellchecka | April 23, 2008 3:02 PM

I very much appreciate your attempt to set the record straight. David B. hits the nail right there. Obama lives down the street from Valois, and it's been widely reported that that's where he did his breakfasting. Valois is your archetypical Greek cafeteria, and I don't even think their wall-posted menu lists an egg-white omelette as an option.

I do know that their roast beef and corn bread is heavenly, even though it suffers from a lack of Whole Foods organic arugula (snark).

Sandy

Posted by Sandy | April 23, 2008 3:02 PM

I very much appreciate your attempt to set the record straight. David B. hits the nail right there. Obama lives down the street from Valois, and it's been widely reported that that's where he did his breakfasting. Valois is your archetypical Greek cafeteria, and I don't even think their wall-posted menu lists an egg-white omelette as an option.

I do know that their roast beef and corn bread is heavenly, even though it suffers from a lack of Whole Foods organic arugula (snark).

Sandy

Posted by Sandy | April 23, 2008 3:02 PM

So with all due respect to the good breakfast-eaters and diner-owners of Pennsylvania, maybe Obama's problem isn't pancakes, waffles, and yolk-filled eggs, but crappy pancakes, waffles and yolk-filled eggs. He may also prefer good Chicago bacon from the "hog butcher of the world" to the Pennsylvania penchants for sausage and scrapple.

Posted by Dan Kervick

Exactly. This makes Obama an anti-American elitist, since having any interest whatsoever in your food's quality or quantity shows that you hate regular Americans.

Unless it's John McCain. If John McCain were to say he preferred to eat only some particular variety of something, it would show what a colorful Maverick he was, full of resolve and never backing down.

Posted by El Cid | April 23, 2008 3:05 PM

This is worse than Chris Matthew's "regular people don't drink orange juice," wherein Matthews made hay of how Obama was not a regular guy because he felt somewhat awkward going up to people at a diner.

When Hillary Clinton was campaigning here in New Hampshire, where these sorts of local breakfast sit-downs are , there was a story reported about how Clinton and her people had kicked several diners out of their seats in one place, so they could grab the seats and set up the photo op they were looking for.

Give me the guy who was raised not to interrupt people while they are eating.

Posted by Dan Kervick | April 23, 2008 3:05 PM

If Obama's favorite restaurant is indeed named Valois, I think we can feel confident that, by summer, 1) the Drudge media will tell the country it's a French restaurant and 2) the mainstream media will do nothing to correct this.

Posted by demtom | April 23, 2008 3:07 PM

Ha ha, I love it. "I'll use some random French phrase when describing Obama because that'll make him sound elitist."

Posted by a | April 23, 2008 3:08 PM

Can you imagine how often she curses the fact that Obama goes to a local barbershop?

Posted by Ryno | April 23, 2008 3:09 PM

Re Northern Observer

"Ahhh Maureen wrote this one like all her other columns: on her back. Lazyness does not even begin to describe her musings.

Her and Richard Cohen are peas of the same pod."

As big a schmuck as Richard Cohen is, he pales in comparison to Maureen Dowd who is a fucktard of the first order. Ms. Dowd is nothing but a second rate gossip columnist, not even up to the standards of the late and unlamented Hedda Hopper. It would be interesting to know which executive at the Times she is boinking as I can conceive no other explanation for her continued presence on the Times op-ed page.

Posted by SLC | April 23, 2008 3:11 PM

There is nothing wrong with drinking wine. There is nothing wrong with eating fancy organic food. There is nothing wrong with drinking orange juice. Nothing wrong with wearing funny costumes when you exercise, with being rich, paying lots of money for haircuts, wearing different types of clothing for different occasions, with getting divorced, dating strippers, and having a prenuptial agreement with your wealthy spouse. Nothing wrong at all with any of these things.

Unless you're a Democrat. In that case it's all proof that your an elitist un-American girlie man (or manish bitch woman, depending on your gender). Seriously. It's true. Ask Maureen Dowd.

Posted by Rob Mac | April 23, 2008 3:13 PM

Obama has missed several opportunities to smash the ball over the net and end the game. Again and again, he has seemed stuck at deuce.

Yep, when you want to show that you really understand Joe Beertrack, and you gotta pull out the sports metaphors, tennis is clearly the way to go.

It's hard to walk into a diner without hearing "so, do you think Nadal can move past his clay court success, or will Federer's serve and quick step to the net be too much for him?"

Posted by Brad L | April 23, 2008 3:15 PM

I wonder how Dowd would deal with a Kucinich candidacy.

Posted by Julian Elson | April 23, 2008 3:18 PM

One of my friends is a waiter at the Medici in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. He says that Obama usually gets a cheeseburger when he drops in. So it's not even clear that he's particularly health conscious.

But the campaign trail is something different. Eating at three diners a day for six weeks is the equivalent of the Supersize Me diet.

Posted by A.J. | April 23, 2008 3:19 PM

I wonder how Dowd would deal with a Kucinich candidacy.

She would have multiple orgasms thinking about all the column ideas.

Posted by blah | April 23, 2008 3:20 PM

Maureen Dowd imagines that Obama probably likes fancy breakfast foods.

Oh, well, then, I OBVIOUSLY can't vote for him.

That's almost as bizarre as Pat Buchanan's out-of-left-field "Marxist dialectic" comment last night.

Posted by Rorgg | April 23, 2008 3:21 PM

"The big things there include the roast beef sandwich, mac n' cheese, and most importantly breakfast food until 4 pm."

That sounds pretty elitist to me, unless it serves breakfast food 24 hours a day it doesn't connect with the average American. I bet that mac n' cheese is elitist food as well, because it's not from Kraft.

Posted by JordanT | April 23, 2008 3:21 PM

She borrowed that conceit about the egg whites from the last Bourne flick, a Joan Allen scene, wherein the villain is supposed to be a wimp for shirking the cholesterol. Lame. MoDo’s home alone, watching DVD’s…..

Posted by SouthernWreck | April 23, 2008 3:22 PM

American Flag Lapel Pin, the most patriotic candidate in the race, has already recognized the importance of waffles and cheesesteaks to the electorate.

http://www.lapelpin08.com/?p=19

American Flag Lapel Pin thanks Maureen Dowd for her intrepid reporting - he had a hearty serving of biscuits and gravy and a local specialty involving sausage links at a diner while on the campaign trail. Such a true American fit to be President!

American Flag Lapel Pin
Patriotism You Can Count On!

Posted by American Flag Lapel Pin '08 | April 23, 2008 3:24 PM

Good point. But I thought Maureen Dowd's piece was very funny and it did cheer me up--I think she was poking fun at the narrative as much as anything else.

In any case there are far worse examples of this kind of thing; I can't believe how people are ignoring how HRC's campaign becomes more risible and preposterous by the day, and more inconceivable that anyone outside her own base would wear her being selected as the Democratic candidate. Why do the pundits keep buying into this surreal idea that the race is remains competitive. In reality it is ghastly spectacle where the only party that is capable of leading this country at the moment tears itself apart to gratify the vanity of the Clintons and everyone else's apetite for entertainment and a spectacle--I am sorry: I can't see it as anything else.

Posted by Chris Dornan | April 23, 2008 3:24 PM

Lay off the sexist attacks on Dowd, dudes, and just attack her ridiculousness as a "journalist."

You know, it's difficult to avoid ad hominem here. After all, the point of a photo-and-byline op-ed is that the person behind the op-ed matters. That's the difference between the op-ed column and the editorial/leader article.

Richard Cohen likes to think of himself as a witty liberal, but the persona that emerges from his column is that of a silly, shallow middle-aged man. Maureen Dowd likes to portray herself as an arch, wry sophisticated single woman who rose from humble working-class Catholic origins -- and doesn't shy away from references to such things -- but the persona that emerges from her columns is the stereotype of the bitter spinster.

Posted by pseudonymous in nc | April 23, 2008 3:24 PM

Hyde Park is surrounded by the hood, is diverse both economically and racially, and has great places to eat. The best pizza on the planet is located there. And the best french toast.

Posted by Jay | April 23, 2008 3:25 PM

Lord Growing said... Forcing down some scrapple might have kept it in single digits.

OK. Now you've crossed the line into religion for us southeastern PA residents.

Scrapple, better tasting than sausage and without the shape of male genitalia. "Not that there's anything wrong with that."

Posted by LFC | April 23, 2008 3:27 PM

Actually, the latest thinking is that egg yolks can be part of a healthy diet. For example, they are an important source for choline:

http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=92

Posted by blah | April 23, 2008 3:28 PM

The problem with Maureen Dowd is that her every column is the same. Ha Ha, our politics and our media coverage is endlessly trivial and absurd!

Somewhere along the way (perhaps four or five years ago), her columns stopped skewering the smallness of our politics and started contributing to it.

We get it, Ms. Dowd. Now please stop.

Posted by M | April 23, 2008 3:33 PM

American Flag Lapel Pin, the most patriotic candidate in the race, has already recognized the importance of waffles and cheesesteaks to the electorate.

If supporters of Obama are called Obamanauts, and supporters of Clinton are called Clintonistas, are supporters of the American Flag Lapel Pin called Pinheads? Or is that label reserved for supporters of George W. Bush?

Posted by LFC | April 23, 2008 3:33 PM

It turns out the the NY Times ran a campaign story last fall in which they reported that during a breakfast meeting with the reporters Obama had boiled eggs, but only ate the whites.

A yet here's another journalistic expose from just this week:

Earlier Sunday, Clinton stopped at the Bonnet Lane Family Restaurant in Abington, Montgomery County, where she greeted diners and had bites of an egg white omelet and the house special -- stuffed French toast.

I guess she made up for the elitism of the egg white omelet with the unhealthy gobs of stuffed Freedom Toast.

Posted by Dan Kervick | April 23, 2008 3:34 PM

Headline:

"OBAMA EATS WHITES!"

Posted by lampwick | April 23, 2008 3:42 PM

A lot of people assume Obama drives a Prius, so he should try to be photographed driving his V-8 Chrysler 300 American-made land yacht.

Not so good for the carbon footprint, stuff white people like crowd, but he already owns them.

Posted by Steve Sailer | April 23, 2008 3:47 PM

I suppose there are male writers in the world who approach her level of vicious cattiness. I can't think of any, though.

Hitchens.

Posted by Ed Marshall | April 23, 2008 3:52 PM

So, if a U street area blogger mentions Ben's Chili Bowl, do they get some special award for authenticity? The Ackglesiasman, maybe?

Posted by ews | April 23, 2008 3:54 PM

This quote shows why Greenwald Is Right, despite his sometimes hysterical tone.

Posted by burning flock | April 23, 2008 4:03 PM

And who owns you, Sailer?

Posted by Rihilism | April 23, 2008 4:03 PM

Hitchens.

Ding, ding!

Posted by Rihilism | April 23, 2008 4:08 PM

Maureen Dowd's snarky columns should be moved to a gossip magazine or to the comics. But if the NYT wants to leave them in the Opinion section we have to wonder why "opinions" about egg whites, bowling, and the other stupid crap she writes about matter. Everybody wants Jon Stewart's job!

Posted by Stephanie | April 23, 2008 4:13 PM

Maureen Dowd is for my money - almost always on the mark. Is there malice aforethought? Yeah, and so what? She wrote something a year ago about McCain on how with all his pandering to the Christian Right - he had become unbalanced "like a cat without its whiskers". I'm sorry, but that's good.

Posted by Trevor | April 23, 2008 4:23 PM

I think Dowd should skip describing the politicians - they are obviously beyond her - and stick with the food. That quote made me hungry! If she just described the ribtickling fare to be found in diners two times a week, the NYT would obviously get more ads from diners, and less grief from people who want, well, some smidgen of reality in their political analysis.

Posted by roger | April 23, 2008 4:29 PM

Ha, Valois! This is a place that, in my experience, specialized in post-hangover bacon and eggs, school cafeteria-quality eggs benedict, and meat loaf. I loved it -- but they don't serve any vegetables there that haven't been boiled for at least an hour in beef broth beforehand. As an added bonus: it's owned by a surly and impatient old Greek man.

Posted by CG | April 23, 2008 4:37 PM

To call Obama's state senate district "mixed-race" is really stretching it. With the exception of Hyde Park (which is integrated, thanks to UoC), it's pretty deeply African-American. Anyone who accuses Obama of being a chardonnay Democrat has clearly never hung out on the South Side of Chicago. It's no wonder Michelle's hackles rise up at the "elitist" charge. Their neighborhood is where Mayor Daley wants to wipe out one of the largest neighborhood parks in order to erect an Olympic stadium. http://www.chicagoreader.com/features/stories/theworks/070511/

As far as egg-white omelets on the South Side of Chicago, they'd be pretty hard to find. Even if you ordered one special, in most places they'd probably just laugh at you. I lived for nearly a decade on the South Side. Except for a vegetarian spot in Beverly, health food's all but non-existent. Even in its whitest ward - Bridgeport - health food's basically a side salad with your breaded steak sandwich.

Posted by Judy | April 23, 2008 4:40 PM

Also, I might add, Valois was not the 'token working-class' restaurant in Hyde Park. This kind of food, along with a handful of sub-par pizzerias and Thai restaurants, is about the only thing available to eat in that neighborhood. 'Liberalism' along the culinary dimension was never a strong point of Barack's district. I speak from painful experience.

Posted by CG | April 23, 2008 4:42 PM

Anyone notice that a former favorite target of hers, Bill Clinton, got derided for, yeah, eating everything in sight. The idea is you reduce someone to a stereotype and find, no surprise, that you can make fun of it. Since you and everyone else is then using it, it becomes taken as "telling" regarding the person's character; and since it's telling, everyone has to report it.

This is a sensible approach for a humorist, and that's why people read her, as a humorist with a chip on her shoulder about men and women. It's just unfortunate that people carry away real messages about politics and government.

Posted by John Haber | April 23, 2008 4:42 PM

Also, I might add, Valois was not the 'token working-class' restaurant in Hyde Park. This kind of food, along with a handful of sub-par pizzerias and Thai restaurants, is about the only thing available to eat in that neighborhood. 'Liberalism' along the culinary dimension was never a strong point of Barack's district. I speak from painful experience.

Posted by CG | April 23, 2008 4:45 PM

Lampwick, brilliant.

MoDo is a terrible person.

Posted by eriks | April 23, 2008 4:53 PM

God, this thread is making me hungry. But how have we gotten this far without mentioning Harold's Chicken Shack #14?

Posted by calling all toasters | April 23, 2008 4:58 PM

Personally, I like Cedars and the Florian. Medici's okay, but I prefer their bakery and bagels and such. I've never worked up the courage to go to the Valois.

Posted by Julian Elson | April 23, 2008 5:00 PM

This is a sensible approach for a humorist, and that's why people read her, as a humorist with a chip on her shoulder about men and women. It's just unfortunate that people carry away real messages about politics and government.

That is a very postmodern way of looking at it. I suppose one could also consider Fox News in a similar context--as a subtle parody of American narrow-mindedness and jingoism. Unfortunately I suspect that most of Dowd's readers, like most of Fox's viewers, take at face value the material presented.

Posted by James Gary | April 23, 2008 5:04 PM

Julian--
Florian's spinach-sausage-pesto pizza is one of the greatest foods on earth. And son't be intimidated by the Valois, just have a clear idea of what you want (you know "two egss over, bacon, home fries, OJ") and you'll glide right through.

Posted by calling all toasters | April 23, 2008 5:04 PM

"Even in its whitest ward - Bridgeport - health food's basically a side salad with your breaded steak sandwich."

Actually, Bridgeport is the second most diverse neighborhood in the city. It's almost evenly split between whites, Latinos and Asians. There aren't any black people, but that's not the same thing as "white." For really white southside neighborhoods, try Beverly, Canaryville, or Little Italy. Hyde Park and South Kenwood too, depending on what you view to be the borders.

And how dare you say there's no health food in Bridgeport Why, one of the most popular restaurants is literally named Lithuanian Healthy Food! (hint: It doesn't serve healthy food.) But in fairness, O'Malleys has a decent number of healthy salad/chicken options.

Posted by Joe | April 23, 2008 5:12 PM

Julian,

Dowd on Kucinich? Have you seen his wife? A young, smart, smoking hot, natural redhead? The head spins imaging how Dowd's psyche would handle that. The comic value would be off the charts. If it were a situation like '84 where the Dem had no chance it would be worth nominating Kucinich just to watch the show!

I think this column is a clear sign that Dowd has jumped the shark, she is writing Onion style pardoies of herself.

Posted by Eric k | April 23, 2008 5:14 PM

Joe, thanks for reminding me of Healthy Food, especially it's ever-changing hours. Yes, you're right, Bridgeport was becoming more diverse when I left in 2003. Latinos and Asians were welcome, but blacks were still only allowed to walk through. Lenard Clark was nearly beaten to death right around the corner from my flat, simply for riding his bike home at night. One of the witnesses who had the guts to call the cops received death threats for doing so. Though blocks from the Red Line, neighbors would drive - or be driven - to the Orange Line rather than ride on the Red. It may be more diverse but, amongst lifelong residents, their attitudes toward blacks still have a ways to go.

Beverly, on the other hand, is diverse. When I had a church job on 103rd in 1996, much of the congregation was black. Morgan Park Presbyterian is also well-intergrated. My best friends are a black couple who moved 5 years ago to 95th and Western - heart of Beverly.

Thing is, parts of the South Side are better integrated, but Obama's State Senate district - which did not include Bridgeport or Beverly - is still mostly African-American.

Posted by Judy | April 23, 2008 5:48 PM

Given that Bill Clinton had to get a bypass and Cheney's heart is powered by Duracell, Obama is pretty smart not to eat deep-fried scrapple with butter and syrup 5 days a week.

Posted by CParis | April 23, 2008 6:01 PM

She's never had the feta omelet at Salonica.

Posted by BrianZ | April 23, 2008 6:01 PM

All this talk about Hyde Park and food has made me hungry for falafel. The Nile had just about the best I've ever encountered. Yum. And Florian was really good for pizza with pesto sauce and this delicious little ice cream & espresso dessert. Double yum.

Posted by Jennifer | April 23, 2008 6:10 PM

"Though blocks from the Red Line, neighbors would drive - or be driven - to the Orange Line rather than ride on the Red."

I know -- I used to ride it to and from work every day and I was frequently the only person getting on at the Sox Park stop.

I lived in the Port from 2001 to 2007, when the smarter and better-looking half got a cush tenure-track professor gig at a school out west. It is great to be living in a nice neighborhood in a fun city with great weather (and skiing about an hour away), but I frequently miss the old digs.

Posted by Joe | April 23, 2008 6:12 PM

Re Trevor

Mr. Trevor likes Maureen Dowd. That tells you everything you need to know about Mr. Trevor.

Posted by SLC | April 23, 2008 6:51 PM

Matt confuses neighborhood and where one eats with Elitism, which is more a function of education, wealth, position in society, and which social circles one is permitted to inhabit.

In all but wealth, which stymied some elitist asporations he and Michelle had that were at odds with elites adopting and mentoring them since they were young - both Obamas cut it.

Arguing the Yglesias point is like saying a upper Manhattan lawyer and his Wall Street exec wife are not elites despite their Ivy Degrees, elite careers, and diiners & parties in the company only of similar uppercrusts - denying the are elites because they live in a "mixed neighborhood" with ho's and gangbangers only 5 blocks from their Upper Manhattan penthouse, they attend a "diverse synogogue", and sometimes breakfast in Greek cafeterias "with the common man".

Kudos to Team Obama for bullying the press into reverential silence about and flaws in the life or associations of the Great Man Himself - until very recently! Where things came up, even his fellow rival candidates were reluctant to break with the Black Moses/Black Messiah narrative of black and Jewish media, the Ned Lamont crowd, hard Left Progressives with Money.

(For fear of alienating their black and progressive Party constituents that had determined under identity politics Barack was racially and through victmhood deserving of the highest deference and praise, and any attacks on him woud be "dragging a talented black man of extraordinary promise, down...)

When things in Obama's past were brought up, they were brought up by the media mainly to debunk as "important". Like the few days of Rezko then dismissed as a "no nevermind, perhaps Barack should have been more wary, but he is so nice and wonderful that such small mistakes happen, as people like Rezko grasp his Greatness and wish to help!"

His Elitism: Brought up by American and Indonesian execs, told from chidhood he was special and attending schools with the Elites since childhood.

1. Obama has been mentored by three families of Jewish Billionaires since the early 80s. He and his wife have been given the patronage of careers they control through their dominance of U of Chicago's board of Trustees and placement of other up and coming blacks they also mentored like Valerie Jarrett. For almost 20 years, the Obamas have been squired in the most Elite circles.
This indicates that Obama is no threat to Israel and likely doesn't believe a word of what his NOI associates, Muslim contacts, or what Rev. Wright says other than his general contempt for bitter, less educated non-black masses. Obama was placed at Trinity to help "authenticate" this raised by whites lad with no slavery in his past.

2. An interesting thing is that Obama's speech of Great Judgment, opposing going against Iraq, was made by the usual Lefties at the same time, along with such leaders of Great Judgement as Fidel Castro, bin Laden, Vladimir Putin, and Saddam himself.
In Obama's case, he had been diffident about joining a rally attended by the Old Left until he was persuaded by Marilyn Katz and Bettylu Saltzman. Katz was a former SDS member tight with Bill Ayer and Bernadette Dohrn. Bettylu was one of Baracks Jewish sugar-mommas, worth hundreds of millions, but not in the Crown and Pritzker league of Obama patrons, but still a big donor. She was also a radical in her youth.

Obama's speech, which he backtracked from and took off his website when things were going well in 2003-4, then put up agains when things went South for Bush and his Bumblers, appears not to be the product of his Great Judgment, but two radical women from the 60s with hard Left Democrat Party clout dragging him, but hardly kicking and screaming, to give it.

3. Obama has been squired by his benefactors in private jets to places like Aspen and Hollywood with mogul legend Sherry Lansing doing intros since the mid-90s.

Posted by Chris Ford | April 23, 2008 8:07 PM

I recently moved from ChicagoN to DC and I can tell you that Matt--no matter his good intentions--is a bit too gushing when referring to his neighborhood. While it certainly is "diverse," the community is wholly gentrified and is of little resemblance to its older days. Most of the stores and shops cater to the burgeoning yuppie community and those that don't serve as exotified spaces of authenticity for the young urbanite. While Matt never says anything of this sort, when i moved here people told me Colombia heights was dangerous. Much to my shock, after living in Chicago's Humboldt Park and working in North Lawndale, i was amazed at the depths of white crime hysteria. Colombia Heights is nice and fun, but ghetto, it tis not.

On the other hand, Obama's district is bit more as Matt imagines it. while hyde Park and its immediate vicinity is quite well to do, other parts of Obama's district are bit more "urban" as we say, with a uniform black population and a dose of serious poverty.

But as for MoDo: Yeah, she is an abomination. A practitioner of baseless tabloid sociology. Most of which is based on opportunism. Whereas she used to savage Hillary with her sociological assaults, as the campaign wore on and Obama has become a target, she has changed her steely gaze Obama's way.

Posted by jeff | April 23, 2008 8:15 PM

I've only had breakfast once at the Florida Avenue Grill, because it's a long way from most places I typically find myself when I'm in the mood for breakfast. But that once...damn, it was good.

You may now return to your evisceration of MoDo, who fully deserves the honor.

Posted by low-tech cyclist | April 23, 2008 8:34 PM

wow, maureen dowd---voice of the proleteriat.

Posted by mencken | April 23, 2008 9:12 PM

Stare into the abyss, and Maureen Dowd stares back at you.

Posted by Dan S. | April 23, 2008 9:21 PM

jeff: "recently moved from ChicagoN to DC and I can tell you that Matt--no matter his good intentions--is a bit too gushing when referring to his neighborhood. While it certainly is "diverse," the community is wholly gentrified and is of little resemblance to its older days. Most of the stores and shops cater to the burgeoning yuppie community and those that don't serve as exotified spaces of authenticity for the young urbanite."

Petey and I and a cast of hundreds are shocked.

Long story short: old media attack Obama unfairly, BAD.

Rinse and repeat for Clinton: let me join the gang bang!!

Posted by Andruw | April 23, 2008 10:17 PM

Maureen, you ignorant slut. It's cheesesteak, not cheese steak.

I can't tell if its her or William Kristol that sound more ridiculous trying to appear anti-elite.

Posted by Bill C | April 24, 2008 12:47 AM

"Maureen, you ignorant slut. It's cheesesteak, not chees steak." Terrific!

I could hardly believe the waffle piece when I read it yesterday morning. Even by orange juice and bowling standards, it's inane.

Have to say though, in between dainty bites of my How Do You Feed a Hungry Man tv dinner, that whoever colors her hair deserves every single penny. Just the right shade of glossy uptown red ... grrrr ...

Posted by charlotte | April 24, 2008 9:07 AM

Chris Ford, the cleaners called. Your sheets are ready.

Posted by David Duke | April 24, 2008 10:41 AM

stuff white people like crowd

What's the matter Steve?

Disappointed that "a sense of genetic racial superiority" isn't up there with The Wire and outdoor performance clothes?

No worries, you have your own blog for white people already - just a very narrow segment of them.

Posted by SoCalJustice | April 24, 2008 11:02 AM

I don't get the point of her article. Is she suggesting that we pay more attention to Obama's breakfast habits because he has an eating disorder or something? Gee, he is awfully thin, you know. Who cares what he eats? I suppose Hillary keeps it real by eating the game and fowl that she shoots herself with the gun her father gave her.

Posted by MightyMe | April 28, 2008 10:05 PM