Out of Touch

Pivoting off the news about John McCain's $520 shoes, Chris Hayes wonders if the press will ever notice that John McCain is a rich, out of touch elitist. Well, I have my doubts. But this stuff is relevant. Clearly, it's possible for people who've lived lives of privilege (FDR is the famous example) to promote policies that are beneficial to people who are struggling. But you really do see with McCain a lot of proposals that seem to reflect a lack of understanding of how people live their lives.

It's easy, for example, for someone on the "I married an heiress" plan to talk about the need to privatize Social Security or cut benefits. And someone who, like John McCain, has never actually experienced private sector health insurance might well not understand what it is about it that has so many people agitated. And McCain, it's worth recalling, isn't even someone who got rich by earning a fortune in business and thus might have learned something about upward mobility. He just married into it. But he doesn't appear to have any of that FDR-like sense of noblesse oblige -- he just has a lot of policies that are well-suited to the interests of people like himself.

Comments

Look, John McCain is the grandson and son of Navy admirals. That's just as regular-guy a background as you can get.

Posted by TR | July 31, 2008 4:35 PM

Maybe it is just me, but I think McCain is not nearly as good at the regular ole boy act as Bush. So it will be interesting to see how this plays out.

Posted by DTM | July 31, 2008 4:38 PM

Rich people can't favor policies with which you disagree. Right. You're starting to remind me of the people at The Corner. Most of the twits over there think Obama is an empty suit.

Posted by ostap | July 31, 2008 4:40 PM

Class warfare!!!

Posted by Republican | July 31, 2008 4:41 PM

Pivoting off the news about John McCain's $520 shoes, Chris Hayes wonders if the press will ever notice that John McCain is a rich, out of touch elitist.

But Matt, that would spoil the fun.
.

Posted by Grand Moff Texan | July 31, 2008 4:43 PM

No Ostap, the point is if your making the argument that the other guy is an out of touch elitist it kind of matters that you are an even more out of touch elitist than the Strawman version of your opponent that you are attacking.

Posted by eric k | July 31, 2008 4:45 PM

It's not the shoes, of course. But it is true that McCain does not seem to have any connection with the average American or their needs. And I think he's too much of an arrogant prick to do a good of job of pretending that he is, like Bush did. Part of the problem with McCain is that he buys into the image he is selling. I think Bush was smart enough to know that it was bullsh*t and that if he actually wanted to advance his agenda, he was going to have to fool a lot of people.

Posted by mpowell | July 31, 2008 4:49 PM

well, it matters if the press cares to talk about it. otherwise, it doesn't matter at all.

Posted by cleek | July 31, 2008 4:49 PM

Rich people can't favor policies with which you disagree. Right.

Nope. Didn't you see how Matt just stopped them cold with his magical thingy?

No! No policies for you!

ZAP!!!
.

Posted by Grand Moff Texan | July 31, 2008 4:50 PM

I agree with all what you have said. But my question is why is Obama and/or his campaign/surrogates raising these points every time they talk to and in media. If they are waiting for the media to arbiter this fairly, they are in big trouble. Obama needs to hone in on these issues in few sentences and repeat them over and over again. That is the secret behind Karl Rove's unfortunate success.

Posted by Ravi Palanivelu | July 31, 2008 4:52 PM

I agree with all what you have said. But my question is why is Obama and/or his campaign/surrogates raising these points every time they talk to and in media. If they are waiting for the media to arbiter this fairly, they are in big trouble. Obama needs to hone in on these issues in few sentences and repeat them over and over again. That is the secret behind Karl Rove's unfortunate success.

Posted by Ravi Palanivelu | July 31, 2008 4:53 PM

I'd posit his scant, incurious, halting knowledge of the tubes separates him a bit from the common man also.

Posted by steve duncan | July 31, 2008 4:53 PM

By the way, I think it is worth noting again that in the polls I have seen, Obama is solidly beating McCain when it comes to questions like "Is the most likeable" and "Best understands the concerns of people like myself". Here is one example:

http://www.srbi.com/time_poll.html

So I think in this case, the public is way out ahead of the press.

Posted by DTM | July 31, 2008 4:53 PM

Matt, it's fun reading you in campaign mode, but I'm worried you're starting to trade in some of your well-earned intellectual honesty cred by grabbing at all the low hanging anti-McCain fruit you can find. McCain got his money almost exactly the same way Kerry did; obviously the common denominator between the two can't be the reason Kerry's policies were decent and McCain's suck.

Posted by Mitch | July 31, 2008 4:54 PM

OK, I just listened to an interview by Andrea Mitchell of Rick Davis.

No two ways to put it---Rick Davis is insane. Seriously, that nut case needs to be checked into a mental institution.

Posted by OMG | July 31, 2008 4:54 PM

Pivoting off the news about John McCain's $520 shoes, Chris Hayes wonders if the press will ever notice that John McCain is a rich, out of touch elitist

Not unless and until we start noticing what sort of shoes Wolf Blitzer, et. al. are wearing.

Posted by Duncan Kinder | July 31, 2008 4:56 PM

I agree with all what you have said. But my question is why is Obama and/or his campaign/surrogates raising these points every time they talk to and in media. If they are waiting for the media to arbiter this fairly, they are in big trouble. Obama needs to hone in on these issues in few sentences and repeat them over and over again. That is the secret behind Karl Rove's unfortunate success.

Posted by Ravi Palanivelu | July 31, 2008 4:56 PM

Matt, I'm worried you're missing a perfectly good opportunity to post this video:

Posted by SDM | July 31, 2008 4:57 PM

Just put a dollar figure on it.

How much money does McCain's family stand to make off of his tax proposals?

If it's anything over $50,000 there's no way for him to play it down.

Posted by Alex | July 31, 2008 4:59 PM

Clearly, it's possible for people who've lived lives of privilege (FDR is the famous example) to promote policies that are beneficial to people who are struggling.

The Kennedys would be the other obvious example.

Look, John McCain is the grandson and son of Navy admirals. That's just as regular-guy a background as you can get.

I can't tell if TR is joking here, but he's making a valid point: McCain did not grow up rich -- he's only been wealthy for the last third of his life. My sense is he (like Obama) is not fundamentally an elitist; i.e. he does not believe that there is a certain elite class -- whether wealther, smarter, or what have you -- that deserves special treatment. Now his tax policies may favor the very wealthy, but (a) there are well-known economic arguments about why this may benefit the entire economy, and (b) most people understand that he only holds these tax positions to placate the party base.

George Bush on the other hand, actually seems to be an elitist. Someone who grew up in the lap of privilege, never had to deal with anything resembling "real life", and whose entire political career seems dedicated to promoting his upper class cronies.

So while McCain's policies may be elitist, you will have a much harder time selling the case that he is elitist. Stick to old, out-of-touch, and consistently lying -- those are much more convincing lines of attack.

Posted by right | July 31, 2008 5:01 PM

The press truly believes that all Republicans are common folk-type people who may be rich, but really love America so who the heck cares? They ignore McCain's wealth and elitist background and they ignored that of G.W. Bush.

Yes, Obama is snobbish, too. But don't pile on him thanks to GOP talking points and then back off from McCain's privileged status.

http://www.political-buzz.com/

Posted by matt | July 31, 2008 5:02 PM

Stupid embed code. Now I have to double-post the video to make the joke work.

Posted by SDM | July 31, 2008 5:04 PM

I think some commenters are missing the point that Matt is trying to point up the very real absurdity of McCain trying to paint Obama as elitist, when the facts point -- if any direction -- to the reverse.

And I'm pretty sure the "son and grandson of Navy admirals" comment was intended as snark. Least, I hope so.

Posted by Glenn | July 31, 2008 5:05 PM

The Republican attack on Democratic elitism that's taken place over the last two campaigns isn't about total wealth per se but about culture. It's not Obama's money that makes him elitist but that he was educated at Columbia and Harvard Law, became a (part-time) law professor, enjoys high-brow entertainment like The Wire and prefers wine to beer. McCain's wealthy, but he's not academic; he doesn't watch new movies, and ultimately he doesn't come across as cosmopolitan the way that Obama does.

Posted by Josh M | July 31, 2008 5:12 PM

Well, he didn't just marry into it, to be precise-- he was born into and grew up in an upper-class military family and then he got even more money by marrying this woman.

Posted by Swan | July 31, 2008 5:13 PM

FDR was in touch with the common man? Many of FDR's policies, due to co-option by local elites as well as FDR having other interests, were not necessarily what was needed by the common man. Indeed, there is still a certain societal memory of FDR, the rich, Yankee frat-boy snob that is used to condemn all liberal programs as being secretly for the rich hiding behind being for the poor (and thus FDR types are hypocrites and the Dems. want to tax the middle classes to pay for the rich to pay off the poor).

In fact, with whom FDR was in touch was his own social class ... far more than the Bush-types that dominated (and still dominate that class). Unlike most richers, FDR realized that, without interventions, the US would fall prey to a Philip Dru-led revolution and the plutocracy would get killed off, or worse.

As the saying goes, "FDR saved the collective ass of the upper-class ... and what did they call him? a class traitor ... which just goes to show that the upper-class are a bunch of ungrateful gits."

Or was I the only one raised such that my parents taught me that saying?

Posted by DAS | July 31, 2008 5:16 PM

"Pivoting off the news about John McCain's $520 shoes, Chris Hayes wonders if the press will ever notice that John McCain is a rich, out of touch elitist. Well, I have my doubts." So do I. Maybe, if Rove or Schmidt points it out to them.

Posted by EL | July 31, 2008 5:20 PM

I can't tell if TR is joking here, but he's making a valid point: McCain did not grow up rich -- he's only been wealthy for the last third of his life.

When you're in the military elite you don't have to be rich. Free housing, free medical, free education (does anyone think McCain got into Anapolis the way everyone else does?).

I have a friend who's father is a Coast Guard admiral - it's amazing the number of perks that they (the entire family) get - free transportation anywhere at any time, free vacations in VIP quarters on any Coast Guard facility (the ones in Florida in January for 2-3 weeks at a time seem to be a favorite). free medical/dental, etc., free access to comissaries and all other things off-limits to civilians.
When you grow up like this, with access and treatment that 99% of the rest of the country doesn't get, you don't have to be rich - but I bet it would be real hard not to feel an extreme sense of privilege. To have your family *always* treated as VIPs is just about as elite as it gets.

Posted by Ethel-to-Tilly | July 31, 2008 5:24 PM

Obama should really take a cue from the way Bush ran McCain asunder in the 2000 primaries. Paint him as the brittle, confused, parasitic, Manchurian Candidate he is and watch him implode. Jonathan Chait is right - go after the conceited old shithead with authority.

Posted by Trevor | July 31, 2008 5:26 PM

"See your dermatologist" McCain advised anyone who has "discoloration," as though access to and payment for specialist care was easy, customary and usual in private sector health insurance...

Posted by Steve in Sacto | July 31, 2008 5:27 PM

The money that military officers make is not the point, but the servants they have. My brother was a naval officer and he was waited on hand and foot by corpsmen. I remember how he would tap his glass during family dinners forgetting there was not a waiter standing behind his chair to refill his water or bring more hot water and a fresh tea bag. I'm sure McCain was surrounded by gardeners, cooks, maids, butlers, personal assistants, drivers, etc. from child-hood on. He's just another underachiever coasting on connections. He can't even be bothered to learn his own positions on issues.

Posted by Th | July 31, 2008 5:31 PM

Josh M,

Obama prefers wine to beer? I'm not sure he has a preference, but he certainly does drink beer.

Posted by DTM | July 31, 2008 5:35 PM

McCain did not grow up rich -- he's only been wealthy for the last third of his life.

Ethel-to-Tilly gave a pretty good reply, but let's not forget one more thing. McCain was a poor student, yet got a coveted berth at the Naval Academy. Despite being in about the bottom 1/2% of his class, he got a coveted position in flight school and became a (less than stellar) pilot. McCain was born to privilege, if not money.

Do you think somebody of Obama's background would have gotten the same breaks McCain received? In a word, "no".

Posted by LFC | July 31, 2008 5:48 PM

I'm not sure if attacking McCain for coming into his wealth through the success of others and then developing policies that favor the wealthy, seemingly without regard to regular people, is a good tactic.

I mean, it didn't work against a guy whose father was Ambassador to the UN and then Envoy to China and Director of the CIA and Vice-President and then President... a guy who has failed business opportunities. Maybe it was Bush 43's tale of redemption and salvation that made him appealing as a "regular guy" - I think it's plausible to assume that that appeals to some people. But I doubt that would be enough to blunt the impact of just how much Bush 43 wasn't a Washington outsider and wasn't a good ol' boy.

But hey, no harm in trying it against McCain.

Posted by socctty | July 31, 2008 5:52 PM

Obama should really take a cue from the way Bush ran McCain asunder in the 2000 primaries. - Trevor

Remember the GOP strategy is "always attack your opponent on your own weaknesses". McCain has been doing this already with Obama (and the Dems. seemed still not to be ready for this predictable GOP strategy): "Obama is merely a media sensation with nothing really there who wants you to believe he transcends politics but is just another political hack". This includes attacking Obama on McCain's weaknesses that you've just mentioned ... they are attacking Obama is a brittle Manchurian candidate. And the thing with such attacks is that now Obama cannot attack McCain that way without sounding like "I know you are, but what am I".

Posted by DAS | July 31, 2008 5:58 PM

And the thing with such attacks is that now Obama cannot attack McCain that way without sounding like "I know you are, but what am I".

I disagree. All they need to do is take advantage of the videos on YouTube.

Posted by LFC | July 31, 2008 6:01 PM

Chris Hayes wonders if the press will ever notice that John McCain is a rich, out of touch elitist.

No, because for a certain set of elite pundits, he's rich like them. And for the rest, he's rich in a way that's normative within DC politics.

Posted by pseudonymous in nc | July 31, 2008 6:07 PM

The Republican attack on Democratic elitism that's taken place over the last two campaigns isn't about total wealth per se but about culture. [...] ultimately he doesn't come across as cosmopolitan the way that Obama does. - Josh M

Culture? Cosmopolitan? Attacks on Obama for having a funny name?

What the Republican attacks on Democratic elitism show is the veracity of the statement "if the Jews did not exist, anti-Semites would have to invent them". We Jews still exist, but it's not longer politically correct (all puns intended) to scapegoat us. So the anti-Semites have "invented" new "Jews" -- Muslims, gays, "cultural elitists" ... but it's the same old rhetoric.

Why Jews would support such anti-Semites politically (and call Jews like me "self-hating" for not supporting such anti-Semites) is a whole 'nother whole thread of discussion.

Posted by DAS | July 31, 2008 6:12 PM

Ouch...this meme of McCain marrying an heiress and living a life of great wealth and comfort (7 homes, private planes, $520 Ferragamos, etc.) hsould really be dissected for a week or two, like Obama's Muslin, goat herder father...or the months spent on Obama's minister...or the two months spent recounting how Obama purchased his current residence. But, here is the twist: they assert that Obama is an intellectual elitists who knows better, not a wealthy elitist who cannot relate to your anxiety and pain. The right wing wants you to fear smart people, not the fabulously rich. The ivory tower is where the threat of socialists reside...while discussing wealth is class warfare.

Posted by Cadums | July 31, 2008 6:22 PM

Good point Ethel-to-Tilly. TR's comment makes more sense now. Thanks.

Posted by right | July 31, 2008 6:27 PM

right says: "McCain did not grow up rich -- he's only been wealthy for the last third of his life."

Where does this fantasy come from? McCain was not just the son and grandson of highly-paid admirals. He came from a wealthy and established family with a plantation in Mississippi. (Read: Former Slaveowners.) He graduated from an exclusive, expensive, and segregated private school. He may not have been filthy Bush-rich but his childhood circumstances would qualify him as wealthy by any sane measure.

But the Republican noise machine has declared that he will be portrayed as a "regular guy," and so the lies commence.

Posted by MoeLarryAndJesus | July 31, 2008 7:04 PM

While Matt is correct about all this, the McCain-snarking is beginning to sound like whining.

It appears even Matt is slowly coming to realize that Obama doesn't have a chance of winning the election, as long as the Powers That Be are pushing McCain.

I mean, I read in Google News today that Gallup has McCain and Obama running in a dead heat. Apparently that calls Gallup's reliability into question. What a surprise!

They'll manipulate the polls, do vote fraud, and start a war in Iran to make sure Obama isn't elected.

Given that situation, complaining about McCain's "elitist shoes" really isn't getting to the heart of the matter.

Posted by Richard Steven Hack | July 31, 2008 7:27 PM

As others have said, being generations entrenched in the military elite has little to do with actual dollars but more with the culture of the military itself.

To add to that, think of the pecking order that ingrains implied privilege...your the son and grandson of the big guy which automatically brings with it privilege and special treatment.

I do agree more with the idea that Obama himself doesn't need to get into the who's elite and who isn't pissing match, but would do better with exposing McCain for what he really is rather than the media meme that we all know McCain really well. Use his own words and actions with video and show how really behaviorally old and cranky he is and how his temperament is not the sort we want representing our country around the world or at home solving the very real problems we're faced with.

Posted by G Davis | July 31, 2008 8:55 PM

FDR got his beneficial-to-the-common-man policies 2nd hand via Al Smith.

Posted by Jeffrey Davis | July 31, 2008 9:23 PM

"Clearly, it's possible for people who've lived lives of privilege (FDR is the famous example)."

FDR got polio and never walked again. That life-changing event put him "in touch" for the rest of his life. And he had Eleanor. John and Cindy McCain remain clueless, despite the myriad of health problems they both have had over the years -- with complete and total access to health care. And they still don't get it.

Posted by MDA | July 31, 2008 9:33 PM

Sorry to burst the bubble here, but:

1. The meme about McCain being an elitist because his father and grandfather were both admirals is a non-starter. True, he probably had a relatively privileged upbringing. However, "average joe voter" loves the military and probably feels that privileges for flag officers are acceptable for a lifetime of military/public service. To attack McCain because of this just makes us look bad and petty.

2. I wouldn't get too worried about the "Obama is an elitist" attack. The people who think this are probably just looking for something - anything - to say about Obama that is bad. These people probably wouldn't vote Dem anyway. There is a good number of Republicans who think that simply being a Democrat is elitist. I know this because I am related to some of them.

3. I seriously hope that Obama would use the "Get Your War On" response to elitism. Namely, "If being an elitist means not being the dumbest motherfucker in the room, call me an elitist." I know...not gonna happen.

Posted by Fighting Words | July 31, 2008 9:44 PM

Ethel-to-Tilly wrote:

When you're in the military elite you don't have to be rich.

Ok, let's stop pretending that McCain is some down-and-dirty son of a carpenter who happened to land a rich chick because of uncommon valor, character, and good looks. It ain't true.

If I'm correct, high-ranking generals and admirals today make well over $100,000 a year-- closer to $200,000, actually, for the highest (which McCain's father certainly was, since he was made commander of all our forces in Vietnam during that war). That's not Homer Simpson money. And, you don't get to be a general by being a schmoe who has gumption. Those are positions of privilege that go to the upper-class. So, they probably were well-settled from family inheritance, even without the military pay.

This isn't meant to dispute that McCain got a lot more money my marrying the beer heiress. But he wasn't a regular guy to begin with-- he was a spoiled rich brat with a father and grandfather who were used to yes-men and people cowering beneath them and hurrying to do their bidding, not guys who worked with their hands or had to worry about pleasing a boss all the time.

The poster with the moniker "Fighting Words" wrote a lot of bad advice for us. McCain is and always has been a spoiled-brat rich chap, and pointing that out neutralizes the Republicans' strategy of trying to pretend that they're regular guys and populaists who represent regular people's interests, which they're actually not. Second, we should think about memes like thiss and how to confront them because this is exactly how Republicans win elections, not by technical policy arguments. Third, calling people names because they're concerned about some Republican attack (like "You're a dumb motherfucker if you thinnk I'm an elitist") isn't a good way at all to win them over or to curry sympathy.

Posted by Swan | August 1, 2008 12:13 AM

I married an heiress

Posted by PiriketSeverler | August 1, 2008 5:12 AM

"Or was I the only one raised such that my parents taught me that saying?" - DAS

Probably not the only one, but I've never heard it before today. Of course my parents were between unborn and four years old when FDR died, so that might have something to do with it. The "societal memory" of the guy I have, as far as domestic policies go, is that he at least made an attempt to fix the economy and offer jobs. This (so the story goes) restored the trust of the working class - a trust which is necessary to the success of any form of government. FDR also, indirectly, made me possible. One of my grandfather's first jobs was in Washington, DC, in the newly-formed Social Security Administration. He earned enough money there to go back home and marry my grandmother.

Posted by Tel | August 1, 2008 9:01 AM

How about the fact that McCain has only had two jobs in his whole life, military officer and Senator, both of which include a lifetime pension and medical benefits?
And that he got this his education at government expense and first jon because of his fathers position and influence?

Posted by Roger Tompkins | August 1, 2008 4:13 PM

Yeah- that damned elitist McCain spent 5 years in a prison camp. They probably served him caviar and champagne every day.

Posted by P | August 1, 2008 6:13 PM