Mother Talkers

Thomas Frank Responds to 'Bittergate'

by Elisa

Wed Apr 23, 2008 at 02:14:17 PM PDT

Remember the silly scandal that was "Bittergate?" Well, Thomas Frank, author of What's the Matter with Kansas?, which has been cited too many times to count in the last month, actually did write an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal. It is elegantly written:

"Elitism" is thus a crime not of society's actual elite, but of its intellectuals. Mr. Obama has "a dash of Harvard disease," proclaims the Weekly Standard. Mr. Obama reminds columnist George Will of Adlai Stevenson, rolled together with the sinister historian Richard Hofstadter and the diabolical economist J.K. Galbraith, contemptuous eggheads all. Mr. Obama strikes Bill Kristol as some kind of "supercilious" Marxist. Mr. Obama reminds Maureen Dowd of an . . . anthropologist.

Ah, but Hillary Clinton: Here's a woman who drinks shots of Crown Royal, a luxury brand that at least one confused pundit believes to be another name for Old Prole Rotgut Rye. And when the former first lady talks about her marksmanship as a youth, who cares about the cool hundred million she and her husband have mysteriously piled up since he left office? Or her years of loyal service to Sam Walton, that crusher of small towns and enemy of workers' organizations? And who really cares about Sam Walton's own sins, when these are our standards? Didn't he have a funky Southern accent of some kind? Surely such a mellifluous drawl cancels any possibility of elitism...

If Barack Obama or anyone else really cares to know what I think, I will simplify it all down to this. The landmark political fact of our time is the replacement of our middle-class republic by a plutocracy. If some candidate has a scheme to reverse this trend, they've got my vote, whether they prefer Courvoisier or beer bongs spiked with cough syrup. I don't care whether they enjoy my books, or would rather have every scrap of paper bearing my writing loaded into a C-47 and dumped into Lake Michigan. If it will help restore the land of relative equality I was born in, I'll fly the plane myself.

Amen! You must read this essay in its entirety. I found myself nodding and chuckling throughout it. The cartoon of Obama sipping a latte while everyone else is doing shots is also pretty funny.

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Tags: open thread, Thomas Frank, What's the Matter with Kansas?, Wall Street Journal, bittergate (all tags)

Permalink | 27 comments

  • I really enjoy (0 / 0)

    Thomas Frank's work.  One of the funniest screeds I've ever seen was given during his appearance on BookTV a couple of years ago.  He launched into a manic piece about the Gods of the Marketplace.  Truly hysterical...primarily  because it was so true.

    And if I have to listen to Chris Matthews or Joe Scarborough go on and on just one more time about all the "regular folks", I think I'm going to vomit.  I guess I'm not "regular folk", and even worse, apparently I'm not even a "real" American.  Alas...I'm fake and irregular.  Talk about being marginalized...yet somehow, I'm also somewhat elite, too.  

    Go figure.

    Glad the Journal picked up Frank.  I'll have to remember to read his columns.

    by tjb22 on Wed Apr 23, 2008 at 02:40:18 PM PDT

    • yes! yes and yes! (0 / 0)

      And if I have to listen to Chris Matthews or Joe Scarborough go on and on just one more time about all the "regular folks", I think I'm going to vomit.  I guess I'm not "regular folk", and even worse, apparently I'm not even a "real" American.  Alas...I'm fake and irregular.  Talk about being marginalized...yet somehow, I'm also somewhat elite, too.  

      Go figure.

      my head is falling off from nodding yes.

      and since i had the privilege of actually MEETING him in a union-run grocery store and watching him take all the time in the world to talk to three kids who will never be able to vote for him, i officially proclaim him "real".

      by slackermom on Wed Apr 23, 2008 at 06:42:07 PM PDT

      [ Parent ]

  • I will read the entire thing (at the WSJ) .... (0 / 0)

    ... but just wanted to say how much I enjoy Thomas Frank.  He is right on target, as usual.  His book, "What's the Matter with Kansas" is dead on.

    And, of course, the talking heads (many -- or most -- of whom were Ivy League educated) labeling Obama as ELITE -- cracks me up.

    Does most of America not GET this?

    by Shell on Wed Apr 23, 2008 at 02:54:42 PM PDT

  • Excellent Post! (0 / 0)

    Just ordered Susan Jacoby's new book on American anti-intellectualism and hope it's half as entertaining as Frank's short piece.  If only the middle class had a voice!

    Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn. ~Benjamin Franklin

    by reggaemom on Wed Apr 23, 2008 at 03:03:34 PM PDT

  • That was enjoyable (0 / 0)

    and a vocabulary lesson.  Heh.

    by lonespark on Wed Apr 23, 2008 at 03:05:43 PM PDT

  • i'll tell you what (0 / 0)

    i am bitter, and i am not afraid to admit it.

    all this crap on the debates about this and that and this past week, in the same week, i am laid off of my most profitable contract job, while at the same time being faced with $600 of out of pocket dental work for my son.

    meanwhile gas goes up 10 cents a day and we have reports that after 7 years and 700 BILLION dollars, there is STILL a safe haven for al queda in or around afghanistan.

    so, yeah. i am bitter.

    We cannot defend freedom abroad by deserting it at home. - E.R. Murrow

    by lorin on Wed Apr 23, 2008 at 06:05:45 PM PDT

    • let me add. (0 / 0)

      i am bitter about politics, and most specifically, my government stealing my money.

      for myself, i know i will be fine and somehow end up in a better place. i am not walking around bitter and unwilling to do something about it. i am bitter and i want change, and i want it now.

      We cannot defend freedom abroad by deserting it at home. - E.R. Murrow

      by lorin on Wed Apr 23, 2008 at 06:07:36 PM PDT

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  • snow job (0 / 0)

    Who cares about how a candidate is labeled by the media?  We dont actually know theese people personally and never will.  All I want to see is plans, numbers and results. Clinton is ivy league educated and so is Obama.  So to me they are equal.  But I wont vote for him because he is a smoker.  No way am I supporting Big Tobacco.

    by summer day on Wed Apr 23, 2008 at 06:32:18 PM PDT

  • I don't mind (0 / 0)

    It's kind of cool that the elite label has been slapped on the black dude.  That's a small measure of social progress in and of itself.

    by lyn on Wed Apr 23, 2008 at 07:24:23 PM PDT

  • asdf (0 / 0)

    Jon Stewart said it for me.

    "Doesn't elite mean 'good?' Is that not something we're looking for in a president anymore? ... I know elite is a bad word in politics. You want to go bowling and throw back a few beers. But the job you're applying for---if you get it and it goes well---they might carve your head into a mountain. If you don't actually think you're better than us, then what the fuck are you doing? ... [N]ot only do I want an elite president, I want someone who is embarrassingly superior to me."

    by jennifree2bme on Wed Apr 23, 2008 at 07:51:09 PM PDT

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