Senator Obama could be penniless and on the streets and he would still be an elitist.  Bill Clinton - as has been pointed out by every pundit in America - earned $109 million over the last eight years and he could walk into a Krispy Kreme tomorrow and comfortably eat glazed donuts with a bunch of Bubbas.  Hillary?  Well, she can't bowl worth a damn but I was surprised at the relish with which she throws back a beer and I've never doubted that in private she's one helluva a broad.

Speaking today on David Gregory's new CNBC show, Rachel Maddow - whom I find to be knowledgeable and funny - said this about suggestions that Senator Barack Obama is an elitist: "...ultimately though you've got three senators running against each other, two of them are fixtures in Washington, one of them's an outsider, it's John Sidney McCain the Third versus Hillary "$109 million dollars" Rodham Clinton and they're going to try to protray mister single mom as the elitist."

Later on Kudlow & Company (yes, I know but you have to sample everything) Keith Boykin, editor of The Voice, commented: "When I hear John McCain, Hillary Clinton and other people calling Barack Obama an elitist, I think it's a little like the gold plated pot calling the kettle black.  The truth is...Barack Obama is a community organizer from the south side of Chicago who's still paying off, just finished paying off, his student loans so y'know I think it's really outrageous to try to pretend that he's something he's not."

I wasn't familiar with Mr. Boykin's bio until today but he attended Harvard Law with Senator Obama and worked as a special assistant to President Clinton, so obviously he has a better handle on them personally than I do; however, I think both Ms. Maddow and Mr. Boykin are speaking from a fundamentally flawed premise: that elitism derives mainly from one's financial resources. 

I'm going to take a brief moment away from the central thought of my post to point out that Senator Obama is doing pretty well rolling up the big bucks; if he only just now finished paying off his student loans then he may have done so with a portion of his $1.9 million book advance.  Pretty paltry when talking about the sixty gazillion billion million dollars the Clintons have made since I started writing this post but a nice little number nonetheless.  Check back with the couple eight years after the presidency they both presume will be theirs.  They may no longer  be, as Mrs. Obama characterizes them, "fresh and open and fearless and bold" but I bet they will be rich, way rich, Bill and Hillary rich.  More power to them, the presidency is a hard job (lots of perks, Air Force One and all that, but still hard) and hazardous, I don't begrudge them a penny of any future earnings.  To be honest, I voted for Jimmy Carter and he is undoubtably the former President who has best upheld the idea of what a former President should be - but he's starting to get on my nerves, just a little, not much, but just a little. 

If I've heard one comentator (and I have), I've heard a covey of commentators, eliminate Senator Obama from being an elitist because he was brought up by a single mother, because he fit so well into so many diverse cultural settings,  because he was a community organizer from South Chicago (and, hey, lest we forget Michelle shops at Target; I thought I recognized her clothes).  None of these things prevents one from being an elitist.  Elitism - to me - is aspirational not financial. 

Another break here - grab a beer if you like - there is nothing inherently wrong with aspiring to be elite.  The Green Berets are an elite fighting force, the Colts are an elite football team.  One would hope that all of our children have the chance to attend an elite school, that all of our cancer patients have the ability to receive care at an elite hospital.  It is when striving to be elite means demeaning others that it turns into elitism.  It is when individuals begin to think that enjoying certain activities either makes one elite or keeps one from being elite, that the word takes on an edge.  It's also when you drop the  "e" and add "ism". 

There are elitists living in trailer parks. (I have nothing against trailer parks, in fact, I aspire to live in a mobile home).  There are unemployed elitists living in blue collar neighborhoods.  There are elitists shopping in Target (but probably not K-Mart or Wal-Mart).  Conversely, there are Bubbas living in San Francisco and at least one for sure  lives in  Chappaqua, New York.

Elitism, like Bubba-ism, is a state of mind.  

It may take the form of constantly telling others how lucky they are to have a person joining them down there in the muck. 

"Barack is one of the smartest people you will ever encounter who will deign to enter this messy thing called politics." - Michelle Obama

It may take the form of take the form of telling mothers who have neither the money to pay for extracurricular lessons for their children nor the time to take them to those lessons if they could afford them that you spend thousands annually making sure your children have them. 

“We spend between the two kids, on extracurriculars outside the classroom, we’re spending about $10,000 a year on piano and dance and sports supplements. And summer programs… Do you know what summer camp costs?” - Michelle Obama

Or, it may take the form of getting people to write checks to your campaign by making derisive comments about people half a continent away.