“I’ve got news for all the latte-drinking, Prius-driving, Birkenstock-wearing, trust fund babies crowding in to hear him speak! This guy won’t last a round against the Republican attack machine. He’s a poet, not a fighter.â€
-Tom Buffenbarger, Youngstown, Ohio
My how the world turns. What would Thomas Jefferson make of an African-American being positioned as the elitist poster-child by a former first lady while battling for the nomination to run for President?
Hillary, with her estimated net worth of $35M is likely to be, shall we say, a little more out of touch with the working class family than Obama with his estimated net worth of $1.3M (though I did notice a snippet that Obama’s 2007 income quadrupled to $4M.) Let’s stipulate that neither candidate is worrying about where their next mortgage payment is going to come from or how they’ll pay for the next tank of gas (I just paid $4.09/gallon for regular unleaded this morning.)
In any case, getting back to Mr. Buffenbarger’s assertion, is there a correlation between hybrid owners, birkenstock buyers, latte sippers, and/or trust fund babies?
Blogger Ethan over at UrbanSpoon.com has posted a brilliant article on the possible correlations and his findings are a bit surprising. Rather than let the cat out of the bag here, suffice to say there is a weak correlation between one of the attributes mentioned and support for Obama. It’s worth a visit to the original article to have the full context as it’s very well articulated and documented. And beyond that, it’s a little funny too. Hope you enjoy it!
And the notion that Obama is a poet, not a fighter. Well Ethan doesn’t take that one on. But I’ll weigh in here and say that better is always different and after decades of “fighters” – perhaps a step outside the box would be good for the nation, and perhaps even, the world. One of the world leaders I’ve always admired is Vaclav Havel, the former President of the Czech Republic and a world-class writer before he assumed the office. He wasn’t perfect, but he did catalyze huge change and manage to lead his country along a path into the 21st century pretty effectively…There is a precedent for different being much, much better.
Ah yes.
“Alongside words that electrify society with their freedom and truthfulness, we have words that mesmerize, deceive, inflame, madden, beguile, words that are harmful—lethal even.” — Václav Havel
Great quote Buck, nice find and nice add to the entry.
I wasn’t sure who to vote for, but after driving my Prius to work in my birks with a fresh latte I picked up in Seattle on the way in (all of that is for real) I guess I am pigeon holed into voting for Obama!
Mike D, but do you have a trust fund? 😉 I’m pretty sure you’re working for a living, so you’re not an exact fit!
But Obama is a fighter. He’s the first democratic candidate since Clinton in ’92 to respond to political attacks within the same news cycle, and when he does respond he responds with counterattacks of his own. He may not have literally fought any wars or anything, but in the political sense, he’s the best fighter the democrats have seen in a loooong time.