I just stumbled across this August 26th article by Melinda Henneberger and Dahlia Lithwick in Slate. It thoroughly and eloquently captures the frustration I feel every time I hear someone defend a candidate because "I could sit down and have a beer with him" or "he/she is ordinary like me." Americans seem to love the idea that This Is A Country Where The Boy Next Door Can Become President!
I don't want the president to be the boy next door. I want him/her to be smarter, more capable, more thoughtful, more experienced, and more competent than I am and than most of the rest of the populace is. The last thing I want him to be is ordinary.
Which brings up a corollary -- since when did "elite" become a dirty word? We're already running from the dirty "L" word (well, some people are), now we're supposed to run from the dirty "E" word, too? Elite means excellent. Extraordinary. Above average. Ya know, all those things middle America supposedly believes in and strives for. Apparently we're allowed to trumpet the elite athlete, elite student, and elite soldier, but not, god forbid, the elite candidate. (And "elite" is not the same as "elitism." The latter implies a supercilious, condescending attitude -- sort of like what Dick Cheney displays every time he opens his mouth. The former is something we should hold with pride. It's not something to be ashamed of.)
