OBAMA AS "ELITIST"

I decided to use Lexis-Nexis to find out when was the first time Obama was called an elitist. I searched All U.S. Newspapers & Wires for "Barack Obama" and "elitist," all available records. The first one to pop-up was an editorial from the Chicago Sun-Times by Laura Washington on 1/20/2003¹ and here are relevant excerpts:

Aunt Muriel may be captivated. But in political talk over Christmas dinner, my Uncle Leland, an African American and retired railroad worker in South Shore, recalled seeing Obama wearing "a thousand-dollar coat" on a visit to a public housing project. He dismissed him as an "elitist."

Whether that's true, perception can be reality. The charge is a challenge that Obama will have to overcome if he is to snare the Senate nomination. His weakest appeal is to the working class. He has to balance his time between the shops and community centers of Bronzeville, the churches in Chatham and the diners in Cairo, and the money pitches in the boardrooms of the Loop.

Getting Aunt Muriel's vote is a damn good start. Uncle Leland is going to need some work.

The above remarks were made in the context of Obama running for the U.S. Senate and the elitist part refers to working class blacks, not the working class in general, as Washington explains 9 months later with this editorial²:

If Obama can turn out his black base and build a coalition of white progressives and other people of color, he's got the nomination.

That's where the curtain comes up on the Obama Drama:

The Tragic Flaw. As a politician, the Obama character has a tragic flaw. He may be too smart, too reserved, and perceived as too elitist for regular black folk. It's the Uncle Leland problem. My uncle says that low-income and working-class blacks don't think Obama is "down" enough. It's a cultural phenomenon, and it's rooted in an unfortunate strain of anti-intellectualism and distrust of those with close associations with the white power structure.

Obama calls the elitist charge a "red herring." But it's real.

The first CONSERVATIVE in the database to accuse Barack of being an elitist is Cal Thomas in his column of 1/18/2007³:

It could be argued that much of the bitterness in politics has been caused by liberal elitists who have used the courts to ram social change down our throats without regard to the democratic process. I see Obama as being a part of this ideological strain.

AND THEN THERE'S JOE KLEIN...

Hit Her Again!
Wednesday, Oct. 31, 2007 By JOE KLEIN
TIME Magazine

I don't know if this sort of quiet, unsolicited honesty can work in our rude, noisy politics, but it certainly is far more presidential than the dodging and fudging that you get from most candidates. It has been argued that Obama's style is too cerebral, too élitist. That may be true. He assumes a maturity in his audiences, and in the press, that simply may not exist. But given the stakes in 2008, perhaps it's time for all of us to grow up and meet the challenge of a difficult moment for our country.

¹Chicago Sun-Times
January 20, 2003 Monday
BYLINE: Laura Washington
SECTION: EDITORIAL; Pg. 31
LENGTH: 618 words
HIGHLIGHT: He can prove that a black candidate can win high office by appealing beyond "the black base."

²Chicago Sun-Times
September 8, 2003 Monday
BYLINE: Laura Washington
SECTION: EDITORIAL; Pg. 39
LENGTH: 815 words
HIGHLIGHT: If he can turn out his black base and build a coalition of white progressives and other people of color, he's got it.

³The Salt Lake Tribune
January 18, 2007 Thursday
Thomas: It's time for Obama to start writing on that blank slate
BYLINE: Cal Thomas
SECTION: COLUMNISTS; Opinion
LENGTH: 786 words