Out of Touch

I used to take pride in the fact that I understood the "man on the street." When talking with friends about politics, I could instinctively get what a typical voter would think about whatever was being said.

I still have some of it, when I wince at the idea of impeaching Bush, or whatever Michael Moore has most recently come up with.

But as I've increasingly spent time surrounded by highly educated economic conservatives, I feel myself losing touch with the concerns of normal families.

I mention this because there is a debate tomorrow night between Senator Joe Biden and Governor Sarah Palin. Columnist David Brooks has (insightfully) described her as a product of the populist wing of the Republican Party. While I understood why people would vote for Bush over Gore (pompous) or Kerry (effete and patrician), I don't get Palin. Or maybe I half do, but I can't nail it down.

Katherine told me once that Bush was a disaster, when she was living in Texas. Palin seems to be a reincarnation of Bush, in the form of a WWE wrestling teen's wet dream.

I just watched a video on the NYTimes web site that showed Palin's past debates. She avoided detailed questions and mouthed banalities (an accusation made not unfairly about Obama at times). Her Republican primary opponents called her directly on talking utter nonsense. And she trounced them.

I find myself wondering how much of modern American culture is not about economics, or social/religious views, but rather about class. Class is both surprisingly absent and unmentionable in the US, compared to other countries. It has not been a defining element of politics (or named as such). But I think we may be seeing it come to the fore.

I suspect "Southerner" has been a code for "working class". Clinton ran as the McDonald's candidate against yuppie Bush. Intellectual Gore vs Cowboy Bush Jr went the other way.

This is rambling (and I have food in the oven), but the point is, everyone is saying Palin will be an embarrassment to McCain. Some intellectual conservatives have already called for her to resign.

But what if, the average American is so angry at the "Masters of the Universe" -- Wall St brokers, politicians, lawyers, etc -- as a result of decades of not getting ahead, as a symptom of the increasing gap between the haves and have nots... even if I believe that this is a result of conservative politics ... but if the party of wall street decides (as the House Republicans did) that the revolt of mad as hell (not to say "bitter") voters is something to align with...

What if the Republican working class formerly Dixiecrat base is so pissed at rich educated people who screw the country up (Bush was the first MBA president) that they want to vote for someone who is blithely ignorant about the world? Can Palin stroke class resentment *on behalf of Republicans*, against Professor Obama and Oracle Biden, in a kind of double-down on the original Bush strategy?

Far too long-winded this, but my point is, if Palin gets up and does a George Bush "gee shucks these smarty-pants in Washington need some of my down-home wisdom to shake them up", surely the people won't fall for that. Surely. Right?

I wish my working class gut could be more sure.