http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...
Despite his roots, Obama struggles to show he's connected to middle class
Now, I like the title. Could it be because he is not trying to be phony like Bush that our elite media thinks he does not connect. And who cares what the reporter saw. Polls say he connects well.
His visit to Nashua was his fourth domestic trip in less than two weeks, and it included a stop at a small business and a question-and-answer session in a high school gymnasium. He took off his jacket during his speech, rolled up his sleeves and put one hand in his pocket. He dropped his g's and departed from scripted remarks to make jokes about "leakin' " roofs and "buyin' new curtains."
Ah, these blue-collar workers. This comment reminds me of the "green tea" comment in a Candy Crowley's speech a few years ago. Our big media reporters have an elitist view of them and cannot get rid of it.
But during his campaign for the presidency, Obama bungled some of his early attempts to connect with blue-collar workers, complaining about the price of arugula at Whole Foods and visiting a bowling alley only to roll an embarrassing score of 37. Some political rivals continue to disparage him as an elitist. Even his aides have sometimes worried that his intellect can be mistaken for condescension and that his composure can seem like detachment.
And now, the best of the article. Bush and Clinton are so great and Obama has learned from them during a Haiti speech. Bush, the phony folksy guy who cut wood in his ranch.
Those shortcomings were evident last month when Obama invited the previous two presidents to join him at the White House for a news conference about the U.S. relief effort in Haiti. George W. Bush was simple and frank: "Just send us your cash," he said. Bill Clinton spoke without notes and verged on tears as he recalled his personal connection to the devastated country: "I have no words to say what I feel," he said. "I had meals with people who are dead." Obama, meanwhile, spoke from prepared notes, looking all business, glancing to his left and to his right to establish eye contact while standing with perfect posture behind the lectern.
In the two weeks since, Obama appears to have learned from his predecessors' trademark strengths. He has traveled to Ohio, Baltimore, Florida and New Hampshire, each time emphasizing how much he enjoys leaving the strictures of the White House and the divisiveness of Washington. Like Clinton, he has told stories about his own struggles, recalling the 15 years he spent paying off student loans and the "family emergency" that forced him to cash out his 401(k). Like Bush, he has favored simple language and relatable analogies.
You can always count on the WaPo to be out of touch.
