Race and Elitism

Chris Matthews asked John McCain if Barack Obama is elitist? It is hardly great journalism to ask McCain if his likely opponent is a snob. McCain did deftly handle the question.

McCAIN: No. But I do believe that his statements were elitist. I think the comments about America and small towns in Pennsylvania, which I guess would apply to across America, the values and the faith that they have, I think, is immutable and unshakable. I think that the fact that they like to hunt has nothing to do with their economic conditions. I think that they respect and cherish the Second Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. And I think their faith, as I said, is something that goes on in bad times and good.

These people were the ones that went through the Great Depression and then went to war and made the world safe for democracy and came home and built a better nation than we have today. And I think that it's from the small towns and the large, but from all over America, that people have hope and optimism and faith in this nation and their future, and a real feeling of the unique nature of the United States of America. And we are a unique experiment in history. And the greatest thing about America and these young people out here today is a small -- from the -- people from the small towns in Pennsylvania want to continue to serve a cause greater than their self-interest.

Obama lectured people about how they should feel. He came across as a cranky college professor.Obama's strength has been lifting people up. He talked down to them. That doesn't hide the truth that many Pennsylvania will not vote for him simply because of the color of his skin.

"I have nothing against black people. I'm not prejudiced," says Jones, 64, a retired slaughterhouse owner and grandfather of six. "But here, we haven't had a lot of luck with black people. It's drugs, it's robberies. I hate to say it, we don't have a lot of quality black people ..."

McCain is playing into America's past. Most of the voters today didn't go through the Depression or fight in WWII. That isn't going to stop him from using a great sounding message. McCain's father and grandfather were Navy Admirals. The Maverick went to private schools as a child. The Stright Talker married into Hensley & Co., a distributor for Anheuser-Busch. Wife Cindy McCain's father helped financed McCain's first campaign. That is a fairly elitist resume.

If there is anything white people hat is being called out as racists. They prefer getting praise for a war they did not fight and a Depression they did not endure. They will say they are not racist and then not vote for a candidate because of his race. What are the chances of Chris Matthews bring this up on the so-called Hardball?