This Pretty Much Sums it Up, So I Don't Really Have to Speak on This Anymore (But I Probably Still Will)

From the “People This Lacking in Self-Awareness Really Shouldn’t Be Allowed to Speak in Public Ever Again” Files
via Whatever by John Scalzi on 7/10/08

The following heart-stoppingly clueless comment, from this CNN article on Barack Obama:

With Clinton’s debt yet to be paid off, some of her supporters are balking at the idea of donating to Obama — especially if he does not choose her to be his running mate.

“I certainly know there are lots of people who are withholding their money,” said Lynn Forester de Rothschild, one of Clinton’s “Hill-raisers” who raised over $100,000 for the former first lady.

“This is a hard decision for me personally because frankly I don’t like him. I feel like he is an elitist.”

Folks, meet Lynn Forester de Rothschild, otherwise known as Lady de Rothschild:

Lady de Rothschild is Founder and Chief Executive of E L Rothschild LLC, a private company, since June 2002. From 1990 to 2002, Lady de Rothschild was President and Chief Executive Officer of FirstMark Holdings, Inc., which owned and managed various telecommunications companies. She was Executive Vice President for Development at Metromedia Telecommunications, Inc. from 1984 to 1989. She began her career in 1980 as an associate at the law firm of Simpson, Thacher and Bartlett LLP, where she practiced corporate law. Lady de Rothschild is a director of The Economist Newspaper Limited (member of the Audit Committee). She is also a member of the U.N. Advisory Committee on Inclusive Financial Services and a trustee of the American Fund for the Tate Gallery, the Outward Bound Trust (UK), and the Alfred Herrhausen Society for International Dialogue (Deutsche Bank). Lady de Rothschild is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Foreign Policy Association, and she served as a member of the National Information Infrastructure Advisory Committee and as the Secretary of Energy Advisory Board under President Clinton.

This article notes that Lady de Rothschild was worth $100 million in 1998… which was before she married Sir Evelyn Rothschild, of the British branch of the Rothschild financial dynasty, which is worth, well, lots.

So, on one hand, I suppose Lady de Rothschild might know what an elitist looks like. On the other hand, her saying she doesn’t like Obama because she thinks he is elitist is so full of rich and creamy clueless irony that I feel like every person in the country who makes less than a quarter million dollars a year ought to drop trou, face away from Lady de Rothschild, and tell her to kiss our base and common puckerguards. Anyone who lives on a 3,200 acre estate that features an entrance hall “notable for its large paintings by Thomas Gainsborough, George Romney, and Joshua Reynolds” loses the ability to criticize anyone else in the entire goddamn universe for being “elitist,” particularly a dude who while growing up got to experience the joys of a food stamp dinner.

Yes, Barack Obama is part of the elite, and may even be an elitist. Fine. But, you know what, there’s “graduate from good schools and work hard in public service” elite, and then there’s “make millions in corporate America and marry into the family that owned the mortgage on Europe” elite. Those are two entirely different sorts of elite. Guess which one doesn’t get to call the other “elitist” like it’s a smear.