No More Suit/Tie in Indiana

A while back, my wife and I were talking about what it is that sounds fundamentally different about the way Obama, Bill Clinton (and Reagan, for that matter) speak and the last few Democratic candidates such as Gore, Kerry, and Hillary.

Whether they actually are or not, the latter sound like they are talking down to you, like they are patronizing you, lecturing you. And when try to talk "at your level" they sound inauthentic, scripted, stilted. I think is one of the factors why Kerry (and Gore, if you believe he actually lost) were beaten by a W.

Hillary knows this and this and she wants to paint Obama like Dukakis and Kerry were painted. This is why Clinton (channeling Rove, attacking strengths not weaknesses) attacked Obama as an elitist. I don't know much about community organizing, but I know that most people that have had non-elite jobs, those that have not had the upper advantages on their side from day one. I'm talking about public school teachers, the police, like those serving in the military (even as an officers) that have force you to be exposed (and work alongside, even when in a position of authority) folks from all walks of life -- do not talk this this.

Then of course there is a regional/dialectal element as well Gore is Southern but the patrician, old money South. Kerry, Dukakis, and Hillary are "Yankees" (as my wife would say) and just they can they can lose this from their identity that no more than Stringer Bell or D'Angelo Barksdale could lose the street.