Tuesday, April 15, 2008

The Fulfillment of Modern Liberalism

For a reflection on the milieu that produced Barack Obama's recently published remarks that have stirred allegations of elitism, see George Will here.

Mr. Will writes near the beginning:

Obama may be the fulfillment of modern liberalism. Explaining why many working-class voters are "bitter," he said they "cling" to guns, religion and "antipathy to people who aren't like them" because of "frustrations." His implication was that their primitivism, superstition and bigotry are balm for resentments they feel because of America's grinding injustice.

By so speaking, Obama does fulfill liberalism's transformation since Franklin Roosevelt. What had been under FDR a celebration of America and the values of its working people has become a doctrine of condescension toward those people and the supposedly coarse and vulgar country that pleases them.

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