Bobo's World

It's a couple days old, but is there any greater indication of the vapidity of the elite press corps than this statement by David Brooks?

BROOKS: Well, the movement hit some natural parameters among highly educated, affluent people, people who live in places like Portland, Oregon. There is a movement, and that movement is still going on. And it's big. It's a big, historic movement, but the magic is not felt by a lot of people. It's not felt, obviously, by a lot of less educated people, downscale people. They just look at Obama, and they don't see anything. And so, Obama's problem is he doesn't seem like the kind of guy who could go into an Applebee's salad bar, and people think he fits in naturally there. And so he's had to change to try to be more like that Applebee's guy, and as he's done that, he's become much more transactional, much more, "I'm going to deliver this, and this, and this for you" on policy.

There are no salad bars at Applebee's. And I'd be willing to bet that David Brooks only knows "Applebee's" from passing one in his taxi on the way from the hotel to the airport. He's the least authentic human in America - the elite journalist. And yet he's somehow "connected" to what people in the heartland think.

For the next 5 months, we're going to hear these people again and again, saying how "real people don't connect with Obama" and "McCain has that authentic touch." Don't believe them. They have no idea what they're talking about. And I think a key to this election is whether or not the majority of the public recognizes this.