"The most horrid offenses against the poor and middle class have often come at the hands of the class-identity manipulators ..."

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Politicians: they're not like us. But some folks sure like to eat photo-op corn dogs
Rick Perry’s ‘awesome’ adventure. Rand Paul’s Hamptons weekend. Which classist lie will you believe this summer?
By Ana Marie Cox, August 15, 2014

It’s folksy season again in politics. Obama’s on the Vineyard, showing off his mom jeans on a regular basis. Members of Congress – and 2016 hopefuls – are out on recess, racing from fair to fair to eat various foods on sticks. Casual Friday politics is even showing up in our rhetoric: Obama feels bad about that we “tortured some folks”; Hillary wants to “hug it out”.

Adopting a summer-y populist pose reached an absurd level of vulgarity here in Minnesota, where independently wealthy gubernatorial candidate Mike McFadden released an ad that shows him getting hit in the nuts while coaching little league football. Nothing says “man of the people” like a groin injury.

But “understanding the problems of people like you” isn’t necessarily about state fairs and coffee shops. Rand Paul, for instance, has already gotten dinged for skipping this weekend’s Family Leadership Summit in Ames, Iowa ... in favor of a library fundraiser in the Hamptons. But I kind of respect anyone who would turn down the chance to pander to a bunch of ideologically rigid creationists in favor of promoting, you know, reading. I couldn’t tell you the last time Mike Bloomberg or George Soros ate corn dogs, but few progressives will turn their money down.

And state fairs do not automatically lead to the image of a humble public servant, just trying to do right by real Americans. Rick Perry went to the Iowa state fair, ate some bacon, then gave a speech in which he concluded, “I’m awesome!” (Just don’t ask him to give three reasons why.)

But seriously: it’s all cowboy boots and coffee shops until the budget cuts come. The most horrid offenses against the poor and middle class have often come at the hands of the class-identity manipulators most skilled in affecting the appearance of jes’ plain folks. Bush cleared brush as he proposed a $1bn cut in child welfare. Perry’s twang is no comfort to the 1.2m Texans left out of Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion.

Even politicians who can legitimately claim middle-class experience tend to legislate aspirationally. They can “feel our pain”, but politicians really want to be above the crowd. And being in Congress is a good way get rich with minimal effort. Members of Congress routinely find their net worth increasing while Americans see steep decreases; their stock portfolios perform up to 10% better than the average investor.

Even the threat of being voted out of office – or impeached, let’s say – isn’t anything like a real person losing a job. However Obama leaves office, he then becomes a member of lots of corporate boards and gets paid millions on the speakers circuit. That’ll show him! The Clintons may have been “dead broke” when they left the White House, but their path to financial security was a smooth downhill run: How will we get out of debt? Better keep being the Clintons! Failed down-home Republican candidates get their own TV shows – or their own TV shows and TV channels.

The lives of national political figures aren’t just like ours – and to some degree that’s understandable and necessary, if only for their personal security. But what if they – at some point – took real jobs? And “running a business” doesn’t count. As stunty as Undercover Boss is, there is a real point to it, and something like that might be the best we can hope for.

Or if it’s just too much to ask for policies back in Washington to reflect the lived experience of most Americans on display during our national politicians’ five-week vacation, how about being on the ground when matters on a more urgent, personal level? How about going beyond beyond butter cows, steak fries or even parachute-in appearances such as Obama’s front porch tour? Will we ever see a president – or 2016 contender – march on today’s picket lines, take the food-stamp challenge, or join in the peaceful Ferguson demonstrations rather than opine about them?

Proving one’s middle-class bona fides – or using someone’s wealth as proof of distance from it – is so ingrained in the American political discourse it’s hard to even differentiate it as a specific tactic. But imagine if the standard was not whether or not one appears to be “of the people” and rather showed a willingness to defer to them.
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