The McCain campaign and Conservative commentators have repeatedly referred to Barack Obama as "arrogant and presumptuous." What they mean by that is that he's uppity. Of course, saying he's uppity smacks of Jim Crow. So they're not going to say that. They have some common sense. It means he doesn't know his place, and dares to question those in authority. That is the arrogance and presumptuousness. He dares to question his betters and he doesn't know his place in society, which is beneath them.
more
I have often felt that Conservatives were all about the maintenance of privilege and authority. Their own privilege and their own authority. Their inferiors should shut up and do as they're told. Don't question authority. Stay in their place. Behave.
For Conservatives the truth is carved in stone. It is unquestionable like the Bible, handed down as the word of God. Questioning anything is blasphemy. An affront. An insult.
So, of course, any intellectual, any liberal offends them. It is the hallmark of an open mind to question what you are told, to weigh both sides of an issue, to be open to change. The Obama campaign represents all of that and more.
Of course, the truth is not carved in stone, and neither is their place atop the political, economic and social order. Change is coming. You can feel it in the air and we can make it happen.