Hey, do you remember when the big knock against Democrats and Barack Obama in 2008 was about how elitist they were?
Welcome to 2010:
In the day-to-day trench warfare of political campaigns, a candidate’s humble upbringing is almost always safe from attack.
Not so in Ohio’s race for governor.
Indeed, former Rep. John Kasich’s campaign to unseat Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland took direct aim at the governor’s modest origins, when spokesman Rob Nichols accused Strickland of mismanaging Ohio’s cities because he grew up "in a chicken shack on Duck Run."
Apparently, only proper folk who pulled down six-figure bonuses from Lehman Brothers are fit to govern.
Governor Strickland, as it turns out, was fairly prescient when he noted in an interview with ABC News last month that Kasich's own upbringing (his dad worked for the postal service) mirrored his own in many ways. But he also noted that Kasich might have lost touch with the common roots that they shared:
"John Kasich is the son of a mailman and I'm the son of a steel worker, but that's where the similarity ends because I never forgot where I came from and I think John Kasich did," Strickland said.
Nothing would seem to confirm this allegation more than the flippant comments of his campaign yesterday, the only apology for which was given today in the form of an incredibly weak "I could see how that might be viewed as pejorative" explanation from the same spokesman who issued the initial blast.
So, for those keeping score: If a corporation is criticized under fire for its own malfeasance, that merits a full-throated Republican apology. If a politician is smeared for having grown up in humble beginnings, that merits only a Republican "non-apology" apology.
Please make a note of it.
