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Chris Hayes writes:
we have the perfect makings of a full-fledged campaign narrative here: you have a super rich guy who got super rich not through any of his own genius or hard work (obvious proviso here about his undeniable courage and heroism in Vietnam, but that has nothing to with his net wealth). This super wealthy guy who has married into a family of millionaires flits around in private jets to his many houses while campaigning on an economic policy that tells working people that the economy is great, and if they don’t think it’s great they’re whiners. Meanwhile he’s pushing a tax code that would make him, his wife and his rich donors much richer.At what point does it begin to set in that this guy is just another business-as-usual, out-of-touch rich guy?What's interesting is that the media prefers it this way. Plutocrats, they seem to think, should act like plutocrats. Take two easy examples. John Edwards, born into undeniably humble beginnings, attends a public law school, and makes piles of money as a lawyer representing grievously harmed individuals against the corporations and powerful interests who heedlessly wrecked their lives. He could've become a Republican politician arguing that he should get more tax cuts. Instead he becomes a populist Democrat arguing that taxes should be increased on people in his income bracket in order to fund heightened social investment that will mainly help the poor. Edwards also gets nice hair cuts, and the media swarms over his hypocrisy and inauthenticity. Or take Gore. Cheated out of the presidency and finished with public life, Gore could have said "to hell with it all" and retired to an easy existence of money, golf, speaking engagements in interesting locales, and the occasional, highly compensated, speech. Instead, he adopts a grueling schedule of travel and public speaking in order to raise awareness around global warming. It works. He becomes history's most effective advocate for what is arguably our age's most definitional crisis. He argues for a regulatory structure in which carbon is priced, those who use a lot of it (like him) pay a lot of money, and the earth cools. But he also flies a lot in order to make these points, and has a big house, so he too is a giant, inauthentic, hypocrite.The media hates crusaders. They're constantly on the lookout to point out their hypocrisy or corruption or preening arrogance. I've always assumed this stems from a deep-seated discomfort about having chosen a life of observation over one of action, but whatever the reason, they're far less offended by power that seeks to further its own interests than power that betrays its class and argues for social change.
