A Political Rant, By Ingrid

First, I apologize to you if your views don't match mine. I don't want to argue right now. I just want to rant.

SO, I hear tell that some voters don't like Barack Obama because he speaks like an "intellectual." They feel he's talking down to them. If you are one of those people, I have some news. Barack Obama isn't talking specifically to you. He cannot see you through the television screen! You, sitting there on your couch or in your chair or on the floor or what have you: Barack Obama doesn't have super powers! To think that he's speaking with just you in mind is incredibly narcissistic and, to be honest, kind of insane-sounding. Barack Obama is addressing as many voters as he can because he wants us all to vote for him.

And would you honestly feel better if he talked to voters not as though we were fellow intellectuals but instead as though we, the American public, were all really really stupid? Would you feel more kindly toward him, in other words, if he underestimated you? Is that it? Or maybe you mean that you'd like him to dumb down his speech because you'd feel better having a dumb leader. Is that it?

Or is there something more insidious at work, here? What is it about Obama's intelligence that makes you uncomfortable? Could it be that you can't handle the idea that a black man isn't making an effort to hide the fact that he's smart, out of deference to those who've always had all the power? Is that what's so irksome about him?

Oops, I just expressed my anger, and since I'm female, I realize that I have been strident. Ah, me.

Anyway. . .