But is that really any different from the people who use the Republican party to preserve their own advantages? Was the lady who famously said "Only little people pay taxes" a hardline Democrat? And undoubtedly what she said there was essentially true, in both our countries.

And once again, whether the way Obama put it was wise campaign talk or not, does anyone actually think it wasn't essentially true?

The idea that poor people in the Rust Belt who've been screwed over by the system aren't liable to feel pretty despondent about it is a bit like the old idea that down on the plantations in the South it was all happy smiling black folk. And people suggesting they weren't were just outside troublemakers sneering at them.

Come to think of it, "elitist" in this kind of context isn't at all far removed from "uppity"...