I read the whole article you linked to Wolfgang, but frankly the "outsider" viewpoint looks identical to the US mainstream media's conventional wisdom. Which should tell us that there really isn't any difference between Western European punditry and American punditry when it comes to the mainstream media's mantra of conventional wisdom punditry.

The problem with politics today is the same as the problem with public education today. Meritocracy. Be it corporate meritocracy or union meritocracy or government meritocracy or public policy meritocracy or what have you. The system is that only those who have already proved themselves worthy according to the standards of success established by those who preceded them, are allowed to comment as "experts" and participate as power players in the political process.

That is why Barbara Ehrenreich, a well established writer, had to write "Nickle and Dimed". The reality is, none of her working poor colleagues would have been published had they written the book instead of her, because Ehrenreich is safely ensconsed in the ,iddle and upper class publishing meritocracy. And there are millions of working poor people who could have written "Nickle and Dimed" much better than Ehrenreich, because it would have been a much more genuinely harrowing read, not to mention authentic rather than contrived.

Same is true of Michael Moore's stuff. There are plenty of working poor people who could have made "Bowling for Columbine" or "Fahrenheit 9/11." Hell--there are plenty of Iraqis that could have made "Fahrenheit 9/11". But if you think Disney is stingy with Michael Moore...