Via Greenwald, David Brooks the Media Hack:
But the fact is that voters want a president who basically shares their values and life experiences. Fairly or not, they look at symbols like Michael Dukakis in a tank, John Kerry’s windsurfing or John Edwards’s haircut as clues about shared values. . . . When Obama goes to a church infused with James Cone-style liberation theology, when he makes ill-informed comments about working-class voters, when he bowls a 37 for crying out loud, voters are going to wonder if he’s one of them. Obama has to address those doubts, and he has done so poorly up to now.
Voters want this because David Brooks and his ilk beat this to death as a legitimate qualification. It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy. Brooks says it, then people believe it, then Brooks says, “See? I told you!”
Bowls a 37. Sheesh. Grow the fuck up, Brooks, and take a look around you. The truth is that the presidency requires a personality who doesn’t give a rip about bowling, but who’s a master at fixing the economy and Iraq and all the rest of it. Bowling????
