Why Obama Strikes Conservatives as "Arrogant"
1. They suspect that he really is better than them
And that makes them think that HE thinks he is better than them. Or at least he could, which in the minds of your working-class American is the same thing. People who imagine themselves to be inferior are always on the look-out for other people who imagine the same thing. Look at the criteria for superiority in this country: education, money, looks. Obama is Ivy league educated, rich, and compared to your average American, not ugly. He fits all of it and it bothers them that he might know.
2. His supporters are what they think of as "arrogant"
Meaning educated and rich enough to care about the environment. These are the people who live in metropolitan areas and would not touch a small southern town with 10-foot banjo. Hollywood mocks conservatives (especially poor, rural ones), and they are all too aware of the stereotypes out there, they know that people dismiss them as white trash. They see Obama as thinking like the people who turn out in droves for him because that's how "those people" think.
3. He is unlike the black people who know their place
The black people in the south, especially in the small towns, are to a large extent poor and have a shaky grasp of the English language. It's changing, but not quickly, and if you are over 40 it's quite easy to see how you could have gone through most of your life without meeting a black person (or a white person for that matter) who could form coherent sentences and express intelligent ideas. Note that I am writing this from the south and know what I am talking about. The black people in small towns they know have no ambitions to take over the white man's business, since the uppity ones leave as soon as possible. In fact, just replace "arrogant" with "uppity" and you will see better where the Right is coming from. Obama thinks he is better than they think he is and that qualifies him as "uppity".
4. He seems smarter than GWB
This is the real threat. GWB got into office on the basis that he was likable and seemed like a man of the people. His accent and down-home expressions made him feel familiar and comfortable to America. Now if you feel comfortable with GWB, if you identify with GWB, if you cannot see what is so funny about the way he talks, or what he has done wrong, then obviously Obama is going to feel alien and threatening to you. Electing him will feel like an uncalled for upsetting of the status quo. If you think that the Blue Collar Comedy Tour was the funniest shit ever, then the Colbert Report is going to feel like arrogant faggoty nonsense.
And that makes them think that HE thinks he is better than them. Or at least he could, which in the minds of your working-class American is the same thing. People who imagine themselves to be inferior are always on the look-out for other people who imagine the same thing. Look at the criteria for superiority in this country: education, money, looks. Obama is Ivy league educated, rich, and compared to your average American, not ugly. He fits all of it and it bothers them that he might know.
2. His supporters are what they think of as "arrogant"
Meaning educated and rich enough to care about the environment. These are the people who live in metropolitan areas and would not touch a small southern town with 10-foot banjo. Hollywood mocks conservatives (especially poor, rural ones), and they are all too aware of the stereotypes out there, they know that people dismiss them as white trash. They see Obama as thinking like the people who turn out in droves for him because that's how "those people" think.
3. He is unlike the black people who know their place
The black people in the south, especially in the small towns, are to a large extent poor and have a shaky grasp of the English language. It's changing, but not quickly, and if you are over 40 it's quite easy to see how you could have gone through most of your life without meeting a black person (or a white person for that matter) who could form coherent sentences and express intelligent ideas. Note that I am writing this from the south and know what I am talking about. The black people in small towns they know have no ambitions to take over the white man's business, since the uppity ones leave as soon as possible. In fact, just replace "arrogant" with "uppity" and you will see better where the Right is coming from. Obama thinks he is better than they think he is and that qualifies him as "uppity".
4. He seems smarter than GWB
This is the real threat. GWB got into office on the basis that he was likable and seemed like a man of the people. His accent and down-home expressions made him feel familiar and comfortable to America. Now if you feel comfortable with GWB, if you identify with GWB, if you cannot see what is so funny about the way he talks, or what he has done wrong, then obviously Obama is going to feel alien and threatening to you. Electing him will feel like an uncalled for upsetting of the status quo. If you think that the Blue Collar Comedy Tour was the funniest shit ever, then the Colbert Report is going to feel like arrogant faggoty nonsense.
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