garland

Which is the salient point. It's silly for any to be throwing the E-word (elite) around. Or using the U-word, instead, as if that's okay.

binx

I was Googling "uppity" to educate myself. Guess what? New York Times is guilty of racism: Here are a few headlines I culled from their search.

New York Times Headlines
(1993) COLLEGE FOOTBALL; An Uppity B.C. Takes Starch Out of Syracuse
(2000) MUSIC REVIEW; A Graceful Surrender for Gilbert and Sullivan's Uppity Feminist
(1949) WICKER FURNITURE NOW GETS UPPITY; Rattan, Too, No Longer Just for Porch -- New Designs Can Go Indoors
(1981) DIVORCE REFORM'S WARNING TO 'UPPITY' WOMEN
(1983) MAJOR NEWS IN SUMMARY; Economy Gets Very Uppity

I suspect you're right, Hunt, in that the GA politician should have known better. I don't know the politician, so I can't speak for him. There are plenty of Good ol' boys here (I suppose that's racist to say, too), where their ignorance may be genuine, but not excusable.

But every once in awhile, I wish folks would consider that something that is well-known to one person, or a group of people, is not automatically universally known.

Hanna

"in many years"

Three years is many? That's how long it's been for Obama. In 2004, he was quite an ordinary Hyde Parker, financially speaking.

Hunt

Binx, if he were from Oregon, I might tut, tut. But he's from the south, and needs to have at least some sensitivity about racially charged language.

vossron

2008 Congress | OpenSecrets says Biden is the poorest senator (but it's all relative, of course).

ag54

I don't know about ordinary Hyde Parkers, but I'm betting he could pay his mortgage, had health insurance, and didn't worry about gas prices, which makes him different from a large portion of ordinary Americans.

As Vossron says, "It's all relative, of course."

Add that to his Harvard law degree, and his lifetime earning capacity, without politics, is quite a bit larger than us poor folks...

Hindoo

I deeply resent anyone who has even $1 more than me.

ag54

I don't. I'm just wondering how I can get into this politics gig

I could go to Washington for a few years, write an autobiography about how a normal working mom made good, and retire on the proceeds. Pretty compelling story, huh?

Or, I could start playing the lottery

Hindoo

I loathe and detest anyone with more than one penny than me.

(I'd read your story, ag. But I'd loathe, detest, and hate it if you made money on it.

spideygirl

From what I have seen, I don't get how "uppity" has any racist undertones in this context. This was a comparison to Palin. She represents pretty much the opposite of Obama to many Americans, and it has nothing to do with skin color.

Obama went to an elite prep school, college, and law school - among the most prestigious in the land. To most Americans, that is the stuff of movies and television. Palin is from a much more academically humble background. She symbolizes the notion that regular people can be very smart and extremely effective, something that Americans outside of NYC, LA, and Chicago understand very well. Obama is big city, and Palin is small town. For conservative Americans, Palin is a pragmatic Harry Truman type, and Obama is an elitist who cooks up the sort of grandiose plans which history has proven don't pan out very well (just like Lenin).

"Uppity" is a classical country or small-town word for "elitist", which is its big-town equivalent.

ag54

That is exactly what my dad has been saying. He hated Roosevelt too, he thought he was a communist. My dad is getting really old .

spideygirl

Roosevelt operated in very different times. The social nets in place today did not exist back then. Obama is no Roosevelt. His plans involve Socialist wealth redistribution, pure and simple.

Booklady

Palin placed a windfall profits tax on oil companies and distributed money from that to the citizens of Alaska. I guess that makes her a socialist, too.

spideygirl

As for the rest of the OP's post (I addressed my feelings on the use of the word "uppity"), I do agree that many who hate America in the Islamic world will be dancing in the streets if Obama is elected, and not only because of his name. While I don't think he should be discriminated against for his middle name, I do think it is common sense that some Muslims find it to be significant (and some of them are not friends to the US). I know my family did its celebrating when John Fitzgerald Kennedy was elected.

Regarding the use of the word "boy" - that is an unfortunate mistake. I think it falls under the category of words which may be genuinely innocent to some, yet hurtful to others. "Boy" is a commonly used word in regions of this country, like Kentucky, with a sing-songy (to me) cadence and applied to grown men of any race. Historically, it carries a different meaning to African Americans. For that reason it should not be used to describe Obama, although I believe it is perfectly possible that no racist thought accompanied it.

spideygirl

Booklady, if that is true, then many who are for Obama should switch over to McCain/Palin.