McCain's houses

Dear James, Daniel and Emily

By now we are used to the idea that anyone who is running for President as a major party candidate will be rich. You cannot run without having at least some money of your own. So when people start throwing around charges of 'elitist' or 'out of touch with the common man' it is all relative. But this latest little escapade of McCain's is pretty bad.

First of all, one of the tactics that has been used against Obama, first by Hillary and now by McCain is that he is somehow elitist and out of touch. Probably just because he speaks well, has an erudite vocabulary and is Ivy League educated. And in realtive terms it really has been a charge without much foundation. Yes Obama is well educated, as is his wife. Yes he is a multi-millionaire. But when stacked against his opponents he is relatively poor.

And this latest sound bite from McCain, it's really pretty outrageous. It's going to take some real convincing on his campaign's part now to show that he isn't the rich elitist one. If I was a poor person, struggling to make ends meet, and I heard a candidate state that he didn't know how many houses he owns, I think I would have a tough time thinking he really understood my struggles. And when he starts talking about tax cuts I don't think he is really worrying about tax cuts for people who are renting their houses or who are struggling to make the payments on that ARM mortgage some slick talking mortgage sales person talked them into. Not a lot of credibility for him any more.