Boris sent this in:
Andy Stern, president of the Service Employees International Union–and himself an Ivy League graduate–recently said that the perception of Democrats as “Volvo-driving, latte-drinking, Chardonnay-sipping, Northeast, Harvard- and Yale-educated liberals” isn’t a perception at all, but rather “the reality. That is who people see as leading the Democratic Party. There’s no authenticity; they don’t look like them. People are not voting against their interests; they’re looking for someone to represent their interests.”
In this case, the reporter (Thomas Edsall) is not making the mistake (as did Michael Barone and others earlier) but rather is reporting others’ take on the issue. Actually introduces a different point, which is Dem (or Rep) leaders, as compared to Dem (or Rep) party members. No doubt that the leaders of both parties (as of just about all organizations) are richer than the general membership. It’s considered to be more of a problem for the Dems, however, possibly because the Democrats are supposed to be “the party of the people.” The fact that the Republicans are led by “Benz-driving, golf-playing, Texas, Harvard- and Yale-educated conservatives” is not such a problem because, in some sense, the Republicans never really claim to be in favor of complete equality.
This is a classic debate going back to the American revolution. The Federalists preferred a political system with elite representatives that act as a "filter" whereas the Anti-Federalists preferred a political system representatives that "mirror" the population. Since the Federalists basically won, it is unlikely that poor and downtrodden will be ever be represented equally from among their own.
Taking a page from James Webb, I'd say the Dem's leadership problem is less a matter of latte-sipping, Volvo driving, etc., but rather their obvious cultural disdain for the Scotch-Irish working classes in the South and Mid-West.
This is a very large ethnicity — is there a larger? — and one that is heavily discriminated against in Ivy League admissions — and hence in our national elites — to judge by some casual figures supplied by Ross Douthout in his recent Harvard memoir, Priviledge.
It would be interesting to see more rigourous research on this latter issue.