Somewhere in the vicinity of 4-7 houses

You may have heard something lately on the subject of McCain's houses. It turns out that McCain himself isn't quite sure how many houses he even has.



His campaign later told the press that McCain has "at least 4 houses." So apparantly they're not even really sure.

The topic has been brought to great attention lately thanks in no small part to this video from bravenewfilms.org, a progressive website that has been making many popular short progressive films.



Of course, all of this is in response to the attacks from the McCain campaign and conservatives against Barack Obama. They have been leveling charges that he and his wife are elitists.

McCain has leveled the charge himself: (at about 1:30)



And it's been hammered by right wing writers.


Now, I think this whole damn thing is frustratingly silly. Conservative bloggers try to accuse Obama of being "an arugula-eating elitist". (Arugula seems to get a bad rap just because the name sounds fancy, but in reality it tastes like crap and should never be part of a salad.) Obama is supposedly an elitist because of his Harvard education and because of his "Mansion" that he purchased near Chicago. To put the point to rest, of COURSE John McCain is more of an elitist than Obama. The man divorced his first wife in order to marry into money, came from a family of career navy admirals that paved the way for his entrance into Annapolis, owns somewhere in the vicinity of 4-7 houses, and flies around Arizona on his wife's private jet. Meanwhile But it doesn't MATTER who is more wealthy, or who came from the wealthier or more connected family. It doesn't matter how many houses they have or what their taste in disgusting weeds is. It doesn't even matter if they're a gold-digging adulterer.

What matters is how they will be for the country as president. (This is gonna be a theme so consistent in this blog over the next few months you'll grow to hate me for it.) The ONLY reason this issue is acceptable is as a proxy for evaluating traits about the candidates, and as such I have this to say. I'd much rather have a president that grew up in very modest circumstances, that continues to live on more modest circumstances, than one who doesn't. They're more likely to understand what the average American faces. But when it comes to the educational circumstances a candidate has been through, I want the absolute best and brightest, the average isn't good enough. I am not smart or hard-working enough to be president. The man who taught law at the University of Chicago and was the president of the Harvard Law Review is smart enough. (That's Obama by the way.) The man who finished 894th out of 899 students in his graduating class at his military academy is not smart enough in my opinion.

So as far as the elitism issue goes, it's a total loser for McCain. It emphasises that Obama is more in touch with the average American, and that he is a much smarter, well educated candidate. And that's all that should be taken away from this issue, it's by no means any more than a predictor of who would be a better president. But I do hope that McCain keeps shooting himself in the foot over this.