The Party of Yesterday
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that some of the brightest, most productive communities in the United States
are fake American.');
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Party,John McCain,Sarah Palin');
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return encodeURIComponent('By TIMOTHY EGAN');
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By TIMOTHY EGAN
Published: October 26, 2008
SEATTLE
Barry Blitt
Two years ago, a list of the nation’s brainiest cities was put together from
Census Bureau reports — that is, cities with the highest percentage of college
graduates, which is not the same as smart, of course.
These are vibrant, prosperous places where a knowledge economy and cool things
to do after hours attract people from all over the country. Among the top 10,
only two of those metro areas — Raleigh, N.C., and Lexington, Ky. — voted
Republican in the 2004 presidential election.
This year, all 10 are likely to go Democratic. What’s more, with Colorado, New
Hampshire and Virginia now trending blue, Republicans stand to lose the
nation’s 10 best-educated states as well.
It would be easy to say these places are not the real America, in the peculiar
us-and-them parlance of Sarah Palin. It’s easy to say because Republicans have
been insinuating for years now that some of the brightest, most productive
communities in the United States are fake American — a tactic that dates to
Newt Gingrich’s reign in the capitol.
Brainy cities have low divorce rates, low crime, high job creation, ethnic
diversity and creative capitalism. They’re places like Pittsburgh, with its
top-notch universities; Albuquerque, with its surging Latino middle class; and
Denver, with its outdoor-loving young people. They grow good people in the
smart cities.
But in the politically suicidal greenhouse that Republicans have constructed
for themselves, these cities are not welcome. They are disparaged as nests of
latte-sipping weenies, alt-lifestyle types and “other” Americans, somehow
inauthentic.
If that’s what Republicans want, they are doomed to be the party of yesterday.
Not only are we becoming more urban as a nation, but we’re headed for an ethnic
muddle that could further shrink the party of small-mindedness. By 2023, more
than half of all American children will be minority, the Census Bureau projects.
Ronald Reagan was lashed by liberals for running a “Morning in America”
campaign, but he knew this country, at heart, was always tomorrow-looking — and
he fared very well in educated cities as well as small towns.
“Whatever else history may say about me when I’m gone,” said Reagan, “I hope it
will record that I appealed to your best hopes, not your worst fears.” Barack
Obama, who brings that music to the stage, leads by 30 points on the “hope and
optimism” question in polls.
Spurning the Reagan lesson, John McCain made a fatal error in turning his
campaign over to the audience of Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity. In so doing,
he chose the unbearable lightness of being Sarah Palin, trotted out Paris
Hilton and labeled Obama a socialist who associates with terrorists.
At a recent Palin rally, the crowd started chanting, “We want Fox!” McCain has
given them just that. But how isolated and out-of-touch is this audience? At
the end of each debate, a sure-fire way to decide who won was to look at the
Fox viewers poll — typically showing a landslide for McCain.
Within a day, scientific surveys found big wins for Obama.
Whether Americans are real or fake, they can see through Palin, a woman who
couldn’t correctly answer a third grader a few days ago when asked to explain
the duties of vice president. Somewhere, between the shuffling to costume and
accessorize Palin with a $150,000 wardrobe, her handlers never handed her a
copy of the Constitution.
Republicans blow off the smart cities with the counterargument that they win
the exurbs — the frontier of new homes, young families and the fresh middle
class. And it’s true, in 2004, George Bush won 97 of the 100 fastest-growing
counties in America.
That will not happen this year. Polls show McCain is losing 20 percent of
self-described moderate Republicans. And new registration figures and other
polls indicate that Obama will likely win such iconic exurban centers as Washoe
County, Nev., Loudoun County, Va., and Wake County, N.C.
But in the kind of pattern that has held true since McCain went over to the
stupid side, his brother recently referred to suburban northern Virginia as
“communist country” and a top adviser, Nancy Pfotenhauer, said it was not “real
Virginia.”
Here in Seattle, it’s become a one-party city, with a congressman for life and
nodding-head liberals who seldom challenge a tax-loving city government. It
would be nice, just to keep the philosophical debate sharp, if there were a few
thoughtful Republicans around.
That won’t happen so long as Republicans continue to be the party of yesterday.
They’ve written the cities off. Fake Americans don’t count, but this Election
Day, for once, they will not feel left out.
Timothy Egan writes Outposts, a column at nytimes.com.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/26/opinion/26egan.html?partner=permalink&exprod=permalink
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