'Elitism' Alert! Obama Eats Snow Cone, Orders Cheeseburgers, Sees Movie

Obama lording his "highfalutin" snow cone over the rest of us. (Alex Brandon / AP Photo)

Apparently, the RNC doesn't read Stumper.

If they did, they'd know that their party's ongoing effort to paint Obama as an "elitist" for taking his wife and daughters to visit his childhood home and housebound grandmother near Honolulu, Hawaii--and the media's repeated use of words like "foreign," "exotic" and "highfalutin" to describe a trip that millions of middle-class Americans make each year--strikes reasonable people as, well, a little silly. And of course they'd immediately cease and desist for fear of embarrassing themselves further.

Unfortunately--for us and for them-- that's not the case. Instead of curtailing the whole "Anything is Elitist as Long as Obama Does It" oppo onslaught, in fact, the RNC has only ratcheted up its campaign this week, expanding its map of key Hawaiian sites (originally issued last Friday) to include places that Obama and his family have visited while on vacation. When Obama stopped by Island Snow Hawaii Tuesday, for example, Republicans were sure to note that the Democrat "asked for a cone with ‘guava orange, Lanikai lime and choo-choo cherry." How fruity. His trip earlier in the week to Ward 16 Theaters in Honolulu for a screening of The Dark Knight, meanwhile, was met with a mocking message reminding reporters that "Obama recently named Batman and Spider-man as his favorite superheroes, citing their “inner turmoil"--an important point, given that real Americans like Batman because he punches people in the face. Even Obama's order at Kua'Aina Sandwich shop Tuesday--"six half-pound cheeseburgers, eight third-pound cheeseburgers, 10 kids' burgers and 20 orders of fries"--got the "elitism" treatment, with the RNC breathlessly reporting that the meal "total[ed]... just over $116." Because there's nothing less American than ingesting $116 of fast food.

Clearly, the Republicans were hoping that Obama would indulge in a little windsurfing while on vacation--or at least that'd he order his cheeseburger with extra arugula. How disappointed they must be. Still, their desperation is rather unbecoming--and potentially detrimental. As Ben Smith notes, Obama's particular strength "[in the primaries] was pivoting off overstated Clinton attacks," like when he got a ton of mileage out of ridiculing her charge that he'd started running for president in kindergarten. Now he's at it again. In an email to reporters headlined "Breaking News Alert – RNC attacks hamburgers, moviegoers and ice cream cones! Puppies and kittens feared to be next!," Obama spokesman Tommy Vietor comes to the unavoidable conclusion that "apparently the folks at the RNC don’t like eating cheeseburgers or ice cream with their families, and are not among the millions of Americans who enjoyed Batman."

Can't say we didn't warn them.