In her article  "My Kind of Elitist", Anne Applebaum argues that the charge of elitism, as so often heard in American politics, is truly a matter of perspective.  Applebaum crafts this argument through an inspection of two of America's best known, and undoubtedly most relevent, elites, Mr.'s Obama and Romney.  She examines their respective elitist camps, business tycoon v. ivy league academic, and comes to the conclusion that while a tweed jacketed political science professor may have little in common with your typical CEO, they both have even less in common with the average American.

I haven't read Ms. Applebaum before, and found her view to be a pretty compelling one.  There is nothing funnier than a guy in a $2500 suit tossing out accusations of elitism, but damned if that isn't all you get on a typical campaign trail.  As far as the rhetorical strategies she utilized, I thought her choice of diction was spot on.  There was a sophistication to the her word choices that led one to believe that this was a grown up talking about grown up matters, but it resisted an academic dryness.  More than anything, I thought she did a great job with the allusions that she maid.  I for one think Gordon Gecko every time I see Romney and she managed to work that angle in their quite nicely.  Also what liberal elite caricature is complete without a reference to "organic arugula".

Another thing Applebaum is effective in is slipping a more universal, more profound thesis into her article, that being the failure of radical movements in general (e.g. the Tea Party and Occupy Wallstreet).  It isn't copped to straight out of the gates.  The piece starts out by pointing out that these two guys are far from non-elites, if that's even a word, and the reader is helpless but to concede such a point.  Then theirs the unstated rhetorical question that looms over the second half of the article.  If we'r so sick of elitism in all its self-satisfied incarnations, then why are we choosing between these two.  It really is well put together.  I'll have to follow up with  some of her other stuff.