I live in Worcester, MA. About as blue collar and non-elitist as you get. I had a turkey buger with arugula for lunch on Saturday. To drink I had two Narragansett tall boys. WHO DO I VOTE FOR?

There's a lot to be said for the notion that there "either/or" choices never work (I rather liked the way Matt dissected the "Dunkin vs. Starbucks" analogies), and I think even more to be said that these "food based" comparisons are especially lame: there's a reason Martha Stewart and Rachael Ray (erg) have made fortunes selling high end food preparation downmarket, and we all know about olive oil and fancy lettuce and yes, lattes these days. And perhaps, really, that's part of the problem right now: a lot the talk of "working class voters" and the different appeals of Obama and Clinton are failing to make the right distinctions (one of which, I point out repeatedly is the term "blue collar", when manufacturing based union members are a minority of the whole "working class" picture). It's amusing, yes, to point out the absurdities... but I think it should also be pointed out that one of the reasons the Obama campaign is having trouble is because it seems so perplexed about just who they're trying to reach, and what will reach them. And in that, I think, the media - which really doesn't care to know them either - isn't doing them, or anyone, any favors.

I live about a block away from Father's Office in Santa Monica. I think their burger really is phenomenal, but sometimes they just put way too much damn arugula on the things. Makes it too bitter.

I believe it's a reference to Obama's "have you seen what they're charging for arugula?" 'gaffe' in Iowa.

Also, mark f: 'Gansett is the new PBR, clearly situating you in the 'Hipsters for Obama' demographic.

I brew beer and grow a garden with, wait for it... arugula. That's right Ezra, if you grow green veggies, this is the one. It's the Italian version of the dandilion, reseeds itself, can handle low water and has more flavor than anything else.

This is what happens when all the publishing and editorial staff live in NYC. They don't realize the rest of the country can acutally grow their own food and most non-industrial beer is over $1.25 per bottle.

Here I was thinking not having a stock portfolio and owning a car over 14 years old disqualified me from yuppiedom. Beer and arugula... perhaps a Buppie?

Crap. I'm not very hip, though. I'll admit I was in a trendy restaurant in Providence (a trendy city in general), but I wasn't aware that Gansett was hip. Maybe it's just because my bargain-obsessed carpenter dad always drank PBR, Gansett, or Black Label because it was cheapest and he would go through quite a few of them before he quit.

Why was that a "gaffe" again? He made a self-referentially humorous remark about how there are indeed varieties of produce which are being sold for enormous profit -- i.e., arugula.

"When did arugula become the new latte?"

Well, upscale greens became the "new latte" twenty years ago. We've seen this movie before.

Dukakis helped lose himself the bubba vote in '88 by prattling on about Belgian endive.

"Which sort of suggests the folks behind Newsweek's coverage of Obama's elitism aren't exactly machinists themselves..."

The folks behind Newsweek's coverage of Obama's elitism don't vote in central Pennsylvania or Ohio or mid-Florida. They vote in solidly blue states.

The folks behind Newsweek's coverage of Obama's elitism fit the income and educational profile of an Obama voter to a nth degree.

If the general election were restricted to the folks behind Newsweek's coverage of Obama's elitism, Obama would win easily.

But instead, the swing vote in Presidential elections are a bunch of Appalachian folks that Beltway Dems find icky and foreign.

UberMitch,

You don't go to Father's Office for the burgers. You go there for the beer!

The old Gansett brewery was next to the highway between by parent's house and my grandmother's house. It was interesting to see when they knocked it down a few years ago, because they took off the exterior walls without first removing all the vats and tanks inside first (which makes sense I guess). Lots of tanks and vats inside. I hear they brew the stuff somewhere in Texas now, which just seems wrong to me.

Alright! Now I've been able to use two things in this thread to just blather on about myself and places I've lived! Somebody throw something out that I can tie into College Park, Maryland.

I think they do it in Rochester, NY, UberMitch. And it's union made (Pabst too)!

Clearly, if you eat Arugula you are seen as a bizarre, un-American freak to people who grow and sell Arugula.

But instead, the swing vote in Presidential elections are a bunch of Appalachian folks that Beltway Dems find icky and foreign.

Remind me how targetting the 'swing voters' worked out so well for the Dems the last two elections.

I've heard varying accounts, but I believe that Obama addressed his question ("Anybody gone into Whole Foods lately and see what they charge for arugula?") to a group of farmers in Iowa to emphasize his point that U.S. farm policy should adapt to new eating habits and markets. Farmers may be able to make more money converting some of their acreage from commodities to higher value crops.

The press jumped on it in an attempt to label him as elitist (not recognizing, of course, that assuming that Iowans don't know what arugula is is in itself elitist). It's all part of the race to see who can be the most childish and irrelevant in their analysis, and Maureen Dowd is leading the charge.

idelmind:
The beer is great there, but there are other places with beer like that, e.g. Library Alehouse on Main St.
The main problem with Father's Office is I can't stand actually being inside the place. The worst is having to hover over people like a vulture in order to get a table.
My routine has become to order a burger there to go, have a beer while they make it, and buying beer on the walk home from the liquor store on the way. The store there has an extremely good microbrew selection, and they carry Arrogant Bastard, which is what I usually drink at the restaurant.

markf:
Good to hear!

Mark:
Also, Black Label? I remember being home one summer when my friends and I bought a case of the stuff, because it was disturbingly cheap. Frankly, the price should have been a tip off. I can saw without reservation that Black Label is easily the worst thing I have consumed in my life. I don't know if this description makes sense, but its like it tasted actively bad. Like it went our of its way to taste bad. Ugh. Not that I have anything against cheap beer. During college in Maryland, I actually grew fond of Natty Bo. And there is the College Park tie in was hoping for above! Awesome!

The press jumped on it in an attempt to label him as elitist (not recognizing, of course, that assuming that Iowans don't know what arugula is is in itself elitist).

That was the funny thing to me. I'd imagine most people in Iowa have access to Food Network and modern cookbooks. Arugula isn't elite if Emeril can include it in recipes on "Good Morning, America." And he has.

El Cid— I don't think it really was a gaffe, hence the 'gaffe'. Of course, there's a sort of reflexive aspect to these things, in that whatever the media decides to label a gaffe become, ex vi termini, a gaffe.

I can't tell you anything about the taste of Black Label. I just remember my Dad would come home from work with a case of it, while my grandfather, who lived upstairs, usually drank Miller Lite. But my father gave up beer for lent when I was around 12 and never went back to it. I don't think I've ever actually seen a real bottle of BL since.

In high school my friends and I were inexplicably fond of Ice House, which is pretty foul.

I'm glad Petey reminded me that we've been here before. I have this memory of a SNL skit from the 80's in which a fake Dukakis sang America the Beautiful with lines about "Purple Mountains of Radichio." (sp?) There were arugula references as well. None of this is new, and it fits the strategy of framing Obama as the next Dukakis.

"I'm glad Petey reminded me that we've been here before. I have this memory of a SNL skit from the 80's in which a fake Dukakis sang America the Beautiful with lines about "Purple Mountains of Radichio."

Yup. Here's the transcript of that '88 skit, (with badly mangled transcription.)

They even mention arugula!

I don't think you can lead without a vision.. and I have a vision for America. I see purple mountains over radicchio; I see wooden valleys over arugula; I see escarole from sea to shining.

I love Google.

So to answer Erza's question, arugula became the new latte before latte became the new arugula.

BH has it right.

The arugula thing came from our good friend Michelle Malkin. Actually, one of her guest bloggers. They've been pushing it since Senator Obama mentioned arugula prices at Whole Foods in Iowa. Of course, there aren't any Whole Foods Markets in Iowa.

So a small gaffe becomes ARUGULA SNOB. Then he didn't have a cheesesteak and all sorts of stupid broke out on the right. SNOB SNOB SNOB.

It's insulting really. I drink PBR and even, gasp, watch NASCAR. But I used to work at Whole Foods so I am unable to understand the American everyman? Huh?

You can probably blame David Kamp for the association. He's the author of The United States of Arugula, a book about the rise of the gourmet food movement in the US (which I haven't read yet).

"Anybody gone into Whole Foods lately and see what they charge for arugula?"

It is not arugula but Whole Foods that makes the statement a gaffe. There are no Whole Foods markets in the state of Iowa.

Russell Lynes postulates that arugula is strictly middlebrow and Whole Foods bourgeoise.

That was the funny thing to me. I'd imagine most people in Iowa have access to Food Network and modern cookbooks.

More to the point, there are people in Iowa who grow arugula. Wonder how much they're seeing of what Whole Foods is raking in? Not that something like small farmers getting paid a fair price for their crops matters, or anything. Especially compared to bowling scores.

It is not arugula but Whole Foods that makes the statement a gaffe. There are no Whole Foods markets in the state of Iowa.

Yeah, but there are other places selling arugula. And I suspect that even some of those illiterate Iowa peasant folk might have heard of Whole Foods, and somehow managed to get Obama's point even though he didn't mention Hy-Vee.

First off, arugula, which is dark, crunchy and sometimes too peppery to eat straight up, is to lettuce as super delegates are to delegates.

Second, I take offensive to the idea that something that grows out of the ground and can be bought for pocket change at Farmer's Markets all over the world can be deemed elitist. Sure yuppies are into it, but peasants have been for thousands of years.
The arugula itself is innocent.

www.teaandfood.blogspot.com

What BH and others said.

If Obama's arugula gaffe was in Iowa, why aren't the journalistic icons at Newsweek bothered by the fact that Obama seemed to do just fine in Iowa? Indeed, iirc, he did quite nicely in any number of rural counties. Evidence meet argument, argument meet evidence. You'll be much happier together, really...

Ya know, Hy-Vee sells arugula. Not only that, in moments of crazed-cheese-eatin'-surrender-monkey-lovin'-francophilia it has also been known to sell mache.

The horror!

It's frigging rocket.

the swing vote in Presidential elections are a bunch of Appalachian folks that Beltway Dems find icky and foreign.

This from Petey, the master of demographic analysis who thinks that Nashville and northern Mississippi are part of a bullshit regional construction he calls the 'Appalachian Midwest'.

Isn't it ironic that it was the supposed "Beer Track" candidate that cried when things got tough whereas the "Wine Track" candidate has thus far managed hold it together?

"This from Petey, the master of demographic analysis who thinks that Nashville and northern Mississippi are part of a bullshit regional construction he calls the 'Appalachian Midwest'."

Don't listen to me, pseudonymous in nc, trust the authority of our time on the matter of Appalachia's geographical boundaries. Wikipedia sez...

Y'know, you don't have to always agree with me, pseudonymous in nc, but 95% of the time, what I'm saying makes some basic sense.

You know, I used to think that this sort of reporting was an attempt by Republicans to play both sides of the class war, feigning being common folk with their disdain for arugula while stuffing the pockets of the rich. (like John Boehner, devoted foe of balsamic glazed butternut squash)

Recently, though, I've been thinking that the appeal of stuff like retroactive corporate tax breaks and the appeal of arugula bashing are directed at the same sort of people. I think there are a lot of wealthy people who are convinced that they're salt-of-the-earth types who've pulled themselves up by their own bootstraps who pride themselves on their disdain for broccoli rabe.

When you think about it, what is the diet of these salt-of-the-Earth yeomen? It isn't crap like McDonalds -- no, McDonalds is a moral cudgel used by the right to blame poor people for afflictions like diabetes, obesity, etc. It isn't kale sautéed in olive oil with garlic and a bit of lemonjuice squeezed on top: no, that's probably elitist or something. It's not, god forbid, something ethnic.

I'm thinking that the food we're looking for are stuff like steaks, grilled bass, lobster. While perhaps not as "elitist" as, say, escarole and garbanzo beans, it's really the most expensive food type. The cultural domesticity of such cuisine conceals its financial exclusivity.

I'm thinking that the type of right-wing meme about Democratic elitism isn't really even Republicans concealing their financial elitism with a cultural down-home act. It's cultural and financial elitism, all targeted toward the same people, who are all convinced that they're just regular folks.

Isn't it ironic that it was the supposed "Beer Track" candidate that cried when things got tough whereas the "Wine Track" candidate has thus far managed hold it together?
Moonlight

Okay... I'm trying to think of something more clever to say than "fuck you" for bringing up that months-old, tired, made up sexist media bullshit.

I tried, I really did; I couldn't.

Fuck you.

This passion for the superficial reeks of desperation. If your plans for the economy and Iraq are extremely unpopular, you might as well push the silliness at every turn. If you're in the media, what better way to get away with doing no research than to regurgitate this nonsense?

I realize that I am putting my children at grave risk, but I plan to ignore important questions like these as I choose a candidate:

1. Has he researched and memorized all grocery chains that have locations in each state?

2. Does he use semi-obscure salad ingredients as examples in his arguments?

3. What types of lapel jewelry does he prefer?

4. Has he ever lowered his hand, even for a moment, during the national anthem?

5. What did his former pastor say last night and this morning, despite having no political ties with him whatsoever?

I'm throwing caution to the wind. Call me a maverick.

saith petey:

Don't listen to me, pseudonymous in nc, trust the authority of our time on the matter of Appalachia's geographical boundaries. Wikipedia sez...

Y'know, you don't have to always agree with me, pseudonymous in nc, but 95% of the time, what I'm saying makes some basic sense.

Have you ever even been to Tennessee?

I'm from Knoxville. Knoxville is Appalachia, or at least heavily Appalachia-influenced. Nashville just isn't, in any way, shape or form. Appalachian culture completely ends at the western end of the Cumberland Plateau.

So clicked through to petey's link -- the Applachian Regional Commission's map stops two counties east of Nashville (and that, really, is pushing things one county too far, by any reasonable standard of what "Appalachia" actually is).

"So clicked through to petey's link -- the Applachian Regional Commission's map stops two counties east of Nashville"

I've never claimed Nashville as part of Appalachia. Feel free to google the internets. That's pseudonymous in nc's characterization, not mine.

Somebody throw something out that I can tie into College Park, Maryland.

Yeah, Natty Boh. You can probably get Yuengling too for cheap, that's from PA but not all that far. It's actually sort of hard to find Boh a lot of places now. Get whatever is cheaper at the Tick Tock (classy joint)..

I think there are a lot of wealthy people who are convinced that they're salt-of-the-earth types who've pulled themselves up by their own bootstraps who pride themselves on their disdain for broccoli rabe.

Mark Ames talked about this in 2004, in terms of the Thomas Frank book and the attitude of 'Reagan Democrats':

Republican elites don't set off the spite glands in the same way, and it's not only because of a sinister right-wing propaganda machine. Take a look at a photo of the late billionaire Sam Walton, a dried-out Calvinist in a baseball cap and business suit, and you'll see why. If Republican billionaires enjoy their wealth, they sure as hell hide it well. As far as one can tell, Republican billionaires genuinely like working 18-hour days in offices. Their idea of having fun is a day on the golf green (a game as slow and frustrating as a day in the office) or attending conferences with other sleazy, cheerless Calvinist billionaires. If that's what all their wealth got them, let 'em have it—so says the spite bloc. This explains why the Republican elite—the only true and all-powerful elite in America today—is not considered an "elitist" class in the spleens of the white male have-nots. Elitism as defined today is a synonym for "happy," not "rich" or "powerful." Happiness is the scarcest resource of all, not money. And the happy supply has been cornered by the beautiful, famous and wealthy coastal elite, the ones who never age, and who are just so damned concerned for the have-nots' well-being. In that sense, you can see how the Republicans were able to successfully manipulate the meaning of "elitism" to suit their needs. They weren't just selling dogshit to the credulous masses; they were selling pancreatic balm to the needy.

Appalachian culture completely ends at the western end of the Cumberland Plateau.

As I said elseblog, Appalachia stops when your ears pop. On the eastern side of I-40, you're out of Appalachia when you head down from Black Mountain to Old Fort; Petey's totemic map takes it out to the edge of Catawba County, which is another stretch.

(And the 'Appalachian Midwest' moniker, of Petey's own creation, is sillier still.)

I like arugula because it goes from seed to salad in 21 days. I guess that makes me an elitist hippie.

Sweet!

I despise arugula and I love beer.

I always knew I wasn't an elitist. Thanks for confirming it Newsweek.

Gee wiz, I don't get it. I seems to me people are fine with voting for an elitist. Our current president was born into an elitist family, attended Yale, received an MBA from Harvard, vacations in Maine. He probably used family connections to get into yale. He has a Harvard MBA for godsakes. And he was elected president, proving we're ok with elitists.

"I think they do it in Rochester, NY, UberMitch. And it's union made (Pabst too)!"

The new owner of Narragansett Brewing Co. has moved production to High Falls, NY (for the water). They also hope to eventually brew again in RI.

They have also been brewing a version of the original Narragansett Bock Beer (delicious, too). It's being brewed in Pawcatuck, CT (supposedly using Scituate Reservoir water - the original source)

anotherRInative

I've had arugola since I lived in Rome since the 1980's.... It's wonderful and sure beats iceberg lettuce.... For the best, go to Grozynski's Unions Square GreenMarket farm on Tuesday's. Nothing elitist here, it's people don't know ANYTHING except "Bread & Circuses", sigh.

Correction - Saturday GreenMarket. Also good arugola from Norwich Meadow Farms - they're several times about. A popular 1980's salad my girlfriend named was "ERA" - Endive, Radicchio, & Arugola, lol! :-D