This kind of president?

Checked nytimes.com today, because the results of the election have swiftly become my obsession, since I realized how terrible for the country one of the Democratic candidates is (and by analogy, how bad the Republican candidate would be).  Hilary Clinton has confirmed what she previously implied, when interviewed about the gas tax vacation.

'Pressed by Mr. Stephanopoulos to name a single economist who supports her plan, Mrs. Clinton indirectly revived the image of Mr. Obama as an elitist — an argument she made before the Pennsylvania primary — in noting that “elite opinion” against the gasoline tax suspension did not reflect the pocketbook concerns of financially struggling Americans. Mr. Obama opposes the gasoline tax holiday.

“I think we’ve been for the last seven years seeing a tremendous amount of government power and elite opinion basically behind policies that haven’t worked well for the middle class and hard-working Americans,” she said.

Rather than cite an economist who sided with her plan, Mrs. Clinton continued arguing that the experts were wrongheaded.

“I’m not going to put in my lot with economists,” she said. A few moments later, she added, “Elite opinion is always on the side of doing things that really disadvantages the vast majority of Americans."' - (nytimes.com)

Excuse me?  Since when were the economists bastions of elite opinion?  Economists, who rarely agree on the best way to approach an issue, because we all have different value systems and because the economy is pretty complicated, but who have for all practical purposes reached unanimous agreement on the tax break being a bad idea?  Mrs Clinton, if you want to give the least well-off voters more money, there are hundreds of ways to do it that would minimize the side-effects of increased fuel consumption and a decimated transportation maintenance fund.

And the last seven years?  We have not seen elite opinion pushing bad policies; we've seen a president who disregards expert advice and has made bad decisions as a result.

I hate this.  I hate seeing educated commentary maligned as 'elite opinion.'  No wonder our education system is foundering in the United States, when politicians so clearly show us that being educated and wise is a socially damaging, despicable trait.  When education and expertise have become a liability, and pandering, double-speak, marketing, and demagogy are considered signs of being down-to-earth and in touch. 

Seriously.  How do they expect children to want to go to college, and to want to get advanced degrees, and to want to use their knowledge to better the country, when all of these things make them someone fundamentally dishonest, or biased in an undesirable way?

I have lost all of the considerable respect that I had for Hilary Clinton.  McCain never really had much of my respect, but he could still win it back, probably, if he chose to listen to the snobby, elite voice of reason.