PAUL KRUGMAN: Authentic? Never Mind

Rich liberals who claim they’ll help America’s less fortunate are phonies.

Let me give you one example — a Democrat who said he’d work on behalf of workers and the poor. He even said he’d take on Big Business. But the truth is that while he was saying those things, he was living in a big house and had a pretty lavish summer home too. His favorite recreation, sailing, was incredibly elitist. And he didn’t talk like a regular guy.

Clearly, this politician wasn’t authentic. His name? Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

Luckily, that’s not how the political game was played 70 years ago. F.D.R. wasn’t accused of being a phony; he was accused of being a “traitor to his class.” But today, it seems, politics is all about seeming authentic. A recent Associated Press analysis of the political scene asked: “Can you fake authenticity? Probably not, but it might be worth a try.”

What does authenticity mean? Supposedly it means not pretending to be who you aren’t. But that definition doesn’t seem to fit the way the term is actually used in political reporting.

For example, the case of F.D.R. shows that there’s nothing inauthentic, in the normal sense of the word, about calling for higher taxes on the rich while being rich yourself. If anything, it’s to your credit if you advocate policies that will hurt your own financial position. But the news media seem to find it deeply disturbing that John Edwards talks about fighting poverty while living in a big house......

http://freedemocracy.blogspot.com/2007/06/paul-krugman-authentic-never-mind.html

Hillary should be smarter than that. Friend of the workers indeed...

reveals those beliefs please post it.

The CEO is hired in to do a job - that job does not include kicking the current clients to the curb.

time he produced a sloppy analysis - in my opinion -

The Mark Penn detail is in the response lower down in this thread.

Called "Hillary Inc.". And TPM had some big excerpts from it.

Mark Penn was brought into the Clinton White House by Dick Morris, who was brought in by Hillary. And Penn is not just a CEO, but a major union busting consultant. He has all sorts of DLC ties, and represents PHARMA, Exxon-Mobil, etc., All the major funders of the DLC and Repukes.

Burson-Marsteller, a techie pollster heading a major PR firm. In 1977 he started his polling firm Penn, Schoen and Berland Associates which he is President of.

In 1996 Morris needed better polling and hired his firm - Penn is the pollster/adviser for Tony Blair.

Where Morris made a name as a person that did a very "granular" analysis, Penn made his name as a branding and competitive marketing guru - his specialty is corporate research and positioning of product - framing the discussion with the correct words and approaching the correct audience., A while back he did a job for AT&T on how to grow in a market where everyone has a phone and a carrier - how to grow by taking away customers from MCI by targeting uncommitted customers, the business equivalent of seeking out swing voters.

He was Hillary's pollster in 2000 - and thank goodness she has him back for the sake of her campaign. I do not yet have a horse in this race - but I hate when nonsense is thrown out - even if the throwing out is from lack of knowledge rather than trying to smear someone.

The Nation's anti-Hillary slant, and TPM's pro-Obama slant, do not, in my mind, justify trying to convey a distorted picture of the people around Hillary.

The only true item is the so what fact - in my opinion - that Penn has done a great deal of work for the DLC folks - and is a believer in showcasing foreign policy strength, toughness, and determination. But then everyone running other than DK and Gravel is into showing foreign policy strength.

because they assumed he was unelectable. How sad.
His wealth would not be what would hold him back but his disability. People would write him off, pundits would talk about it all the time so voters would think maybe he should not be concidered a legit candidate because of this.
authentic is an overused word. Bush was concidered authentic. Gore was not. Politicians have to get elected and therefore must put on a good face. the fact that FDR was really like he was in public is a testament to the personality of a larger than life man.

and you can only look good on TV if the people running the TV network WANT you to look good on TV.
Otherwise you're gonna look TERRRIBLE!

I give him manly points for screwing around even though he couldn't walk.

FDR was a flaming Liberal for many years before he became President. So Liberal that he was shunned by the Democratic Party as being a kook. They only ran him as a desperation move to stave off the Communist Party.

Also, I've visited his summer home in Canada - not very big at all.

We need to look at voting records, not the rhetoric du jour. The record showed that Roosevelt was the Real Deal - which is why he was able to save the US.

:-)