Changing Democratic Cliches

When I was growing up in the 50's when someone said "Democrat" one immediately thought of the Teamsters, Social Security, the guys from the mill playing pool in the bar at the corner. In short, the common man.

These days it seems like the cliches are completely different. Someone says "Democrat" and it conjures up cliches like "Birkenstock", "treehugger", someone who drinks imported bottled water and would throw 100 construction workers out of their jobs to save an endangered cricket. In short, some ivory tower elitist, intellectual snob who has lost touch with reality.

Is it any wonder the party doesn't connect so well with the common man anymore. I'm not saying these cliches are necessarily accurate, but they are the imgaes that seem to be lodged in the public consciousness right now. Have we become a party of snobs? If not, why does the country see us that way? What should we be doing about that?

With every fiber of my being I counter this
perception .

that that is the image in the public consciousness. It is the image the media is trying to portray, but even media sometimes has a hard time countering reality.

someone is watching too much TV. The images portrayed on TV do not represent American sentiment.