We Don't Need Another Bubba

The cover of the May 5, 2008 Newsweek (Obama's Bubba Gap) suggests that Barack Obama, as a Presidential candidate, needs to dumb himself down a bit. That he's just too smart and too much of an "elitist" to invoke the support of the beer drinking, tobacco chewing, NASCAR devotee crowd. Let me weigh in on this.

We have had sixteen years of Bubbas. We had eight years of Clinton (a rather smart Bubba) and eight years of Bush the Minor (a decidedly very stupid Bubba).

My apologies to all of you average mundane Americans, but we don't need another Bubba. We need a smart, sophisticated, Columbia and Harvard educated, snooty, Chardonnay drinking and brie eating member of the Mensa Society to lead this country. We need intelligence. Real intelligence. Intelligence not of the Bush-Cheney variety. We need someone more than a little above average. We need a President who can spell, speak proper English, doesn't make up words, and who has a leadership complex instead of a Messiah complex.

I don't want Obama to feel like he has to dumb himself down to lead this great nation. I don't care if Obama feels comfortable drinking a beer with plumbers or steelworkers or members of the local bowling league. I don't care if he drinks beer. It just doesn't matter. What does matter is that he's able to comport himself in the foreign arena in such a way that commands respect, rallies the allies, and places America once again as a model for rational and moral decision making. What does matter is that he is able to find some modicum of sanity in a domestic America that is on the verge of selling its soul to the right-wing fundamentalists (sort of like what McCain has already done).

Bubba gap? Please.