Return of the Uber-Wasp

Just a few days ago I was explaining to a British friend visiting from the UK that, really, the elite East Coast establishment was dead and gone with the Mid-Atlantic accent.

Jonathan Last at the Weekly Standard provides an anecdote from the Kerry Campaign that may force me to substantially revise that opinion:

Earlier today in Nashua, John Kerry tested a populist stance, saying, "This election is not just about which candidate wins, but about whether we will win the fight to put opportunity and security in the hands of the many and not the few." Tonight he's at The Philips Exeter Academy in an auditorium with rich crimson carpeting, ornate moldings and pediments, dozens of formal portraits in big, gilded frames, and 1,500 adoring fans.

Founded in 1781, Exeter is the most prestigious boarding school in America and one of the most expensive, too--a year at Exeter costs more than a year at most private universities. In other words, tonight John Kerry is among "the few." He looks comfortable.

As he should. Kerry begins by reminding the audience that, while his father and daughter went to Andover, and he's a St. Paul's man himself, his wife and chief of staff are both Philips graduates, so really, everyone here is on the same side. He laughs. The audience laughs with him.

Gazing down from their portraits, Harlan Page ("The Seventh Principal of The Philips Exeter Academy, 1895 - 1913") and Sanford Sidney Smith ("President of the Board of Trustees, 1903 - 1920") must surely be comforted.

Kerry's populist appeal should, perhaps, be put on hold.