Thursday, August 21, 2008
Counting houses
I've been sitting all day in absolutely perfect weather on a dock on a lake that looks like glass, so I am a bit behind in my reading and posting. Suffice it to say that I did not miss much, judging by the importance today's campaign kerfuffle. Apparently John McCain did not immediately know how many houses he owns, and this is a sign of how out of touch he is.
I had three reactions to this, the first being that the ongoing argument over which candidate is less "of the people" is more than a little silly. Nobody who runs for president is even remotely normal or in touch with the lives of ordinary Americans. Each party has at one time or another had an advantage in portraying the other as somehow "elitist" in its tastes (typically Democrats) or its attitude toward the redistribution of wealth (typically Republicans). The last time a Democrat was obviously more plebian in his tastes than the Republican was 1992; the last time a Republican advocated a more aggressive redistribution of wealth than the Democrat was probably... well, maybe never, or at least not since the election of Theodore Roosevelt. Sadly, there seems to be enough votes in this exercise that we have to relive it every four years.
My second reaction was that it is a bad idea for Barack Obama to bring up houses, for the various reasons mentioned here.
My third reaction was, hey, how many houses do I own? The answer, it turns out, is pretty complicated, what with property held in trust for my benefit and controlling interests in investments and such. It is either two -- the house in Princeton that we live in and the house we are trying to sell -- or some larger number up to six, including three houses in the Adirondacks held in a trust among all the descendants of my grandparents and a dual residential/commercial property that we rent.
So, if you put that question to me and I were unprepared for it, I'd probably have to get back to you too. And if I really did not want to be wrong and had a staff with an official position, I would refer you to it. Neither diminishes one iota my love of eating at Applebee's, the joy I feel walking a boardwalk "down the shore," or my identification, such as it is, with the average Joe.
HEH: A reader emails, "I just want to know if Obama has 'experimented' with more illegal substances than McCain owns houses... Then we'll decide."
12 Comments:
By 
, at
Thu Aug 21, 07:09:00 PM:
Counting dog houses and bird houses, I've got thirteen.
By , at
Thu Aug 21, 07:32:00 PM:
Much ado about nothing. Everyone knows that McCain's wife is loaded, so what. Now, denying he owned a home, ala Kerry's "my family owns SUVs but I don't".
Obama is going to continue to suffer since he's weak on the issues that matter - the growing threat from Russia, and the ongoing W.O.T.
And Obama's going to have a tough time asserting that he's not elite, having attended private schools, Yale and Harvard.
By 
JPMcT, at
Thu Aug 21, 07:33:00 PM:
Hmmm....how many houses does Obama's brother own? You know, the one the press is portraying as a "long lost" relative, but who was visited by BHO as recently as two years ago.
By Dawnfire82, at
Thu Aug 21, 07:47:00 PM:
My paternal grandfather, one-time farmer and Mobil Oil field hand, owns at least half a dozen houses; mostly small rentals. Given that they aren't all full at the same time, he may not be able to recall their exact number either.
Non-issue for me.
By , at
Thu Aug 21, 08:20:00 PM:
Obama attended Pomona, Columbia, and Harvard Law. I'd say Obama is from a middle class background, as our many of our best Presidents. Great thing about America, really, that there is social mobility based on merit.
Of course, intergenerational transfers of wealth - like that described in point 3 of this post - tend to confound that important principle - that we should be a merit-based society (e.g., just as no affirmative action for minorities, no special admittance guidelines for the offspring of alumni).
McCain gets extra points, however, if one of the condos is on the French Riviera.
By D.E. Cloutier, at
Thu Aug 21, 09:15:00 PM:
We can't all be peasants. Nothing would get done.
By Georg Felis, at
Thu Aug 21, 11:04:00 PM:
Or anybody with a large estate (henceforth called an Edwards) who has a guest cottage on the property, is that One or Two? Or Three?
Or Al Gore who has a large house with a residence (with a disgruntled former renter) that is used for the Secret Service, should that one be counted too? Whatever number he could have come up with at the moment could instantly be disparaged and called a "lie" by a carefully organized leftist with an agenda. (which of course does not resemble the Dem sites at all. Really. Honest.)
By , at
Fri Aug 22, 06:34:00 AM:
This isn't going to make a dent becasue Americans as a whole won't hold against you for being successful. McCain doesn't have to deny that he and his wife have a ton of cash.
Who would the D's want? Someone who can't balance a check book?
BUT the American people will hold it against you for getting your one mansion in a shady deal with someone like Rezko.
I'd rather have a president who has forgotten how many homes he ownes, over one who's forgotton how many states there are, any day.
By Andrew Hofer, at
Fri Aug 22, 09:24:00 AM:
Someone, somewhere, thinks this is payback for what "we did" to Kerry.
Except he did it to himself.
By , at
Sat Aug 23, 02:38:00 AM:
Did someone mention DRUGS?
Woohoo!
By Gordon Smith, at
Sat Aug 23, 12:54:00 PM:
My favorite comment on all this:
Obama - One house, one spouse.
By Unknown, at
Mon Aug 25, 11:49:00 PM:
My god you people are insufferable!
Forgot how many houses you own? Rough idea?? Hmm? No?
Thats not a sign to you that someone is out of touch with "Joe Average"?
I guess none of you have seen the forclosure rates lately?
Prats!
