I think both competence and reliability are important, but if I had to choose just one, it would be competence. Reliability by itself can mean the person just makes the same mistake over and over again. Competent people can make mistakes, but they learn from their mistakes.
I think another thing is for leaders to be able to identify with and understand the problems of ordinary people – and I think Obama does that better than McCain, but that he’s just not communicating it.
“Elitist” is a conservative code word that means “popular”.
The reverse is also true.
Pfffff, those things don’t matter. It’s all about appearances. You see, in spite of having a 4 star admiral father, he was just a regular joe, goofing off in the dorm, being a prankster and barely graduating 4th from the bottom of his class – that’s what makes him a “good ol’ boy” just like joe-average-voter. And good ol’ boys don’t have to be from the South. Just ask Sarah Failin’, who took them on in the icy North. Brrrrrrrrr.
Yeah, I don’t get that. What could be more important that competance?
Good heavens, I do believe that Obama fellow is a snob. Jeeves, please show him out.
Hair!
That’ll teach me to use colloquialisms in a language not my own - I stand corrected.
As for being born as the son of an Admiral - hey, luck! Didn’t hurt his naval career one bit, I’m sure. Anyone could’ve been born as the son of an Admiral.
Don’t forget he’s also the grandson of an admiral–and of course every dumb punk kid who graduated fourth from the bottom of his class gets to fly fighter jets! No way that was influenced by family–coulda been anybody, really.
I’m with Jon Stewart, I want a president who’s embarrassingly smarter than I.
Wouldn’t take much to win your vote then. 
Just kidding.
Why I oughta… :smack:
Smartass…
To quote a recent article in Newsweek, the question we should be deciding is not whether elites should govern us, but which elites. The word ‘elites’ was being used in the positive sense to mean people who are more gifted, more educated, more capable…or at least a suitable combination of some of those things.
The same article mentioned a 1948 interview with the wife of Senator Taft, when she was asked if she thought her husband was a “common man”. To paraphrase, she answered, “My word no! In Ohio we wouldn’t stand for being represented by just a common man.”
Even Mao, Lenin, and many of the more radical leaders of the French Revolution, not to mention most of the founding fathers were elites by the standards of their day. Abraham Lincoln, like many Presidents after him who started out poor, worked and educated himself until he, too, was an elite.
Government by the elite doesn’t mean government for the elite necessarily.
I’m an ordinary guy. You’d be insane if you wanted me to be your president.
Competence, perhaps?
Sorry, it’s compulsive.
The Rothschilds are Jewish, yes? Makes sense then that they wouldn’t want a Muslim to be President.
I do think you’ve hit the nail on the head here. “Joe average” voter looks at Obama, and thinks - “he’s smart, hardworking and made the most of the breaks he had. The bastard! Who does he think he is anyway? Thinks he’s better than me, I bet.”
He’s not elite, he’s not elite, he’s not elite, he’s not elite, he’s not elite!
And so what if he is?
Morals? You don’t want him using his competence for evil, do you? 
To be honest, I’d take competent evil over incompetence with good intentions.
Yeahbut, if a Rothschild thinks Obama is an elitist, imagine how elitistist that means he is!
It’s a very silly story, but RNTAB is right. Nobody knows who she is, and she’s British. The Obama elitist storyline is played out right now, and with the economy dominating the news cycle to such a great extent, not much else matters at the moment.
Well tell that to your leaders who keep using the term as an epithet to rile the riff raff into hating him for it.
Not to mention the fact that the reaction here isn’t to the fact that he was called elite, but because of the hilarious hypocrisy of who was calling him that. This is the epitome of the pot calling the kettle black.
Elite is a compliment. Elitist isn’t. Elitist means you think you’re better than everyone else, while elite means you are better than everyone else.