BELTWAYITIS:

Welcome To 'The Real World'--White House Edition: Kagan nomination shows Team Obama's tunnel vision. (Dan Gerstein, 05.12.10, Forbes)

The most revealing comment came from top Obama strategist David Axelrod. Speaking on Bloomberg TV, Axelrod, who himself has never held a job other than reporter and politico, boasted that Kagan "brings as broad an experience as you can hope for, in all three branches of government." Yes, you read that right. In the narrow confines of Obamaland, working on Capitol Hill, in the White House and in the judiciary now apparently counts as the triple crown of life experience in this country.

Now, in a different context, you might write off a statement like that to standard operating spin--or if you were being generous, you might forgive Axelrod for leaving out the word "government" before "experience." But when you listen to all the other hoot-inducing hyperbole coming out of the White House this week--and look at the exceedingly exclusive resumes of the folks doing the spinning--it's hard not to take that line at red-faced value. Or to see it as of a piece with the many out-of-touch statements and gestures that all the president's men and women have made over the past three years, starting with Obama's infamous "Bitter-gate" incident during the campaign.

That does not mean this White House is fatally elitist, or as some hyperventilating conservatives suggest, contemptuous of the masses. The problem, as I originally argued last fall, is that the otherwise diverse Obama team is intellectually and culturally monochromatic. There are no recovering Bubbas or James Carville types who grew up in Sarah Palin's version of the real America and who were acculturated to engage with and win over blue-collar workers. Nor are there policy mavericks like former Nebraska Sen. Bob Kerrey, or deal-cutters like former Louisiana Sen. John Breaux, who are programmed to think outside the box, reach beyond their circles--or at least tell the president the difference between Elena Kagan and Joe Sixpack.