Why McCain's Wealth Matters

The fact that John McCain is wealthy isn't and shouldn't be a disqualifier from holding the office of the President. But, as this well-thought-out piece by Jared Bernstein on the Huffington Post points out, when you lay his enormous wealth alongside his policy positions, there's plenty of reason to worry.

(BTW and FWIW, I really don't enjoy the Left's continuing to take McCain to task for answering the question, "How much do you have to make to be rich," with a seemingly flip "$5 million". I saw that interview. He first said it was an impossible question -- which Bernstein agrees with, by the way -- and then tossed off the $5 million figure and immediately said he was joking and that he expected to be taken to task for it. Lighten up. The guy makes enough legitimate gaffes without picking on one that he didn't intend as serious.)

Anyway, the key pull quote in Bernstein's piece for me is:

I don't care how much money our president has (though the seven homes thing really does seem beyond the pale given today's housing climate). But I deeply want him or her to understand the economic plight of those with less, and the evidence regarding the policies allegedly designed to help. When their wealth operates like empathy-killing blinders, then that wealth is a problem...a big one.

McCain is simply incapable of identifying with the common man. As such, he ought not be allowed to become President of the nation, which has far more common men and women than those in the stratospheric reaches of mega-wealth.