The missing candidate

I know that Obama is more than a “black candidate” and that Clinton is more than a “woman candidate,” but they are both nevertheless carriers of the narratives of their race and their gender. Their presidential bids draw emotional power from stories of “honor restored,” “slights avenged,” “underdog bites back” and similar cultural stereotypes. Americans love stories like this. Even McCain, as a septuagenarian, has a story to tell about resisting old-age stereotyping.

What’s strange is that these identities all concern gender, race and age and that none of them concerns social class. None of the candidates left on the stage tries to take on the role of “an ordinary American worker.” And the only candidate who tried, John Edwards, was quickly booted out. Americans, clearly, don’t want to identify with a working-class guy. Least of all, it seems, American workers.

Is this a wonderful example of the power of positive thinking — of aspiring to become something more than “just an average Joe” — or is it a form of self-delusion? After all, even the Village People had a member who pretended to be a construction worker!