Does Obama and Co. Represent the 'New Power Class'?

His support among federal workers, academics and media reveals it to be true, says writer

Does a second Obama administration mean the further entrenchment of a "new clerisy"? That's the argument put forth by writer Joel Kotkin, who thinks the shift away from an economy of tangibles to one of virtual goods and services - think Facebook and the like - privileges folks who prefer Democratic politics. And who aren't shy about it.

While rejecting the idea that Obama represents "socialism," Kotkin does claim that the President's coalition of backers favors the federal workforce. But also media, the tech industry and academia. In short, those that form opinion and help spread it. The bread n' butter industries of oil extraction, housing construction and agriculture are out, suggests Kotkin, and the industries hawking mass culture in.

"Unlike traditional capitalist power groups," explains Kotkin, "the clerisy's power derives not primarily through economic influence per se but through its growing power to inform opinion and regulate everything from how people live to what industries will be allowed to grow, or die."

So why is this a problem? Because among other things, it means a systematic rearrangement of economic winners and losers, all taking place in a kind of culture war fog.

"Unfashionable companies - oil firms, agribusiness concerns, and suburban homebuilders - will face tougher times from regulators and the mainstream media," warns Kotkin.

Via New Geography.

Do you agree with Kotkin's take on Obama's 'new clerisy'?

[Cheenoguy]

Cue 20 republicans on this site using "clarisy" all the time like its a real word or thing.

[Dan_Tien]

The word is "clerisy" and it IS a real word. First known use: 1818.

[Neo_NtheMatrix]

@Dan_Tien - Don't you just hate it when a blatant partisan assault against a political ideology backfires? Good one Dan!

[thejimbo]

LOL, I can't imagine Rush Bumbaugh or Insanity Hannity using the word "clarisy."

[Grubby]

There are about 30,000 words in the English language. We won't trouble you though. We try to keep it simple here.

[Cheenoguy]

@Dan_Tien
I was wrong about a word.

[Dan_Tien]

The majority of the intelligentsia has long leaned to the left and the "Information Age" got started long before Barack Obama came along. I think that Obama can thank the Republican Party's choice of unlikable candidates for his 2nd term. Romney spent over $1 billion to influence voters through the media. He can't blame media bias for his loss, or lack of corporate support.

[Brownie]

Not media bias. I could relate to him. I'm not rich and I couldn't vote for a Mormon, that's just to much.

[Brownie]

@Brownie i meant i could not relate. Now, I could relate to McCain.

[woodtick57]

@Brownie

You do realize McCain has more money than Romney, don't you?

[Brownie]

@woodtick57 i do. But he was in the military.

[Dan_Tien]

@Brownie Personally, I liked McCain better than Romney as a Presidential candidate, but he lacks the charisma it takes to win and he seemed to allow his advisers to change his positions as the wind blew. When he added Sarah Palin to his campaign, that was the last straw for me. I think that military service should be a mandatory requirement to become Commander-in-Chief, and I have to give that to Senator McCain. I would give preference to a candidate with combat experience as well, since I think that they would be less likely to commit troops to combat without solid reasons.

[stepped_in_it]

All I seem to get out of this is hopefully we never have any mass power outages! The 'New Power Class' are so "tied" to their electronic gadgets that they'll walk into traffic while "communicating". More 'power' to 'em. Just hope they understand that they will have to clean up my bumper when I run over 'em.....LOL.

[TheJimmy]

Good point. And besides, once there's complete economic collapse intellectuals will be rendered completely helpless and worthless.

[stepped_in_it]

@TheJimmy Except we'll always need a door stop!

[Dan_Tien]

@TheJimmy Thanks to the "helpless and worthless" intellectuals who saved as much knowledge as possible after the collapse of civilization that lead to the Dark Ages of Europe, we didn't have to rediscover everything that was learned before then, including those "Gospels" that some people seem to value.

[TheJimmy]

@Dan_Tien that was obviously before electricity.

[PNWest]

@TheJimmy And then you can round them up and kill them just like Mao did with the cultural revolution.

[MadAmerican]

Restrictions, restrictions, restrictions! How can business grow when Obama continously hampers economic growth?

[Russell797]

Restrictions are required to protect the innocent from exploitation. Nothing can grow for free, growth always comes at the expense of something or someone else. Those others require an entity to look out for their interests. Economic growth must take place in an environment in balance, or that growth will not be sustainable for long.

[MadAmerican]

@Russell797 Ahhh and another socialist rises from obscurity!

[BelinKS]

I don't know really. I'm highly educated, my family(meaning my mother) relies on money she makes leasing out her farm land. If Obama and Co forget about middle America it could spell trouble. What are these people going to eat?!

[TheJimmy]

Crow?

[BelinKS]

@TheJimmy
Guess so!

[Brownie]

Our taxes. So.. The gop says.

[malpaso]

They will eat from the hand of their lord and savior his obamaness, of course.

[BelinKS]

@malpaso
His Obamaness will have no food unless they forcibly take it from the farmers who they have decided are not important enough to help when it is needed.

[DerivePI]

"Translation for Dummies" -'New Power Class' equals old weak socialism.

[NormalFlora]

OMG!!!!! Leadership by - shudder - INTELLIGENT people!!! Call Doocy!!! Call Gretchen!!! Call Coulter and Rush and Nugent!!!! We gotta DOOOOO something!!

[justapirate]

The article has valid points and does resemble my opinion. I think we've forgotten that advances need to be built on a solid base. Should the base crumble the whole tower comes down.
A comment I saw above is just a little naive. Made a point that learned knowledge is what brought us out of the dark ages which, yes, was helpful, but was also accessible.The points made about a power grid collpse were dead on the money. Should such an event occur, available knowledge will disappear in short order and entire segments of our society will simply die. Plain and simple.
Knowledge that is kept and saved nowadays has lost much of its base. As an example, NASA and JPL send techs to the Smithsonian and other museums to try and figure out just what the heck we did to make the moon flights possible. All the technology available today and they don't know how to do something we did with far less knowledge. And that info doesn't seem to have made the transition into the electronic world.That is a real problem and is occurring across most of our society in just about any avenue that you want to look.
If you take the political translations of the article out of the discussion you'll find that someone has pointed out a real crisis in the making.

[PayThatCEO]

The internet is becoming a toilet where anyone and everyone who thinks himself a "writer" deposits sh*t and the public doesn't consider flushing before it takes a look in the bowl.

[kathyparsell]

After all you have to be really intelligent to BLOG!?

[Clarke12]

another inadequate group of choices for a response to the question.

[justapirate]

Agreed.

[Grubby]

So, I think what he is saying is that America has decided it does not need to create anything of any real value anymore. We will sell ourselves as creating "virtual value" for the world, vs. any real tangible value. Pretty slippery slope if you ask me. When the world decides it doesn't need virtual, only something of real value, we are screwed. But then, with the re-election of Obama, the country is screwed already.

[PayThatCEO]

We used to create all kinds of things. Remember? The automobile, the airplane, steel...you name it, we made it.

But once something becomes an "empire" it goes to hell. It happens with every business. Facebook is a recent example. It's on its way down the drain because it lost sight of the needs of its consumers. Happens all the time.

There seems to be a model in business that insists on more, more, more at all costs. Yet, there is always a ceiling. No matter how big the business gets it will hit the top eventually and then there is no place to go but down. You can lay off employees, you can outsource to other countries, you can use cheap materials, but you can't keep going up forever.

If businesses would take up a productive, yet meaningful business model, and learn to be content you would see the economy turn around and our country would become much more prosperous. But, as long as we have this idea that there is an unending road to riches, then we'll be on a slippery slope and we'll accomplish nothing of real value.

[Ashstop]

This too shall pass

[kathyparsell]

Let's hope it passes quickly.

[Food4thoughts]

So Obama is a progressive...is water wet too?

[Politicskid]

So you acknowledge that progressives are generally power hungry?

[Food4thoughts]

@Politicskid
I acknowledge that if your feet smell and your nose runs...you were built upside down...nothing more... Nothing less

[DARSB]

Sounds like Mr Kotkin is the last guy to install AOL from that shiny disc.

[RobertJHarsh]

Obama is an effective communicator. I will give him that. Obama is essentially organization the non-white, non-traditional American groups that could start a business or get a real job if their lives depended on it. Since they can't, they conclude that they are being discriminated against, turn to Obama and the socialists for help and become gimmedatars. Obama, in turn, punishes the successful class, something his supporters cannot ever become because <insert excuse here> and he uses that money to feed the welfare rolls so these people can go out and buy trinkets and toys that they identify with as socialists, typically Apple products.

Obama's followers (excluding the retirees scared of losing SS, homosexuals, non-religious, and angry white women) are not hard working Americans because they believe making money is a bad thing, making money is the cause of the world's problems, and making money is unamerican. That is why Occupy was so effective in demonizing the successful class in this country. 1% wasn't just the top 1% of wealth ownership.$250,000 in assets or more is roughly 35-40% of the country. Interesting Obama chose that number. And with each successful socialist presidency America has, that $250k will get lowered. In 5 years, it'll be $200k, and in 10,$175k when all of the sudden in 2024,$100k or more are "rich". Forgot $100k won't buy a cardboard box behind a homeless shelter in NYC.

The New Power Class will become the Cadres whom beat down protesters who want lower taxes, pro-business laws, and less government interference in their lives.

[RobertJHarsh]

I really need to use Word when typing out the long ones. I always screw something up!:)

"Obama is essentially ORGANIZING the non-white, non-traditional American groups that could not start a business or get a real job if their lives depended on it."

[AceLuby]

"regulate everything from how people live to what industries will be allowed to grow, or die."

Can someone please give me one administration that didn't do this? This sounds a lot like how Romney was railing on Obama for 'killing coal' and 'picking winners and losers' pointing to solyndra, but in the very same speech says he wants to give more tax breaks to coal and less investment for clean energy. Um... that's still picking winners and losers, just picking different winners and losers.

[Republican5001]

Looks like a duck, walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, must be a duck. Socialism is socialism no matter how you paint it. Democrat ideologies mirror those of communism.

[Raptor]

More BS propaganda from the right.

[harold_lloyd]

clerisy - Educated people considered as a group; the literati.

The more our world is based on technology and science, the more the well educated will have influence.

It's not about Obama or liberals, it's about an increasingly technical world.

[Russell797]

Exactly!!!!!!!! A world born of science, and one increasingly dependent on the same.

[harold_lloyd]

@Russell797
Yes, and it would be wise if we considered the fact the we are using technology and fossil fuels to exceed the carrying capacity of the earth.
That's not going to last forever, and the adjustment will be harsh.

[Russell797]

@harold_lloyd Right, it is estimated that humans are demanding the equivalent of 1 1/2 Earths in terms of resource exploitation and the rate at which it can absorb and process pollution. This can not continue indefinitely. Either we find ways to live sustainably or we are doomed. That is unless the almighty can change the laws of physics!

[harold_lloyd]

@Russell797
Well, doomed is a little strong. Lets' say instead that our culture and civilization are in peril, but I'm beginning to think humans will be here after the roaches are gone.

[Mia]

This experiment has been a miserable failure everywhere it has been tried. Give people equal opportunities. Some will rise sky high some will rise a little some will not take advantage at all. So be it. Determining winners and losers requires a huge ego, first of all. Then it requires a persecution complex. Not good qualities for a leader of a nation.