Well, at least Barack doesn't have to worry about getting his arugula at a non-existent salad bar at Applebee's..

I've always thought "salad bar" is an oxymoron. What next, "Martini farm"?

I think Barack would pass, the Applebee's salad bar doesn't carry arugala. And wouldn't "one o' the folks" order something fried?

libref: you beat me to it.

Only in the David Brooks universe would going to the salad bar be considered "ordinary America." I would advise Obama to order a giant platter of french fries instead.

Salad bar? Is Brooks serious? Whether Applebees has a salad bar is immaterial, the question is whether any of the allegedly "average" Americans he has in mind would actually use the salad bar. Whichever way you take it, Brooks should have just removed any lingering doubt that he bears even a tangetial relationship to "regular folks"

There's not a more tedious pundit around than when Brooks gets his "regular folks" BS revved up.

I like "fern bar" better.  Clinton always looked out of place at McDonalds, but that didn't stop him. Anyone who aspires to the White House should be able to posture in a wide variety of venues.

He makes it sound like Applebee's IS a salad bar, or has a room off to the side, where the salad is eaten, and minors are not served.

Anyone wearing a tailored suit is out of place in 90% of all restaurants.

The only thing standing between Barack Obama and a win in the Fall is "he doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who can go into an Applebee’s". Now he tells us?

And the Clinton's never picked up on this in six months...

This may be the bombshell she'll exploit. Scary stuff but we knew the other shoe would drop.

David Brooks is actually a very fine columnist at his best, far better than William Kristol. I will probably be torpedoed for saying that because dissent isn't exactly smiled on out here in Republicanland. Oh, I forgot. This is a liberal site and liberals believe in tolerance. Repeat after me.

People really need to understand that pundits who talk about "regular folks" are just bloviating assholes who are further removed from regular folks than any politician on the planet.

"has a room off to the side, where the salad is eaten, and minors are not served"

I'm guessing that room off to the side of Brooks' restaurant is for *tossing* salad...

"I will probably be torpedoed for saying that because dissent isn't exactly smiled on out here in Republicanland."

Just for that, no torpedo for you; off to the salad room for immediate reprogramming!

He might be an excellent columnist, but perhaps he should avoid talking about whom would or would not "fit in" when bellying up to a salad bar at a restaurant?

Hyprocrasy shall be derided in all its forms! :P

I was wrong.

Brooks is the *second* most tedious pundit around when he gets his "regular folks" BS revved up.

Liberal, as you evince such increasing disdain for this site and its posters, one wonders why you linger.

SO that we can learn, doc.  For us.

But, yeah, you're right.  A lot of us are going to jump on you for saying Brooks is better than Kristol.  A lot of Kristol supporters here.  See, what a lot of us do when we disagree is "argue" and "make our cases".  Or should we not do that?  Is that intolerant?

Brooks can be good, and sometimes very good, but he can also be maddeningly bad.  He is the Tom Friedman of social anthropology- he chooses a theme based on a few vague glances at a subject and treats it as gospel.   He is a rich dude who has done well and bases his observations on a small circle of people he knows.  He may be right in them but he ignores the wider world and broader, more troubling trends.  Yes, children of the middle and upper class may work too hard to get in a good school, but their woes are somehow irrelevant to people choosing between food and medicine.  

...because we happily tolerate his free-speeching and won't actually evict him from the party for not towing the line, unlike say ... a certain female republican from FL who lost her GOP endorsement because she wouldn't call off a recount even though it was mandated my local laws... :)

Applebee's?  Never been there, never will.

I'd sure rather hang out with Obama more than with the idiot Brooks.

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What if we had a president who was less familiar than we'd like with Applebee's (and what about Golden Corral? Now that's a salad bar!) but was comfortable in a cabinet meeting? Like, even if the other members of the cabinet were really smart, and sometimes wanted to discuss complicated issues?

Doe Brooks pretend to be a so-called ordinary American? His analysis, the excerpt of which seems descriptive rather than normative, is not hypocritical with an elite lifestyle; he's not claiming that he could get elected president, after all.