Columnist Joe Klein, the ubiquitous liberal writer and TV pundit, spent a month traveling across America to get a sense of what Americans are thinking as the election nears. While Time selected a headline to reflect what Klein says he found — Encountering Anguish and Anxiety Across America — the most telling passage in his piece is his admission of the divide between the political class and mainstream America. (emphasis is mine)
The trip exploded my personal Beltway Bubble, which turns out to be more a state of mind and a set of habits than an actual place. Driving 6,782 miles in four weeks, I was forcibly weaned from my usual engorgement of newspapers, magazines, blogs and books. I watched no more than 15 minutes of cable news per day but listened to music obsessively. I was cleansed and transformed, a news junkie freed from junk news, and able to experience Americans as they are — rowdy and proud, ignorant and wise.
The political class “state of mind” Mr. Klein writes about is reflected in poll after poll — for example, this one.
