The question of to what degree the blue elites are really left is an interesting one. By left I mean socialist/redistributionist, a foe of the free market. My experience is indeed that many of these folks are primarily snobs who have unthinkingly absorbed a superficial leftism from their environment.

However, I don’t think the President is one of those. My guess is that he’s a leftist first, and all the other stuff – the racial politics, the extreme support of abortion, the environmental business – are positions he adopted to fit in and with which he can exploit the rubes to get what he wants.

Incidentally, I work in the fine arts. The President’s notion of replacing private philanthropy with state support, not to mention the proposed cap on charitable deductions, would decimate orchestras, museums, and opera companies in the United States. THAT would certainly drive a wedge between the elites and the true leftists, but of course by then it would be too late.

The comment about there not being blue states, only blue cities, is very true. Upstate New York, which ought to be a great place to do business, has been destroyed by tax rates set ridiculously high in order to squeeze the most out of Wall Street.