Thursday, January 29, 2009

For Us Rust Belters, D.C. Residents Not Handling Snow Is A Metaphor.

When the President mentioned his incredulity at a snow day in D.C. which wouldn't even be a second thought back home in Chicago or any other Midwestern city, he was speaking as the new out-of-town hire trying to process his new home's culture out loud with his co-workers. Of course, as Leader of the Free World and many media recording it, word gets around.

Which leads to one WaPo columnist whining about how they're not used to Winter driving in D.C. (BTW, nice fedora dude; very "The Front Page.")

And another relating on how an administrator at the Obama girls' school mouthed back at the president for denying the children of D.C. a snow day, with a bonus snarky comment about his schooling in Hawaii.

See, what they don't understand in D.C. is this: just as many Washingtonians and Southerners used the Detroit automakers' financial problems as a springboard to any number of unrelated smears (union workers are spoiled, car companies are stupid, the Midwest is antiquated and should be abandoned, blahblahblah), we Midwesteners look at a seemingly groundless snow day -- so the kids can stay home with the nanny, instead of parents scrambling to figure out who's going to watch them for the day -- as an indicia of Washingtonian out-of-touch-ness with the world -- which does exist -- outside the Beltway.

Let recall that John Kennedy once said, "Washington is a city of Southern efficiency and Northern charm."

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