George Washington retired here upon leaving the Presidency, building one of the largest distilleries in the nation on the property upon his retirement.  Thomas Jefferson spoke French and Italian and read in seven languages.  FDR was born into an incredibly wealthy and prominent family, studied at Harvard and began law school at Columbia, and worked on Wall Street in corporate law.  His distant cousin, Teddy Roosevelt, also born into the wealthy Roosevelt family, wrote over 35 books, graduated magna cum laude from Harvard and studied law at Columbia, played polo and spoke French and German.  He was also 42 when he took office.  This is a pretty interesting little piece on him.  Woodrow Wilson served as President of Princeton, went on "cycyling" vacations in Britain, and got a Ph.D from Johns Hopkins.  Reagan, though not raised wealthy, was an actor, and was making what would be a million dollars a year today before he entered politics.  

These are six of the Presidents that consistently appear on the top ten lists ranking all the United States Presidents.  There are of course, high-ranked Presidents who did not come from prominent backgrounds: Abraham Lincoln, Harry Truman, Andrew Jackson, and Eisenhower.  

I think we can probably agree that the first six would probably be considered "elite."  And apparently, by today's standards, they would not be elected.  What a shame.  They did some pretty decent things.  

I still don't buy the claim that Obama is any more "elite" than the other two candidates, or any of the candidates we've seen in recent years from both parties.  George Bush, the son of a former President?  Can you get any more elite than that?  Obama, Clinton and McCain are a bunch of millionaires throwing around elitist charges.  No absurdity there.  

If we, as a country, choose to again elect someone based on the I-want-to-drink-a-beer-with-you threshold, I will just sit here and bang my head off the wall for four years.  

As usual, Jon Stewart put it better than I can. 

Doesn’t elite mean good? Is that not something we’re looking for in a president anymore?…The job you’re applying for - if you get it, and it goes well, they might carve your head into a mountain.If you don’t actually think you are better than us, then what the f@*k are you doing?…In fact not only do I want an elite president, I want someone who is embarassingly superior to me. I want someone who speaks sixteen languages and sleeps two hours a night hanging upside down in a chamber they themselves designed.