I was listening to some political analysts talking about the use of the label “elitist.” We’re hearing this term frequently during this political season and, again, the term was misused. One of the commentators said, “John Kennedy was an elitist, FDR was an elitist, but they both spoke for the well-being of the common man.”

Both presidents, John F. Kennedy and Franklin Delano Roosevelt, were definitely members of an elite – born into very wealthy families, accidents of birth – but weren’t necessarily elitists. “Elitist,” according to the Encarta World English Dictionary, means a person who believes that “some people or things are inherently superior to others and deserve preeminence, preferential treatment or higher rewards because of their superiority.” It’s that potential for preferential treatment that irritates us the most about “elitists.” The most onerous definition of elitism is “the belief that government or control should be in the hands of a small group of privileged, wealthy or intelligent people, or the active promotion of such a system.” People who think that way are indeed elitists.

FDR and JFK were born into elites. An elite is defined as “a small group of people within a larger group who have more power, social standing, wealth, or talent than the rest of the group.” FDR and JFK had no choice about it. Ironically, that accidental positioning may also have given them a sense of civic duty, what in nineteenth century France was referred to as “noblesse oblige,” literally, “nobility obligates”. “Noblesse oblige” implies that with wealth, power and prestige come responsibilities, a moral obligation of those of high birth and powerful social position, to act with honor, kindliness, and generosity. FDR and JFK’s behavior, their focus on civic service and the policies they promoted, may indicate that they were raised with an awareness of their good fortune and a concomitant compassion for people less fortunate.

Those qualities – a sense of civic duty and compassion for others – is what appears to be lacking from the Bush family, who in fact are members of an elite, control vast wealth, but generally have used their power to enhance their wealth and that of other members of their elite slice of American society -truly elitist behavior. Our current president represents himself (on the surface) as just a regular, non-elitist guy, but the values displayed through the Bush administration’s actions are elitist to the core. Providing no-bid contracts to Dick Cheney’s former company, Halliburton, is not only a classic example of war profiteering, but truly elitist behavior: “My buddies don’t have to follow procedures to win a government contract; I can just give it to them.”

One of the most flagrant examples of elitist attitudes was Barbara Bush’s callous comments about Hurricane Katrina evacuees living in the Astrodome: “And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this – this is working very well for them.” She may as well have said, “If you’re poor, you can stay poor, and if you’re miserable, that’s okay too.”

Now we learn that John McCain is similarly out of touch. His campaign has labeled Barack Obama an elitist because Obama is intelligent, speaks well, and has a first class education, while ignoring Obama’s relatively humble roots. Unlike McCain, Obama isn’t married to one of the richest people in his home state. Nor is Obama the son and grandson of high-ranking military officers (which, besides providing a comfortable standard of living, might have given McCain a leg up to the military academy). Nor does Obama own more homes than he can remember. So who’s really part of an elite? Who’s really an elitist?

One irony is that Obama, like FDR with his fireside chats, doesn’t assume his audience is stupid or ignorant and that gets him labeled an elitist by some critics. He doesn’t pretend to be less well read or thoughtful than he truly is. Unlike George W. Bush, he doesn’t put on a folksy demeanor to help people feel more comfortable with him. Like FDR, he isn’t afraid to use $10 words or complex concepts in addressing our country’s challenges.

I’d rather have a leader who assumed that I, and my fellow voters, were smart enough to see beyond the veil of chatter, beyond the manipulation of emotions that has characterized our political discourse during the last seven years. If that’s elitist, I’m for it. I’d rather have a leader who assumed the best in me, not the worst or least.

Victoria Stoppiello is a freelance writer who, like Mr. Obama, got a world class education in spite of her working class roots.