The Cultural Divide that Republicans Can't Seem to Cross

Katrina, armor for our soldiers in Iraq, mine safety, and now Medicare drugs--whenever the Bush administration tries actually to deliver services to the poor, those working in dangerous situations (from Iraqi side streets to West Virginia coal mines), or the aged, it finds itself curiously incompetent and clumsy.

It's not random and it is instructive. The incompetence of the administration's political appointees is recognized widely and well, but that begs the question: why are they so incompetent?

Here's a start: when people live a lifestyle of such isolation and privilege that the solution to their needs is simply to summon a servant, then they never learn how to care for others, or even to recognize when others need care. This structural indisposition to act for others then leads to irritation, anger, and further withdrawal to gated communities and compounds.

You bet it's a class war, and Democrats better start waging it.