JOAN: What is this thing of Obama being perceived as an elitist? Is it important? Is it going to harm him? What do you think?

LIZ: I think it does harm him. And the National Review story on Michelle Obama complaining to ladies in Ohio about how could the two of them live on $500,000 a year, and how they couldn’t pay for their children’s tennis and dancing lessons, or piano lessons, or something. But, honestly, you have to admire the Obamas. They’re an upscale, young American couple. They’re a model for every downtrodden person in America. So, I think a little elitism goes a long way. I think it both helps and hurts. It’s like people having money or being rich. Well everybody wants that. The public wants the same thing. So I think it’s sort of a two-edged sword. But do I think the Obamas are intellectual elitists, probably. They’re smarter than the rest of us.

LESLEY: You come at this issue the way we come at the whole campaign now – now that we’re this deep in. And that is with certain preconceived opinions. If you like Obama, I don’t think it bothers you at all. If you don’t like Obama, it’s a huge thing. And this is why, to me – and I’ve always said this to some criticism – when it comes to the president, the most important thing the people vote on is likability. That you get down to hearing these discussions about the issues and they get so confusing. Sometimes the difference between the candidates – and this is true between Obama and Hillary Clinton – the differences on issues is so small that it’s very difficult to listen, where you can’t go back and re-read and figure out exactly who said what. And then, if they disagree, the argument goes back and forth and back and forth and you agree when this one says it and then you agree when the other one says it. You get lost. So you end up making your decision on whether you trust them, whether you’re comfortable with them, whether they convey a sense of confidence, comfortableness in their skin. And I think that Hillary Clinton runs the risk, in this particular question of whether he’s elitist, of being too heavy-handed. And I noticed the other day there was a new poll. It said that her negatives on this likability factor have gone way up as she keeps pounding away at this. It could end up where, yes, he’s painted as an elitist. But she gets hurt more than he does by it.

JOAN: Whoopi?

WHOOPI: I just think it’s the most ridiculous thing in the world. You know, it’s a phenomenon which, had both candidates been white, wouldn’t be as big an issue as it’s become, because they painted John Kennedy the same way, that he was an elitist. So now they’re saying Obama’s an elitist because he pretty much said that when this is happening and this is happening and this is happening, people cling to those things that they know best, that they’re most comfortable with. He didn’t say, "Only people in Pennsylvania." He said, "Folks who have gone through this kind of experience." He didn’t say, "Only white people." He didn’t say, "Only poor people." And it’s the same with rich white folks. They cling to what they know. All of us do it.

LESLEY: Whoopi, I think the fear the Democrats have with this issue is not because he’s a person of color. It’s because the Republicans latch onto this exact kind of argument time and again and make it work for them. As with Adlai Stevenson, with Dukakis, with Kerry, with Gore …

WHOOPI: Well, what’s the matter is the Democrats are an elitist group. That’s the truth.