Xenophobia anyone?

Interesting, and initially misleading Slate article on what it is, exactly, that bothers some Americans about Teresa Heinz Kerry.

In front of a luncheon sponsored by the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute, Heinz Kerry said that some critics—she called them "my husband's critics"—have challenged her for talking about her experience as an immigrant who came to America from Africa "via Europe, where I studied." Critics say "my immigrant experience isn't representative," Heinz Kerry said. "That is such a revealing comment, because what it suggests is that they should get to decide who shares in the American dream and who doesn't. What it suggests is that the American dream doesn't belong to all of us, but only to some of us."
Heinz Kerry ought to repeat that message everywhere she goes. She's one-fourth of what may be the most heavily accented ticket in American history (though Kennedy-Johnson could give them a run for their money), and fair or not, accents matter, especially in the mass-media age.

The irony, of course, is that those who are troubled by her accent would also identify her, an educated, European doctor's daughter, as a "desirable" immigrant in comparison with those they usually consider undesirable (but without whom this country would come to a grinding halt). The article goes on to say that she should acknowledge ... I guess her privileged background? As thought that's not already obvious to anyone with half a brain - presidential candidates and their partners are seldom impoverished, or if they were born so, clawed their way out of it soon enough. I think she's done enough to recognize that she's wealthy, and is certainly working to give much of that money to the hungry here in this country. You may not think she represents the average immigrant, but there are a lot of people who left their homes to seek education or for love who can identify with her immigrant experience quite well, and who prefer her accent to a fake Texan one from a boy who was raised by East Coast parents and attended Yale.
And that's ... one to grow on.