Instapundit:

AUTHENTICALLY KRUGMAN: In his latest column — link here for Times $elect subscribers — Paul Krugman complains about the cult of “authenticity” in politics, and how it makes people like John Edwards come across as phonies. FDR was a rich guy who cared about the poor, he says, so why can’t John Edwards be?
Well, John Edwards is no FDR. But the answer to Krugman’s complaint is found in the post 1960s political zeitgeist. Back before identity politics, and the notion that “the personal is political,” the idea of a rich guy representing poor people was entirely plausible. He could be rich, but still have ideas about poverty, and care about them. But now that we have identity politics and the like, that’s impossible: If only a woman can represent women, only a black person can represent blacks, etc. — Barbara Boxer even suggested that Condi Rice couldn’t understand mothers because she was childless — then obviously only a poor person can represent poor people. And since there are no poor people in American political office, poor people perforce go unrepresented. Thus, the “progressive” causes of identity politics and personalization mean that the progressives’ key clients can’t get “authentic” representation. This is probably bad for the country, but it’s certainly a bed that the progressives have made for themselves.

He then goes on to quote yours truly.