Michelle Obama continues to insist that a humble upbringing automatically means that person cannot be an elitist:

“It’s funny to have anybody characterize Barack as an elitist,” Obama told “Good Morning America” co-anchor Robin Roberts during an exclusive interview. “You know, this is the kid who was raised by a single mother, who didn’t have access to many resources, who, you know, has walked away his entire life from lucrative careers to work in the community,” she said of the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee. “This guy, you know… he personifies all of what, you know, we hope that our kids can be.”

But elitism isn’t a place or income level, it’s an attitude. The kind of attitude where you insist that you know what motivates people better than they know themselves. (“It’s not surprising then they get bitter. They cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.”) It’s the kind of attitude where you say how embarrassed you are by your fellow citizens because you find them insufficiently polyglot in their overseas travels. (Elitism also is probably using words like “polyglot.”)

It’s the kind of attitude that spurs one to talk about the high price of arugula at Whole Foods when addressing Iowa farmers.