- On a sunlit Friday afternoon in July, Barack Obama stopped by Beverly Van Fossen's farm in Adel, Iowa, to speak about "rural issues." It was standard Hawkeye State stumping—until the senator took a stab at sympathizing with farmers whose crop prices have stagnated. "Anybody gone into Whole Foods lately and see what they charge for arugula?" he asked.
Unfortunately, Adel isn't exactly arugula country. "Someone near me whispered, 'What's arugula?' " says Van Fossen, 74. " 'You can't find that in Iowa'." Same goes for Whole Foods. The closest locations, reported The New York Times that evening, are in Omaha, Neb.; Kansas City, Kans., and Minneapolis. Whoops. Right-wing bloggers pounced. The dishy Wonkette called Obama a "super rich Ivy League elitist." Peter Feld, a former Michael Dukakis staffer, wrote on Powers-Point.com that a similar slip by his ex-boss—the suggestion that Iowans grow "Belgian endive"—surfaced repeatedly in 1988 attack ads. C'est la vie politique.
The above was written about 15 months ago during the primaries.
But it hasn't gone away. From arugula to bitter red necks clinging to their guns and religion to his laughing at Joe the Plunber while pushing his Marxist agenda we have come to know him.
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