I, like many others, enjoyed the introduction to the most recent Saturday Night Live programme, which featured two actresses impersonating Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton. In particular, the Governor Palin impersonator was spot on, not only capturing her look and mannerisms, but also her accent.

Perhaps it is a peculiarity of the British, but here we have a particularly strong sensitivity to not just what is being said, but also to how one speaks. An accent can not only state where one comes from, but it also delineates class boundaries: it’s easy to tell who is upper class and who is not. There are even some individuals who can discern what school someone may have attended, merely by hearing a few phrases.

This capability is not nearly so prominent in the United States, but it may be one of the factors which is enabling John McCain and Sarah Palin to connect with the wider public. It may also be partially what is driving the liberals mad.

When he is not attempting to put on the pronunciation and cadence of a South Side preacher, Barack Obama’s accent is neutral, unadorned. It speaks of no particular origin, apart from the occasional Midwestern consonant that slips through. In this sense, his words are “cosmopolitan”, rootless: it dovetails nicely with the same “masking” of accents that flows through the lips of many in the liberal elite. Charles Gibson speaks this form of “received English”, as does Katie Couric and George Stephanopolous. For all of his ballyhooed working class origins, Joe Biden suffers from a similar neutrality in his speech: it is usually just his content which is far from typical and not altogether in a good way.

Sarah Palin is not like the media or most politicians: her accent is definitely regional, and it contains echoes of a number of influences. Some of her pronunciation sounds akin to the vowels one would find in the upper Midwest. The way she draws out some of her words has a definite Western tang. However, all these factors combined produce someone whose words are reassuringly normal. The popularity of “I Am Sarah Palin” t-shirts is likely not because she is solely a candidate whose position in life was similar to that of many working women, it may very well be because she also speaks the same language and in the same way.

The fact that Sarah does not adhere to the elite-defined “standard” speech pattern is doubtless a factor in what is driving liberal rage against her. The attempts to smear her as somehow “small town” contain familiar archaic British elements of class snobbery and derision. This is an old game they’re playing; the elites mocking her may as well call her accent “provincial”, and refer to her as an “upstart” for all the difference it would make. The situation is worsened because of her education was at an institution the liberal aristocracy does not recognise (the University of Idaho) as it is not part of the vaunted Ivy League, a set of universities which has consistently produced more traitors to the United States than any other. Indeed, she is so far outside of what they expect, they automatically question her qualifications, no matter how much her life and practical experience may have prepared her for the Vice Presidency. In their crude calculations, she did not attend the right schools, does not know the right people, does not speak in the right way, and therefore, she’s a “rube”.

All this may sound very troubling to Americans who are reared with the idea that their nation is a meritocracy. Any palpitations should be limited; America remains a meritocracy, if only partially; it is mostly so in places where people sound more like Sarah Palin than they do Barack Obama. If you show determination, passion and ability, these places will reward you with high office, but once there, you’re expected not to forget those who elected you.

In the latte-drinking environs of the liberal aristocracy, the scenario is altogether different; your accent, education, breeding and reading habits are all determinant of your social standing. What you do is less important than where you were: if you are related to the Kennedys, went to Harvard, and worked as an aide to Frank Lautenberg, you’re made. In short, your respect flows not from deeds but heritage and adherence to a particular set of values. If it didn’t wear Birkenstocks and reside in small flats in Greenwich Village or Haight-Ashbury, we could just as easily be talking about landed gentry.

It can seem somewhat daunting for those who remain in the truly American parts of America that there is such a powerful, narrow class to overcome in achieving political victory. After all, they do control many of the streams of popular culture as well as the educational establishment. However, disdain is a double edged sword; as Governor Palin showed in her acceptance speech, the idea of storming the Bastille of the liberal gentry can be a powerful motivation. It was similar forces at work that allowed a Texan with a down home accent and vocabulary to overcome left wing hauteur and outwit it for eight years, much to the chagrin of the elite. You may have heard of him: George W. Bush.