During the 1980s/1990s, there was a stampede of sorts towards “White Trash Chick” and “Redneck Chic”, where Vogue magazine called the fad/rage “slumming”. The goal of those engaged in that fad was to remake the label “Redneck” into a term of endearment, where the mocking and ridicule (or worse) would be over. However, the confusion between “Redneck”, “Hillbilly”, and “Cracker” remained, in that all three were viewed by millions of Americans as a de facto ethnic identity as well as a workingman’s badge of honor; but those slang terms were still used as de facto racial slurs. A journalist in NC summed it up this way: “If you think you’re a redneck, you think you’re hard-working, fun-loving, and independent. If you don’t think you’re a redneck, you think they’re loud, obnoxious, bigoted, and shallow”. Being a redneck was no longer the exclusive domain of Country/Western performers, in that it had become a way of sizing up men in the public arena. While class identity was being mutated, so was gender, since many women participated and glorified in the fad of “Redneck Chic”. There’s a double-edged sword concerning the “American Dream”, in that those that rise up from poverty to the middle-class or higher usually condemn those that didn’t rise up, which was clear to see during the fad of “Redneck/White Trash Chic”.
Another Southerner was elected President in 1992 (interestingly, from 1964 - 2004, every winner of a Presidential election was from the Sun Belt), where the Democratic candidate Bill Clinton (AR governor) defeated President George H.W. Bush. With Clinton in the White House (1993 - 2001), the spotlight was once again on the uneasy balancing act between class identity and democracy. Clinton came from a lower-middle class family in Hope (AR), and became an academic success. Clinton was a Rhodes Scholar, graduated from Yale Law School, and was eventually elected governor in AR. Clinton was the epitome of the “American Dream”, a real-life Horatio Alger, as well as the prototypical Jeffersonian ideal of a deserving youth coming out of the “rubbish” to join the aristocracy of talent in the nation.
Another Southerner was elected President in 1992 (interestingly, from 1964 - 2004, every winner of a Presidential election was from the Sun Belt), where the Democratic candidate Bill Clinton (AR governor) defeated President George H.W. Bush. With Clinton in the White House (1993 - 2001), the spotlight was once again on the uneasy balancing act between class identity and democracy. Clinton came from a lower-middle class family in Hope (AR), and became an academic success. Clinton was a Rhodes Scholar, graduated from Yale Law School, and was eventually elected governor in AR. Clinton was the epitome of the “American Dream”, a real-life Horatio Alger, as well as the prototypical Jeffersonian ideal of a deserving youth coming out of the “rubbish” to join the aristocracy of talent in the nation.
Clinton was forever associated with negative redneck and white trash stereotypes since he came from AR, a state that when he was elected ranked 47th in per capita income, and he did his best to try and disassociate himself from AR and his lower-middle class background during his campaign. To this day, millions of Americans refuse to admire Clinton for rising up to the Presidency from such humble origins (the same was true for LBJ and Nixon), forever viewing him negatively as white trash (which during 2025/2026 intensified again with the many released photos of him with Jeffrey Epstein). Clinton did not see himself as a redneck or hillbilly, but at the Democratic National Convention in 1992 he claimed that he had a “little bit of Bubba” in him. Clinton’s election as President did what the elections of fellow Southerners LBJ and Carter did not, turning “Crackers” and “Rednecks” into something that the mainstream in America at least partially embraced. To be a “Bubba” meant that a white-collar worker could take off his suit and tie and dress down like a redneck when off the clock (a.k.a. “White Trash Slumming”).
While Clinton was viewed favorably by millions, he was viewed unfavorably, even hated, by millions of others. Where the nickname “Tricky Dick” had dogged Nixon, Clinton’s nickname of “Slick Willie” haunted him (a journalist in 1980 labeled him as “Slick Willie”, and it stuck). Events in his past such as smoking marijuana (“I didn’t inhale”), accusations of dodging the draft in the Vietnam War, and his alleged (eventually confirmed) womanizing were all denied by Clinton, but his denials came off as less than forthright and sincere. To millions, “Slick Willie” was the smooth-talking con man from AR, ducking into all the available rabbit holes with his public denials; but Clinton understood that as a Southern politician, honesty could very well derail his ascension to power. Clinton never could escape his origins, and it didn’t help that while he had the “gift of gab”, he wasn’t nearly as eloquent as Reagan in terms of rhetoric or giving speeches. Image was (and remains) everything in politics, and for millions of Americans, Clinton was a redneck that somehow, someway, was elected President. Clinton and his campaign advisors in 1992 wanted to find an image that portrayed the President in a far more positive light, and as it turned out, Clinton was saved by Elvis.
While Clinton was viewed favorably by millions, he was viewed unfavorably, even hated, by millions of others. Where the nickname “Tricky Dick” had dogged Nixon, Clinton’s nickname of “Slick Willie” haunted him (a journalist in 1980 labeled him as “Slick Willie”, and it stuck). Events in his past such as smoking marijuana (“I didn’t inhale”), accusations of dodging the draft in the Vietnam War, and his alleged (eventually confirmed) womanizing were all denied by Clinton, but his denials came off as less than forthright and sincere. To millions, “Slick Willie” was the smooth-talking con man from AR, ducking into all the available rabbit holes with his public denials; but Clinton understood that as a Southern politician, honesty could very well derail his ascension to power. Clinton never could escape his origins, and it didn’t help that while he had the “gift of gab”, he wasn’t nearly as eloquent as Reagan in terms of rhetoric or giving speeches. Image was (and remains) everything in politics, and for millions of Americans, Clinton was a redneck that somehow, someway, was elected President. Clinton and his campaign advisors in 1992 wanted to find an image that portrayed the President in a far more positive light, and as it turned out, Clinton was saved by Elvis.
Clinton actively cultivated the “Elvis Image”, but what solidified that image was his appearance as a contender for the Democratic nomination for President on the Arsenio Hall Show on 3 June 1992, about a month before the Democratic National Convention. As the show started with the house band playing, viewers saw Clinton in the band playing the saxophone, wearing sunglasses. During the show, Clinton was interviewed by Hall, and he also played “Heartbreak Hotel” on his saxophone. By appearing on the Arsenio Hall Show, Clinton connected with and gained voters (especially younger voters) during the “Redneck Chic” craze. Clinton succeeded in packaging himself as an “Arkansas Elvis” to the point where the Bush campaign hired an Elvis impersonator to crash Clinton’s campaign appearances, which of course only benefited Clinton.
Clinton wanted to build a political bridge between himself and the Southern working-class whites, to make himself as much of a “Son of the South” as possible (without alienating voters outside the South), and being an Elvis fan was a neutral place to position himself in a divided political landscape in an election year. While millions admired/adored Clinton, conservative Republicans and voters absolutely hated him. The vitriolic attacks on Clinton from conservative Republicans (and their media acolytes) were designed to disrespect the man who held the highest office in the land, and those attacks were relentless and very personal, mostly due to the conservative view that Clinton was nothing more than white trash. To the “Party of Reagan”, Clinton was an unworthy usurper to the Presidency, his origins totally besmirching the office, a “Bastard Breed” that didn’t have the proper pedigree to be President.
When the Monica Lewinsky Scandal broke during 1998, Clinton’s enemies among conservative Republicans (e.g. Newt Gingrich, Speaker of the House from 1995 - 1999) were beyond-ecstatic that they had caught “Slick Willie” in a tawdry sexual escapade with a low-level White House female staffer, something that only “Trailer Trash” would do. The official investigation in Congress centered around two counts, perjury and the abuse of power, yet the final report mentioned sex over 500 times. It was that conservative Republican effort of “outing” white trash in the Oval Office that led to two impeachment resolutions from the House. In effect, the conservative Republicans in DC tried to equate low-class lewdness with “High Crimes and Misdemeanors”.
Clinton wanted to build a political bridge between himself and the Southern working-class whites, to make himself as much of a “Son of the South” as possible (without alienating voters outside the South), and being an Elvis fan was a neutral place to position himself in a divided political landscape in an election year. While millions admired/adored Clinton, conservative Republicans and voters absolutely hated him. The vitriolic attacks on Clinton from conservative Republicans (and their media acolytes) were designed to disrespect the man who held the highest office in the land, and those attacks were relentless and very personal, mostly due to the conservative view that Clinton was nothing more than white trash. To the “Party of Reagan”, Clinton was an unworthy usurper to the Presidency, his origins totally besmirching the office, a “Bastard Breed” that didn’t have the proper pedigree to be President.
When the Monica Lewinsky Scandal broke during 1998, Clinton’s enemies among conservative Republicans (e.g. Newt Gingrich, Speaker of the House from 1995 - 1999) were beyond-ecstatic that they had caught “Slick Willie” in a tawdry sexual escapade with a low-level White House female staffer, something that only “Trailer Trash” would do. The official investigation in Congress centered around two counts, perjury and the abuse of power, yet the final report mentioned sex over 500 times. It was that conservative Republican effort of “outing” white trash in the Oval Office that led to two impeachment resolutions from the House. In effect, the conservative Republicans in DC tried to equate low-class lewdness with “High Crimes and Misdemeanors”.
While Clinton was impeached (accused) by the House, he was never in any danger of being removed by the Senate, in that 67 Senators were required to convict and remove him as President, but only 45 Senators voted to convict. Clinton actually emerged from that political morass more popular, in that while the hatred for Clinton was beyond-irrational, so was the admiration for him among millions of Americans. In other words, JFK had “Camelot”, Reagan had Hollywood, and Clinton had Elvis; it turned out that during the 1990s, the right amount of “Redneck” and “White Trash” was a political asset, something that didn’t register at all among the conservative Republican Clinton-haters. The conservative Republican effort to impeach and remove Clinton rested on their belief that no matter how smart or how hard you work, white trash needed to be put in its place. In the eyes of those conservative Republicans, Clinton had committed the unpardonable sin of overreaching his class status.
During 2008, the Republicans selected their own “White Trash” candidate for high office, nominating Sarah Palin, the governor of AK, for Vice-President. Palin was the second woman to be nominated as Vice-President (Geraldine Ferraro was the Democratic VP candidate in 1984), but the first female redneck to appear on a Presidential ticket. The campaign advisors of the Republican candidate, Senator John McCain (AZ), later admitted that Palin was selected purely for “image” reasons, and their lack of any serious background checks would cause many, many headaches for McCain’s campaign.
During 2008, the Republicans selected their own “White Trash” candidate for high office, nominating Sarah Palin, the governor of AK, for Vice-President. Palin was the second woman to be nominated as Vice-President (Geraldine Ferraro was the Democratic VP candidate in 1984), but the first female redneck to appear on a Presidential ticket. The campaign advisors of the Republican candidate, Senator John McCain (AZ), later admitted that Palin was selected purely for “image” reasons, and their lack of any serious background checks would cause many, many headaches for McCain’s campaign.
Palin was a very easy target for her critics, which were from both political parties as well as independents. The media was absolutely stunned that Palin had not only astounding gaps in terms of knowledge, but was also proud of it. Palin came across as a VP candidate that could not articulate a single complex idea. Andrew Jackson ran for President along those same lines (but not with modern media, of course), so it was that “Backcountry” approach that McCain’s campaign wanted to use in order to attract voters. Palin’s braggadocio about shooting wolves from an airplane and her love of moose meat was an attempt to portray herself on the campaign trail as a modern-day Annie Oakley, who in her day was absolutely beloved on Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show in the late-1800s/early-1900s. However, the mainstream media (or what Palin called the “Lamestream Media’) relentlessly attacked Palin, who did not have academic degrees on which to point like Clinton. One female journalist wrote that Palin was a “country music queen without the music”, and lacked the self-deprecating humor of Dolly Parton. Also, Palin’s “Fargo-esque” accent made her speeches torture to listen to for millions of Americans.
American politics had been down this road before, in that Lincoln was called an ape, a mudsill, and Kentucky White Trash by his critics, and Jackson was an ill-tempered “Cracker”, and his syntax, like Palin’s, was nothing to brag about. However, 2008 wasn’t the 1990s, where Clinton’s “Elvis” schtick resonated with voters. By 2008, reality TV shows had become a “dime-a-dozen”, where a “nobody” became a celebrity of sorts, but most of those reality shows exhibited the worst in human behavior, such as vanity, lust, greed, etc. For most Americans that watched reality TV, their main enjoyment was mocking/hating the pseudo-celebrities, in that so often their worst behaviors were not only on display, but celebrated. During 2008 a new set of reality television shows appeared, such as “Duck Dynasty” and “Here Comes Honey Boo Boo”, where television brought a white trash circus to television viewers. To this day, reality television programming exists due to emotion-producing competition and scandal, something of which millions of Americans embrace (from afar). However, millions of others avoid, even abhor, that form of entertainment, which went a long way to explain why Palin was an inescapable presence in the media during the general campaign of 2008.
American politics had been down this road before, in that Lincoln was called an ape, a mudsill, and Kentucky White Trash by his critics, and Jackson was an ill-tempered “Cracker”, and his syntax, like Palin’s, was nothing to brag about. However, 2008 wasn’t the 1990s, where Clinton’s “Elvis” schtick resonated with voters. By 2008, reality TV shows had become a “dime-a-dozen”, where a “nobody” became a celebrity of sorts, but most of those reality shows exhibited the worst in human behavior, such as vanity, lust, greed, etc. For most Americans that watched reality TV, their main enjoyment was mocking/hating the pseudo-celebrities, in that so often their worst behaviors were not only on display, but celebrated. During 2008 a new set of reality television shows appeared, such as “Duck Dynasty” and “Here Comes Honey Boo Boo”, where television brought a white trash circus to television viewers. To this day, reality television programming exists due to emotion-producing competition and scandal, something of which millions of Americans embrace (from afar). However, millions of others avoid, even abhor, that form of entertainment, which went a long way to explain why Palin was an inescapable presence in the media during the general campaign of 2008.
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