Back in early April, presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain kicked off a week-long "Service to America" tour. Headlining that biography-building swing was a visit to Episcopal High, the ultra-elite DC area prep school McCain attended during the 1950's. But now, with Barack Obama vacationing in Hawaii, the McCain campaign and the Republican National Committee are lampooning the Democrat for having attended a private school there.
This is just the latest attempt to portray Obama, and not the multimillionaire owner of 8 homes John McCain, as an out-of-touch elitist. Team McCain and the RNC issued reporters a mock "Barack Obama's Hawaii Travel Guide," which lambasts Obama for attending the Punahou School from 1971 to 1979. Despite the fact that Obama, who was raised by a single mother and attended the school on scholarship, the McCain campaign depicted him as the child of privilege. As the Politico reported:

"No one means to demean the academic successes of Barack Obama or the schools he attended," said McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds. "The RNC and this campaign have sought to simply point out that on his Hawaii travels, there are certain landmarks reporters will likely see and this was a way to put those on the map."

But as the Politico warns, bashing Obama's supposed elite schooling "may prove a risky topic for McCain." After all, from McCain's days at the exclusive St. Stephen's and Episcopal High School in Alexandria, Virginia to his dismal performance at the U.S. Naval Academy, John McCain's education was one of almost unimaginable privilege.
To be sure, John McCain's April visit to his old stomping grounds at Episcopal High School certainly shouldn't convince many Americans that he is a man of the people. Home to the children of Washington's political and military elite since 1839, fees at EHS (excluding computers and textbook costs) now top $38,000 per year.
But if McCain's mission during his trip down memory lane was to chart his course from "rambunctious boy, with a little bit of a chip on my shoulder" to the "the self-restraint and mellowness I developed as an adult," he succeeded admirably. Avoiding the implications of McCain's privileged youth, one unavailable to virtually all other Americans, ABC and Reuters instead fondly recalled McCain's Episcopal High days when he was called "McNasty" and a "punk."
The gilded doors at Episcopal weren't the only the ones opened for McCain by his father the Admiral. Despite his penchant for trouble in high school, McCain gained entree to the United States Naval Academy. There, courtesy of American taxpayers, John McCain's practice of subpar performance without consequences continued. He finished fifth from the bottom in a class of 899.
But to campaign spokesman Tucker Bounds, that history shows John McCain as the product of public schooling. While Barack Obama's prep and university education were made possible only by scholarships, Bounds claimed Obama's is the story of elite schooling and a life of largesse:

"While John McCain went to private school, he also went to public university," said Bounds. "The Naval Academy is as public as public gets," he added, noting that a four-year military commitment is required following school.

During his appearance at Episcopal High on April Fool's Day (seriously - you can't make this up), John McCain announced:

"All children should have a teacher like I had, who they remember when they have children and grandchildren as one of the most fortunate relationships in their lives."

All children, that is, except for Barack Obama.