Since when is being "elite" a bad thing?

Barack Hussein Obama, the current front-runner for the democratic nomination has been labeled left and right as an "elite."

What bothers me about this is they throw around that label as if it were a bad thing.

Seriously: when did it happen that being "elite" was something to draw condescension? There was once a time when being "elite" drew respect and admiration. I'm working my ass off for 60-80 hours a week in the hopes of someday becoming an "elite scientist." It's my goal to be the absolute best at what I do. I'll realistically never reach that goal, but shouldn't I shoot for it?

Why shouldn't we demand the same of our elected officials? Why should we not demand the best from the people who will lead our country for the next four to eight years? Shouldn't the person we elect as president represent the absolute best from among us. In other words, what the hell do you want from a president, if not the "elite?"

Scratch that, I don't want an "elite" president. I want one who's embarrassingly superior to me in every conceivable way. I want a repeatedly self-made trillionaire who, in his spare time after bringing about world peace, can solve the climate crisis, the oil crisis, develop stem cell therapy, teach grades K-12 in all subjects, and still find time to walk the dog every day.

We've already tried the president that you'd want to hang out and have a beer with. That didn't work too well for us. In fact, I think it's probably fair to say that it worked absurdly badly for us. Insanely badly, in fact. Our economy is circling the drain; we're stuck in an endless, pointless and quite likely illegal war; the rest of the world hates us; we're falling behind China in every conceivable manner; and scientific literacy among high school students is right now barely above Turkey.

Seriously. We could use an elite president right now.