Working class may be a term of opprobrium in some societies; here it is a term of approbation. At least publicly. It's the one class Americans feel free not only to recognize but laud.
A presidential candidate (Hillary Clinton) can risk sounding like a sociologist as long as she's identifying herself with the working class. Or at least claiming that it identifies with her and not her opponent. As when she asserted that "Sen. Obama's support among working, hard-working Americans, white Americans, is weakening again," while whites "who had not completed college were supporting me." At least she didn't use euphemisms like "blue-collar majority.''
It's hard to imagine a presidential candidate, at least one with any political sense, running as the Candidate of the Upper Crust. ("I was born in a plush penthouse on Park Avenue.") Instead the lower crust is shamelessly flattered. It's the contemporary version of the old log cabin theme.
Something else hasn't changed: Much as the Andrew Jacksons and William Henry Harrisons extolled log cabins, they weren't about to live in one. Any more than today's politicians are about to take a vow of poverty.
I live for the day when some politician comes out and admits that, while being poor is no shame, it's no great honor, either.