Keller @ Large: Louise Linton Doesn't Get It

BOSTON (CBS) - America was born 251 years ago in part out of a rejection of royalty, and the notion that power over our lives could be wielded by the unelected on the basis of their wealth or family ties.

Watching the latest Bush and Clinton family candidates flop during last year's election was a sign that resistance to family dynasty and any semblance of monarchy still runs deep.

And that's where Louise Linton, wife of Treasury Secretary Stephen Mnuchin, stepped out of line with her handling of a bit of online criticism of an Instagram photo she posted of herself and her husband returning from an official business trip, complete with a list of hashtags for the high-fashion items she was wearing.

When a woman in Oregon called her out for it, Linton responded with a stream of condescending vitriol, including the comment that the woman was "adorably out of touch" because "the amount we sacrifice per year is a lot more than you'd be willing to sacrifice if the choice was yours."

Uh oh, bad move.

Linton now joins the litany of political spouses who find their expensive tastes running afoul of the public's view that people in public life should be a little discreet about their expensive tastes, and certainly shouldn't whine about being called out for them.

You may recall the heat Michelle Obama endured for wearing high-fashion clothes when she was First Lady and Nancy Reagan took plenty of abuse for her affinity for fancy duds and fine china.

For the most part, Americans admire royalty - from a distance. Louise Linton doesn't get it. In that way, she is not-so-adorably out of touch.

Talk back to me via email at keller@wbztv.com, or use Twitter, @kelleratlarge.