Hedge fund managers are again the targets of political attacks as rhetoric heats up before next year’s national elections.

Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and President Barack Obama have singled out hedge funds for paying less tax than everyday workers do. The president last week called investment managers “society’s lottery winners” because they earned more money last year than the country’s entire population of kindergarten teachers.

He was referring to a recent ranking by Institutional Investor's Alpha magazine of the top 25 hedge-fund managers, who took home $11.6 billion in pay last year. Because hedge funds get paid based on performance fees called “carried interest” and capital gains, they are taxed at a lower rate than ordinary income.

Clinton cited the same statistic in calling for an end to the favorable tax treatment, again saying there's "something wrong" when "hedge fund managers pay lower tax rates than nurses or the truckers," according to CNBC.

But that criticism amounts to class warfare and is reminiscent of periods when politicians blamed financial speculators for economic woes, said a source identified as a “prominent investor” who asked CNBC not to be named.

"Instead of the Jews, it's the hedge fund managers," the person told CNBC.

“Investors get to vote with their feet and if they don't like the result fire the manager by redeeming,” said another unnamed hedge fund investor. “I do not recall ever hearing of a kindergarten teacher being fired for poor performance."

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