Sunday 26 October 2008

Elitism is not a four-letter word

A lot has been made by the Republicans about Senator Obama's elitism (To be fair the sons of single working mothers who relied on food stamps to get by are nearly always more elitist than the son and grandson of Admirals married to a multimillionaire who owns a doen homes. Yeah) A lot has been said in reply to this, a lot of it trying to disparage the notion that voting for Obama is at all elitist.

Well I disagree with that. The President of the United States is quite probably the most elite, the most powerful, and the most important position in the world. And I want someone in that role who is worthy of that position. I want a man who worked his way up through Columbia and Harvard, a man who did hard graft as a community organiser and who cares about the millions of ordinary Americans who don't have health insurance .

What the US needs in not another Dubya (A man who got where he is by the fact of his wealth) but a person who values knowledge rather than denigrates it like his opponents have done on many occasions. Barack Obama worked hard to get where he is and that should not be forgotten.

To finish here's a summary of the academic qualifications of the four people on the Presidential tickets from Pharyngula at Science Blogs:

Educational Background:

Barack Obama:Columbia University -
B.A.Political Science with a Specialization inInternational Relations.
Harvard - Juris Doctor (J.D.) Magna Cum Laude

Joseph Biden:
University of Delaware - B.A. in History and B.A. in Political Science.
Syracuse University College of Law - Juris Doctor (J.D.)

vs.

John McCain:
United States Naval Academy - Class rank: 894 of 899

Sarah Palin:
Hawaii Pacific University - 1 semester
North Idaho College - 2 semesters - general study
University of Idaho - 2 semesters - journalism
Matanuska-Susitna College - 1 semester
University of Idaho - 3 semesters - B.A. in Journalism

2 comments:

  1. Who cares about his supposed 'working class' roots?

    We should more interested in the real issues, the economy and national security. Who's best to be Commander in Chief?

    Surely not Obama, a career politician and former 'social activist' (whatever the hell that is)?

    The majority of Obama supporters in this country are politically vacuous and are impressed by his celebrity supporters. They like to jump on the bandwagon.

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  2. I agree that someone's roots is irrelevant, however it does become pertinent when there is a constant barrage of criticism from the right describing Obama as an elitist.

    I also agree that the qualification to be Commander in Chief is far more important. However I disagree with your conclusion.

    You describe Obama as a "career politician" and yet John McCain has been a politician since he retired from the Navy back in 1981 so that can hardly be used to differentiate between them.

    As for "social activist. The short version is that Obama's social activism involved him working to alleviate problems in the community he lived and to organise fellow community members to achieve the same goal.

    As for your opinion on his supporters, well that's just an ad hominem with absolutely no backing evidence. The same could be said of any politician.

    [As an aside, do you mind me ask where you're posting from? This is a brand new blog and it'd be nice to know who's been reading it.]

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