What do George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Jackson and Harry Truman all have in common—besides being president of the United States? They never got a college degree. Oh, and they are generally remembered as great presidents.
And what do Jimmy Carter, Richard Nixon and Barack Obama have in common, besides having degrees, even advanced degrees. They divided and demoralized the country, and their economic and foreign policies were complete disasters.
But liberals, including the mainstream media, need something with which to hammer Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, and they want to see if the “he doesn’t have a college degree” works. It won’t for several reasons.
Most Americans don’t have a college degree. Only about 30 percent of the population has a bachelor’s degree, so 70 percent do not, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. But even without that “formal education,” most of the non-degreed do not consider themselves stupid, and for good reason—they aren’t.
Many of them are very knowledgeable about their specific occupations and they may possess reams of knowledge and skills with respect to their hobbies, such as sports, guns, cars, music, sewing, or cooking. Liberals who drip with elitism, such as Howard Dean [see here] and Obama, should be very careful about alienating the large majority of Americans by trying to diminish Scott Walker’s lack of a college degree.
And Walker didn’t drop out of college, he walked out. He was close to finishing his degree when he left in good standing with a nearly 3.0 grade point average (on a 4.0 scale). Even the liberal elitists who seem to think there is something magical about obtaining a degree should know there isn’t much difference between a person who finished college and one who nearly finished.
The reason Walker left college. A common liberal theme is that Republicans are greedy and only care about making huge profits on the backs of working Americans. That’s how liberals portrayed Mitt Romney, and it stuck.
Walker did leave college to go to work … for the American Red Cross! So hammering the “he didn’t finish” theme allows Walker to point out he went to work for one of the best, most compassionate nonprofit organizations in the world. If anything, he’s the anti-Romney, which clearly challenges the liberal playbook.
A president needs good judgment more than a good degree. When reporters asked the fabulously successful Texas oilman H.L. Hunt if he felt like he missed something by not getting a college degree, he allegedly responded, no, he could hire all the college degrees he needed. It’s a good point.
The U.S. has had lots of presidents with degrees from great universities, and they have surrounded themselves with multiple-degreed advisors. But what the country needs is a president with great judgment, whether degreed or not. The country hasn’t had that in many years.
Richard Nixon, with two degrees, imposed wage and price controls on the country and broke the law, putting the country through a gut-wrenching ordeal.
Bill Clinton had two degrees, and yet the country agonized for eight years over his sexual exploits—and still does.
Obama has two degrees and yet he’s created massive economic uncertainty with Obamacare and his administration’s countless new rules and restrictions on businesses. He has made it harder for lower-income workers to find work and harder for people who do work to keep what they earn. And he has decided to govern by executive fiat rather than getting consensus with Congress—as the U.S. Constitution demands.
And let’s not forget the contempt with which the Harvard graduate in the White House looked down on those who “cling to their guns or religion.”
Given the track record, voters could be forgiven—and maybe even applauded—if they don’t see a college degree from a snooty university as a prerequisite for being a good president.