David Kanter | Putting too much stock in paper

Jan. 20, 2009, will be a historic day. George W. Bush (Yale, Harvard MBA) will no longer be the president of this nation, ending a reign that I will generously term disgraceful. After eight years of incompetent decision-making and leadership, Obama and Co. will have to begin cleaning up the mess left behind by Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney (Yale attendee), former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld (Princeton) and former Attorneys General John Ashcroft (Yale, Chicago Law) and Alberto Gonzales (Rice, Harvard Law).

Rest assured, however, David Brooks (Chicago) of The New York Times tells us in a column he penned recently, for Obama (Columbia, Harvard Law) has a whole squad of Ivy League-educated disciples ready to turn things around. Brooks excitedly writes that Obama's executive team "will be a valedictocracy - rule by those who graduate first in their high school classes."

Now, we all know that Bush-43 was never at the top of his class during his formative years - snorting coke does have its drawbacks. But the thing is, he and his inner circle - some of whom did graduate at the top of their Ivy classes - can rightly claim the same elite pedigree as Obama and his new team.

So despite the fact that Brooks finds himself "tremendously impressed by the Obama transition," we shouldn't be as impressed as Brooks is with the academic credentials of these new appointees. If the past eight years teach us anything, it's that a couple of fancy diplomas from a couple of stuffy schools don't really say all that much about someone's ability to make good decisions at the highest levels of government.

Now, do I know what makes a great cabinet member or presidential advisor? Certainly not. I'd imagine, however, that it involves some degree of expertise in your given field, mixed with a good deal of pragmatic know-how. Judging from all accounts that I've seen in the media, all of Obama's appointees seem to fit this bill.

But beyond all that, I keep hearing about the academic prowess that Obama's team is bringing to the table with Brooks' piece being the most blatant example. For instance, I've heard on about five occasions that Obama's appointee for Secretary of the Treasury, Timothy Geithner, is a Dartmouth man. To me, this take-away should be of little consequence. For all I care, Geithner could've gone to UMass-Dartmouth instead of that preppy little school in the backwoods of New Hampshire. The fact that he did go to the more selective of the two Dartmouths and performed well tells me that he has probably attained some level of academic and intellectual competence, but whether he can help resurrect a tanking economy remains to be seen.

Bear in mind that our current Treasury Secretary, Henry Paulson, also happens to be a Dartmouth man and has a Harvard MBA.

Now, I'm not saying that academic success isn't a good indicator of smarts and ability. In fact, it's probably a pretty good indicator and likely one of the reasons why the power elite in this country graduate disproportionately from Ivy League schools and their peers.

But for those of you that get all worked up every time someone mixes up dear old Penn with that school out there in State College, I've got news for you: The school you went to says very little about your ability to get things done in the real world, especially, it seems, when it comes to government.

The fact of the matter is that for every FDR (Harvard), there seems to be a HST (no college degree) to finish out the war; for every JFK (Harvard), there seems to an LBJ (Southwest Texas State Teachers' College) to pass the Civil Rights Act. And Abraham Lincoln - one of the few presidents I'm confident in saying is unequivocally admired and respected - had a mere 18 months of schooling. If Tom Daschle (South Dakota State) or Joe Biden (the University of Delaware, Syracuse Law) has the solutions, then we should defer to them.

As we move closer to Inauguration Day, we need to bear in mind that as impressive as the resumes of Obama and his appointees might be, all of this excitement won't amount to much if they don't get results. And as the current administration has shown us, it's possible to come in with the credentials and go out with a crisis.

David Kanter is a College sophomore from East Falmouth, Mass. His e-mail is kanter@dailypennsylvanian.com. David vs. Goliath appears on Wednesdays.

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