2008 Ivy-Free Presidential Election?
 |
James Joyner | Wednesday, February 21, 2007 |
Political Insider’s Scott Keyes has looked at the resumes of the declared and likely 2008 presidential candidates and concludes that “the prospects of another all-Yale election this cycle are nil and the chances of an all-Ivy League election are quite slim. If 2008 is indeed an Ivy-free presidential election, it will be the first time in 24 years where neither major party nominee was educated at an Ivy League university.”
I suspect the Republic will weather this storm.
About the Author: James Joyner is the publisher of Outside the Beltway and the managing editor of the Atlantic Council. He's a former Army officer, Desert Storm vet, and college professor with a PhD in political science from The University of Alabama. He lives just outside the Beltway in Alexandria, Virginia.
Follow James on FriendFeed | Twitter | Digg
- None Found
- Manufacturers Shipments, Orders & Inventories
- November Unemployment Numbers
- Health Care Tradeoffs (Updated)
- DC Statehood Violates Serious Principles
- Caption Contest Winners
- The Political Economy of the U.S. Mortgage Default Crisis
- The Democrats and the Shock Doctrine
- Obama and Europe
- Supreme Court to Decide on Obama Citizenship
- International Implications of the Drop in Oil Prices (Updated)
- ProfessorBainbridge.com ® linked with Will the Republic Survive?...
- Positive Infinity linked with Campaign 2008: Where It Ends Depends on Where the Candidates Started
Hillary Clinton certainly counts as Ivy League (she went to Wellesley, one of the “Seven Sisters” in the pre-coed days of the Ivy League). So does Obama who matriculated from Columbia. Joe Biden went to U. Delaware. Richardson attended Tufts.
On the Republican side, however, McCain went to Annapolis and Rudy Giuliani attended Manhattan College so it's pretty unlikely that an Ivy Republican candidate will emerge.
This might be good; populists will have a harder time bemoaning the elitism of both parties. But they'll probably do that anyway.
OK, just for laughs, let's go with the idea that the Ivy will be excluded this cycle. What does it suggest?
Is this an indictment of the qualifications of those of the Ivy who would be president, or a rejection of their politics by the electorate, or both?
Dave: Of the Republicans, none have an Ivy undergrad degree and only Romney (Harvard Business) has Ivy connections. Of the Dems, only Obama has a true Ivy undergrad (Columbia) and, as you say, Hillary has a quasi-Ivy undergrad degree. Many of the Dems have Ivy grad/professional degrees, including both Obama and Clinton.
Bithead: Is this an indictment of the qualifications of those of the Ivy who would be president, or a rejection of their politics by the electorate, or both?
Likely, neither. It's just an anomaly of the self-selected candidates this year.
Is this an indictment of the qualifications of those of the Ivy who would be president, or a rejection of their politics by the electorate, or both?
You're just making stuff up. Bush was a double-Ivy candidate. Do you think "Ivy politics" has much meaning on the individual level?
How is asking a question "making stuff up," Carp?
Comments are Closed
