Don't Be a Snob When Judging Someone for Office

In last week's USA Today (hey, I was traveling) Michael Medved wrote an article titled "Judge the person, not the resume" about Sarah Palin's new book, Going Rogue. His message was this: If you judge Sarah Palin -- or anyone else for that matter -- solely by her education, youthful transgressions, or missteps with the media, you have misjudged and underestimated her.

Couldn't agree more.

I'm not a Palin devotee, but I certainly don't dislike her. But then I'm not one to judge a person by his or her resume, as Medved's article states. I don't care whether someone graduated from Yale or not. I don't care whether he or she is an orator like Obama or trips over his words like Bush. I don't care whether the person has an accent. I am many things (much of them not good, I admit) -- but a snob I am not.

The last conversation I had with someone (who happened to be a Democrat) about Sarah Palin, the only thing he could offer to say against her was the interview with Katie Couric. My response was that he has no idea what it's like to be on the receiving end of media bias. Democrats never have to prove themselves because 99% of the media is on their side. When the person interviewing you is on your side, it's like having coffee with a friend. When the person interviewing you thinks you're the devil (I'm using loose terms here), it's easy to get tripped up. The interviewer has the distinct advantage of poking and prodding to get a person to falter. I'd love to see the Katie Courics of the world have the microphone turned on them. Don't think for a moment they wouldn't get tripped up, too.

Moreover, where a person went to college -- or even if they went to college -- does not prove in any way, shape, or form whether or not a person is competent to lead. Being in a leadership position takes skills one can never acquire on a college campus. You either have it, or you don't. In addition, graduating from college is only one way to prove one is smart or capable. Some of the most successful people in America never graduated from college. "The public recently mourned the loss of three universally respected journalists -- Walter Cronkite, Rovert Novak, and William Safire," writes Medved. "No one questioned their brilliance, despite the fact that they all dropped out of college short of graduation. They don't boycott [Microsoft] because Bill Gates left Harvard without earning a degree."

And it isn't conservatives who are snobs. It's liberals. "The emphasis on intellectual elitism has become far more pronounced on the left than the right, despite the long-standing association of Democrats as "the party of the people." In 2008, Obama won the majority of those with post-graduate degrees -- not surprising for a candidate with credentials from Columbia and Harvard.

Because progressives attach greater significance to universities, it makes sense that they judge the educational backgrounds of candidates accordingly: In the past six presidential elections, every one of the Democratic nominees held degrees from Harvard or Yale."

The reason liberals depend on higher education to prove a candidate's worth is because they need something concrete to point to when they have no other recourse. Liberals don't appreciate that a person's ability does not depend on a piece of paper but on his character, passion, and work ethic. They believe a person's success depends upon whatever society doles out to him. A degree is something society doles out to you when you've done your homework. But doing your homework does not indicate whether a person will be successful later in life.

Sarah Palin's abilities have yet to be determined, and I have a feeling she may surprise you.

By the way, Palin will be on Oprah next Monday (Nov. 16).

TOMORROW: Why Feminists Hate Fellow Democrat Bart Stupak

3 Responses to “Don't Be a Snob When Judging Someone for Office”:

  1. shevrae says:

    I was thrilled to be the first member of my family to attend a 4-year liberal arts college. Four years later (and $50,000 in debt), I got my first job - and realized I learned everything I needed to know during my summers in high school working at a hospital. Ten years later, I'm still paying off the loans and I'm more convinced than ever that while marriage is MUCH more than just a piece of paper - I don't think a college degree is worth the paper it's written on. I've known too many people who were very clever and intelligent but "uneducated" and way too many "educated" people who seem incapable of doing anything but reciting back what they heard from their professors.

  2. Not only that, but college isn't what it used to be. Today it's basically a license for kids to get drunk and "hook up." Moreover, their degrees have little to do with what they eventually do professionally.

    Of course you still need a degree for most professions, and therein lies the quandary. Thoughts on how to resolve that one?

  3. Anonymous says:

    One thing that stand out from Sarah Palin is her character this woman had every possible attack on her family her beliefs her mental judgement and intelligence but she did not flinch
    she hold herself as a proud woman for what she has accomplish not what people say about her
    that is character by definition.