GOP Takes Aim At Obama's Education

Politico:

Even as Barack Obama takes eight days off from the campaign trail to vacation in Hawaii, where he lived for much of his youth, the Republican National Committee is again attempting to paint the Democrat as an out-of-touch elitist, this time in a mock "Barack Obama's Hawaii Travel Guide" tweaking the Democrat for having attended an elite prep school there.

"Barack Obama's Hawaii Travel Guide," e-mailed to reporters on Friday, lists four "destinations," among them the beach locals claim is the one where Obama was photographed in his swim trunks in a shot that ran in People magazine early last year, and "Punahou School, a coeducational college preparatory day school" that Obama attended "from 1971 to 1979. The school campus covers 76 acres at the edge of the Manoa Valley."

Obama, raised by a singe mother, entered the prestigious school at age ten on a scholarship. "No one means to demean the academic successes of Barack Obama or the schools he attended," said McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds. "The RNC and this campaign have sought to simply point out that on his Hawaii travels, there are certain landmarks reporters will likely see and this was a way to put those on the map."

Obama's elite schooling may prove a risky topic for McCain, who attended St. Stephen's, an exclusive school in Alexandria, Va., and then Episcopal High, a private boarding school in the same city, in the 1950s. The son and grandson of Navy admirals, he ended up at the Naval Academy, where, as he often reminds voters, he finished near the bottom of his graduating class.

Read the whole story: Politico

Comments

[PoliJunkie]

So being ignorant is the new cool? A mind is a terrible thing to waste! Go ask W he will tell you, that is if he could.

[WoudKano]

http://politicalhumor.about.com/library/images/blbushdumbpeople.htm

Do not doubt for a minute that the RNC do not know what they are doing.....

[Citizenofreality]

Yikes! This is frightening. A Presidential candidate who is intelligent enough to be admitted to a prep school on his own merits and not because of his last name.

[Cynth]

This can be very threatening to many in established circles. Working is hard is for other people and displays of intellect by those on the outside should be questioned. If those qualities take hold, where would true mertitocracy leave them?

[popey1234]

believe me, barrack would have been better off graduating at the bottom of his class at the naval acadamy than at the top in harvard. the american people (minus the elitists) are funny this way. anything having to do with military service is very impressive. why do you all think that barack keeps trying to mention that his grand pappy was in ww2???

[Talwar]

Maybe, but then the Republicans would do more race baiting and fear mongering and portray Obama as just an ignorant minority.

[indabush]

I am inclined to believe that republicans got a problem with education. It seems that an individual seeking higher education is out of sync with everything they stand for, which is not much. Should I presume that those putting together the ads are kindergarten dropouts?

[southafrica4obama]

huffpo, this is not worth reporting

[realist4Obama]

I wonder where McUnderachiever's Campaign Manager was educated..­, if at all.

[MadJeffersonian]

Come from a mixed race single-parent family; get raised by your grandparents; clean up your act; study and work hard; get scholarship; and move on up in life so some idiot can come along and say you're an elitist.

Yep...send­s the right kind of message to kids (and voters) out there.

[4real]

So far the repugnants "attack machine" want us to vote for McSame because...

Obama is smart...?

Alot of people like him in America and around the world....?

Obama has great speaking skills...?

So it's better to have a president who is not too bright, despised around the world and can't form a complete sentence?

Wow okay I'm convinced.­..("it's like these guys take pride in being ignorant".­)

[SouthpawSass]

What's really funny about this is how many of our politicians, of all parties, a poorly educated?

Had Obama not done so well with his studies, would he even be able to run? Oh well, I mean without help from a father or grandfather, that is like so many others I can name off.

[demfriend]

For the private schools Mccain went to in his youth it is strange how poorly he did in the Naval Academy. Wasn't he likein the bottom five in his class there? How did he get into the Academy? Oh yeah his dad and grandfather were big wigs in the military and he rode that all the way through pilots training. I previously had been told that pilots had to be smart and have high grades in the Naval Academy/West Point etc. Just how many have been skirted through the pilot training on the medals of their relatives? I doubt if Mac's dad and grandfather had not been big wigs that he would have made it through the academy. SO how does Obama getting scholarships because of his intelligence etc compare with daddy and garandpa's credit being used for the naval academy for mac? I would think the tight rope they are walking might break....

[Yohomegirl]

894 of 899

[tigs]

mc cain is sure sticking his neck out with this.obama­s family pulled out all the stops to get him educated,and obama didnt let them down,he worked hard to achieve, he did brilliantly. mc cain is running down someone who appreciated his education and didnt waste the opportunity, while mc cain had it all on a plate thanks to family money ,what did he do ? took it all for granted and failed, he wouldnt be where he is today without family money so he needs to shut up ,most people have to work hard for success , he didnt. a winner beats a loser any day.

[ObserverinVancouver]

Did Sen. McCain ever have a part-time job while he was in high school?

[notthistime]

okaaaayyy so we don't want an intelligent president?

[Tommygun264]

What's next? Depicting Michelle Obama as "high yellow" so they can further accuse Obama of social climbing? These tactics are more fitting of 1960's Alabama.

Now watch the pubs descend with charges of "dealing the race card from the bottom of the deck" for daring to point out their thinly veiled racism.

[Dave01]

Are they really "thinly veiled" in their racism? From where I see it, it is much more blatant than veiled.

[blue42]

these ads are not for those with some education and looking to beter ouselves with more. they are for the white working class in appalachia who aren't educated. there is a saying if not better than a n***r han who are you better than. his education will remind them that he thinks his better than you. and remeber jmc is one of you. not like that uppity n***r who don't kknow his place.