Potemkin Presidency and Professoriat

In his recent foray to George Washington University, the president and his hosts pretty much dropped all pretexts of above-the-fray statesmanship and detached scholarship. “We’ve got a whole lot more work to do,” he told the crowd. “If you can muster and sustain that sort of energy, I’m absolutely confident we will do well, we will win all across the country.”

“The 20 GW students and faculty members selected to attend the DNC event were either first-time voters from the GW Guide to Personal Success program, or professors in the political science department,” Madeiline Morgenstern reported in the GW Hatchet. Faculty donations to Sen. Obama outpaced those made to Sen. McCain by about 8-1 in 2008.

This past Tuesday, “University President Steven Knapp and Board of Trustees Chairman Russell Ramsey were also there to greet Obama,” Morgenstern reports.

“These kinds of events are part of a much larger reality here,” Knapp stated. “It’s all part of what it means to be here in the nation’s capital.”

“It’s an honor but it also feels a little normal,” Ramsey said.  He told Morgenstern such visits seem to occur “every other week.”

He could have added, “but only when the Democrats are in power.”

Malcolm A. Kline is the Executive Director of Accuracy in Academia.

If you would like to comment on this article, e-mail contact@academia.org