Ed Augustus: I Guess I’m A Snob Santorum

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Friday, March 02, 2012

Ed Augustus, GoLocalWorcester MINDSETTER™

So President Obama is a snob for urging students to pursue some kind of post high school education or training according to presidential candidate Rick Santorum. Well then please count me as a snob as well. The idea that a major presidential candidate in 2012 would honestly challenge the notion that in our knowledge based economy that students as well as our country would not benefit from having more skills and or education is sad. Nothing could be clearer that if we want to make sure that America’s best days are still in front of us and not behind us that every American needs to find ways to stay competitive.

Just as during other national crisis’s like World War II where every citizen was part of the war effort so to as we navigate our way out of the financial crises. Everyone needs to be part of the solution. That means getting additional educational credentials and or skills. This can be a degree, either associate or bachelor’s or some kind of certificate training program. These formal credentials are being increasingly required by employers as they compete with competitors from around the globe for market share. To my way of thinking it’s the President’s job as leader of our nation to highlight the national importance of post high school education and training. To fail to do so would be a failure of leadership.

It’s more than ironic that Rick Santorum with both an MBA and law degree and three of his own children in college would attack the President as a snob to suggest that what was good for Santorum himself and his kids is somehow elitist for other people. To be honest I think Santorum knows that what the President said is correct and there are very few families in this country that don’t hope, saving and sacrifice to make sure higher education is an option for their children. What he was trying to do is find another way to divide us as a country instead of brining us together.

Agreeing that students need some kind of post High School education or training are just the types of things that we all, Democrats and Republicans, liberals and conservatives should be able to embrace and work on together for the collective good of OUR country. Instead, we’ve seen the worst of politics, this increasingly cynical effort to show there is NOTHING that unites us. This is a dangerous game that is being play. America’s place in the future is not set; it needs to be earned like in all preceding generations. There is no serious research, major employer, or other country that I know of that is saying we need less skilled workers as opposed to more skilled workers.

It’s as if Rick Santorum is the Benjamin Button of the 2012 presidential race. Button the movie character who was aging in reverse is like Santorum who’s idea’s and prescriptions for America are more suited to the 19th century rather than the 21st. We need leaders who will unite and not divide us. We need leaders who will challenge us and our country not give us excuses. We need leaders who know how to harness the drive, passion and talents of our people to all feel part of making America’s future strong and bright. Rick Santorum is clearly not that leader. Quite frankly all the Republican Presidential candidates seem to offer us is doom and gloom, more culture wars, and more division. I for one think that’s exactly what this country needs a lot less of and you don’t need a PhD to know that.
 

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