STREAM EXCLUSIVE ORIGINALS

Commentary: Rick Santorum Is the Real Snob

The candidate calls Obama a "snob" for wanting Americans to go to college, yet he holds three degrees.

Like I’ve said before, I’m no stranger to politics and the down-and-dirty political mud-slinging that it sometimes entails. Usually the incumbent is the target of the most intense mud-slinging simply because he’s the candidate to beat. So I was more than prepared to see GOP candidates take aim at President Obama’s policies during their quest to be their party’s presidential nominee.

 

To be totally honest, I don’t have a problem with any candidate criticizing their opponent on his or her record as long as they stick to the facts; after all, the name of the game is politics, not tiddlywinks. But when political candidates twist their opponent’s words and/or the facts and use that as the basis to launch an unwarranted personal attack on their opponent, that’s when the mud-slinging has gone too far.

 

GOP frontrunner Rick Santorum has been consistently crossing the lines of political decency when he started launching harsh criticism aimed solely at assassinating the president’s personal character. First, he questioned Obama’s faith as a Christian, by accusing him of engaging in “a phony theology.” Now, he’s calling the president a snob for saying that he’d like to see every American go to college or technical school, so that, according to Santorum, they can be “indoctrinated” by some “liberal college professors.”

 

Given the fact that our economy is becoming more and more dependent on high technology, it would behoove any American to attend a college or technical school to gain the knowledge and technical skills needed to compete in this global economy.

 

Despite what many pundits say, attaining higher education can give you an economic leg up. No one knows this better than Santorum, who holds a B.A. from Pennsylvania State University, an M.B.A. from the University of Pittsburgh and a law degree from the Dickerson School of Law. Thanks in part to his degrees, Santorum has been able to enjoy a comfortable life, but apparently he doesn’t think the rest of the nation, poor African-American women in particular, should have access to higher learning. In his book, It Takes a Family, he writes that he believes that the notion that “a college education will help poor, low-skill, unmarried mothers with high school diplomas and GEDs move up the economic ladder is just wrong.”      

 

Based on Santorum’s convoluted conservative logic, what’s good for him (and I imagine his family and closest friends) is bad for the rest of the nation, especially the poor. Surely, if anybody sounds like a snob or an elitist in this instance, it’s Rick Santorum.   

 

The opinions expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of BET Networks.

 

 

BET Politics - Your source for the latest news, photos and videos illuminating key issues and personalities in African-American political life, plus commentary from some of our liveliest voices.

(Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Latest News

Subscribe for BET Updates

Provide your email address to receive our newsletter.


By clicking Subscribe, you confirm that you have read and agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge our Privacy Policy. You also agree to receive marketing communications, updates, special offers (including partner offers) and other information from BET and the Paramount family of companies. You understand that you can unsubscribe at any time.