George W. Bush: The Master of Low Expectations

The President is correct about one thing. He is very lucky. He is lucky to have been born into a family that has shrewdly mastered the art of making money and positioning itself politically. He is lucky that being a well connected, old-money WASP protected his grandfather, Prescott Bush, after he was fined by the United States government for doing business with Nazi Germany.

Of course, the Bush administration has shown nothing but hostility to affirmative action when it helps anyone other than those who are already privileged. The son of the Skull and Bones Society and an Ivy League fraternity has thrown cold water on the idea of anyone else achieving the American dream unless they pull themselves up by the proverbial boot straps. When the Supreme Court deliberated on affirmative action admissions at the University of Michigan the Bush administration filed a brief calling Michigan’s program unconstitutional. Of course the focus was on extra points given to Black and Latino students, but the Bushies knew better than to mention the advantages given to legacy children or residents of Michigan’s nearly all white upper peninsula.