Remarks by the President on the Michigan Affirmative Action Case

The White House ^ | 15 January | President George W. Bush

[PhiKapMom]

Looks like the naysayers were wrong! Couldn't wait to get this up after hearing his speech!

[PhiKapMom]

Thanks! I hope no one took offense but I was trying to defuse the situation which has gotten out of hand from what I could see.

[PhiKapMom]

I know I am not a minority, but I would like to think I would be offended by quotas which were telling me the only way I could succeed was to be a minority and not by my qualifications.

[PhiKapMom]

But I don't believe George Bush did this today because of what Trent Lott did; nor do I believe Bush didn't back Lott because it would have jeopardized this brief.

Agree with you 100%!

[Tunehead54]

In other words, you can use demographic statistics to discriminate, but you can't do it directly. Well George, that view is better than the U of Michigan/Ted Kennedy view, but it isn't straight meritocracy, either. I suppose its the best we can do in these degenerate times.

---

University/College positions are limited resources. If not everyone would go just like K-12. If you take the top 10-20% of all HS students as applicants and admit them with or without scholarships you get a complete cross-section of the population of the HARDEST-WORKING, SMARTEST students. No race, income, ethnic, religious, discrimination - just those that are working hardest to attain their goals.

IMHO, helping a bright, hard-working, etc. disadvantaged kid, regardless of ethnicity, religion, etc. a hand up and a chance to succeed is a good policy.

Accident of birth - you're a loser - Unfair. Accident of birth - of the correct color - winner. Both systems equally stink.

Discrimination on any basis EXCEPT merit is just that, discrimination. Night, Night.

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the heads up!

[Denver Ditdat]

There is no way on earth last Saturday you can believe that Bush is a commie rat, and think he's the greatest president in history today.

TLBSHOW - Son of Sybil.

[SkyPilot]

mhking,

I am so humbled to have members like you on this forum. I read this article, and started to gather my thoughts--and I saw your reply. I thought of this:

Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.
Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
but made himself nothing,
taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness

Philippians 2 4-7

God is the great equalizer, and He loves us all. It is hard, so very hard, for me to deal with the politics of the age sometimes. For I sometimes view the rhetoric of fools within the prism of my own reason, and then I ask God "What shall then I do?"

When I was in pilot training, a friend (a Black-- African-American) friend helped me. Without him, I would not have ever become a pilot. Last week, I went to lunch with men who honored this man, and I thought of my friend.

In dark days, I survived because of him. I don't know what that means when I say it. It sounds so hollow----so empty---almost as of I launched with the pre---

"Some of my best friends are......!!" Perhaps we are conditioned of doing so...and sometimes afraid of offending in the present climate of "diversity." But God sets the standards--doesn't He? It is to those that I aspire--but still--I find myself falling short----not of hatred or bigotry--but because I find that I cannot hurdle the objects that others put in my way.

Once--you and I mourned this man--an hero to me. A man of dignity, selflessness, courage.....it is to you that I hold a mirror to..and think as Christ would..."This is my brother, my sister, my mother."

[Valin]

I strongly support diversity of all kinds, including racial diversity in higher education.

With all due respect, diversity is a FACT not a VALUE.
How can you support a fact, you might as well say I support 1+1=2.

[Valin]

putting a lot of capital on the table

Something this president understands is political capital..use it or lose it. And if you use it wisely it grows.

[Valin]

Our society never will achieve that ideal, as long as Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, et. al. have anything to say about it.

Our society never will achieve that ideal as long as it is composed of people.

[SkyPilot]

With all due respect, diversity is a FACT not a VALUE.

Sir /Ma'am,

I have been uncomfortable with companies and Government organizations preaching "Values." Do you have an stories that relate to this?

Values to me can only come from God.

[SkyPilot]

Our society never will achieve that ideal, as long as Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, et. al. have anything to say about it.

I understand.....but they are not the final authority on anything--and WE do have something to say about it. God bless voices like yours that speak out...because we must speak out against "rights by melanin content."

[ET(end tyranny)]

I am quite pleased. I was shaky about what he might do on this case, so this has me really happy. He even explicitly called quotas discriminatory, which is more than I was hoping for.

I agree. Admissions ought to be based on academics and not the color of one's skin. President Bush is doing the right thing on this issue.

[Pearls Before Swine]

Yep! Suicide is your only option. Try not to leave your pathetic body where someone might trip over it.

At your doorstep, Duke. But seriously, your comment would appear to mean you disagree with me. GWB had three position choices:

1) Accept the UM position and allow direct discrimination by race to continue
2) Say everything is merit based. That doesn't mean only test scores, but it also doesn't mean set-asides for the top 15% regardless of how terrible the school is.
3) The compromise position he took, where the set-asides wind up with a different name.

I'm saying 2) is the right choice, but think 3) is the only politically acceptable solution, and that is sad. What's your opinion? Or should I just off myself for fun?

[rdb3]

That's part of why we elected him our President, and I'm proud of it!

Precisely.

Birth of Tha SYNDICATE, the philosophical heir to William Lloyd Garrison.
101 things that the Mozilla browser can do that Internet Explorer cannot.

[Pearls Before Swine]

Discrimination on any basis EXCEPT merit is just that

You wrote the above words, which I agree with wholeheartedly, at the end of a post supporting the "top 10% or 15%", which I don't agree with. I had the experience of growing up in a city with five high schools. Most of them were terrible, and the top 10 or 15 percent wasn't very good. A couple of the high schools were OK. In the bad schools, I doubt that 10 or 15% of the students were even destined for college. A set-aside on that basis entitling the best of the worst to nearly automatic admissions to the best colleges is another codeword for an end run around merit.

I don't have a problem with giving a decent weight to class standing. I do have a problem with using it to over-ride all other considerations in the name of diversity, creating a defacto entitlement.

[newgeezer]

Valin didn't say that; I did. (Quotes can be tricky. ;-)

Thanks, just the same.

[Redleg Duke]

No one should off themselves. That is the sign of a quitter. I appreciate your detailed and thoughtful response, and while 2 seems the best solution, we live in an imperfect world and to beat the RATS, we need to use their tactics, those of incrementalism. Option 3 is a positive step towards Option 2. The way so many are criticizing the President, one would have thought he chose Option 1.

What I admire about our President is his long range, strategic thinking. He understands that to reach the goal, we need to go by thoughtful stages. Too many on this forum demand instant gratification. That just isn't politically or realistically possible.

[BaBaStooey]

No matter, I decided to go to a more local state university instead, with a chemistry dept. that to me is almost comparable to Ann Arbor's, earned some scholarships that I wouldn't have recieved, saved a ton of money, worked my way through school, earned my degree....

and now I'm working at the world's second largest chemical company. Had I earned the same B.S. in Chemistry from Michigan, would I be any better off? I believe that bachelor's degrees are bachelor's degrees, with a few exceptions, no matter where you get them. Graduate degrees are more than likely another story.

I really only applied to Michigan just to see if I could get in. The more I learned about their admissions process, the more I saw my application as an experiment, if you will, for future reference.