Think again about candidate ‘vetting’

In a recent letter, the writer claims that Barack Obama’s race has shielded him from vetting and that his success is a sort of affirmative inaction by the press (The Daily Progress, Oct. 10).

I am one of the “lefties,” as the writer quaintly labels me, who believes that Obama was propelled to prominence by his intelligence and drive, admitting all the while that race may have been a small factor.

Consider this: While a student at Harvard Law School, he was elected by his peers to be the president of the Harvard Law Review. It’s unlikely that this illustrious journal would be more concerned about its affirmative action record than its scholarly reputation.

He was a visiting professor of constitutional law at the prestigious University of Chicago Law School, not a position to trust with anyone but the brightest.

In passing, I might mention that Sen. John McCain graduated in the bottom of his Naval Academy class and Gov. Sarah Palin attended four or five colleges for six years before she managed to get a degree.

I wonder if the writer feels that “light-skinned” Condoleeza Rice and Colin Powell reached their high posts with the help of affirmative action. I very much doubt it. Could it be that the writer believes that only Democrat politicians benefit from their race?

Staying on the writer’s subject of “vetting,” let me ask: Was Sarah Palin chosen by Sen. McCain as vice presidential running mate because she was thoroughly vetted and found to have the potential to become the leader of the free world if he should die, or was she chosen because she was an attractive woman with a glib tongue who could draw votes?