It’s summertime. In a normal year that would mean overeager interns from the Ivy League are overrunning offices all along the Northeast corridor. But this is an election year and the Obama campaign is based in Chicago, so these students have spread their wings and ventured to the Midwest. They’re sucking down coffee and sucking up space. They’re full of ideas and self-regard, which is to say, they’re mostly full of crap. Anyone who has worked with such a person — or has been one — knows their pathetic little efforts at clamoring for power are mostly benign. I mean, what harm can really be done when your only responsibility is gophering papers and photocopying? Sources within the Obama campaign are now claiming, however, the Ivy kiddos pose a genuine threat to Obama’s coming to be. And not just because everyone finds their Nantucket reds distracting. These students are interfering with operations and costing the campaign actual votes on the ground.
Blaming the entire Ivy League for the actions of the University of Pennsylvania is like blaming all of Los Angeles for Britney Spears. As far as what Obama allegedly told this “South Side native” about White House hiring policies, he should keep in mind the fact that Obama has sought the affirmation of Ivy League folk — and to become one of them — even as he struggles with issues of racial identity. How else to explain Obama’s decision to transfer to Columbia after two years at Occidental College? Before Obama, Occidental’s most famous alum was Ben Affleck, and he didn’t graduate either.
