Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who is mulling a run at the Republican nomination in the 2016 presidential election, does not have a college degree. And that's OK, writes one analyst.
"Now comes Scott Walker, arguably the front-runner for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination,"
writes Deroy Murdock in National Review Online. "Wisconsin's recently reelected governor attended Marquette University. However, during the spring of his senior year, he withdrew 'in good standing,' according to school officials. Walker went to work full-time for the American Red Cross. He never finished his degree and, thus, is not a college graduate.
"This is more than some members of the elite can bear."
Several people have pounced on what they believe to be Walker's shortcoming. The last man to serve in the Oval Office without a college degree was Harry Truman, president from 1945-1953.
Murdock cites an
MSNBC interview with former Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean in which Dean questions Walker's knowledge because he did not finish college.
"I think there are going to be a lot of people who worry about that," Dean said. "I worry about people being President of the United States not knowing much about the world and not knowing much about science. I worry about that."
Murdock, who describes himself as "a Manhattan-based political commentor and think-tank scholar," said he is surrounded by people with impressive college credentials on a daily basis.
But he makes a strong argument for the 47-year-old Walker, who has served as Wisconsin's governor since 2011 — without a college degree.
"Wisconsin's state deficit was $3.6 billion when Walker arrived. It's now a $517 million surplus," Murdock writes. "On his watch, unemployment plunged from 7.7 percent to 5.2 percent. (It's 5.7 percent nationally.) Chief Executive ranked Wisconsin No. 41 among states in which to do business when Walker took office. It's now No. 14.
"The Badger State's rainy-day fund has swelled from $1.7 million to $279 million. Wisconsin is the only state with a fully funded public-pension system. Walker has achieved these things, and much more, while also cutting taxes by some $2 billion."
Further, Murdock argues that a president without a college degree is more of a man of the people, as the national figure of adults with a college degree stands at 18.9 percent, according to data Murdock cites.
Walker has gained a lot of attention recently thanks to conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh,
who mentioned Walker 200 times over the last week of January and the first week of February.
"The important thing about Scott Walker — I mean, all of a sudden people are saying, 'Who is this guy? Where'd this guy go to get a charisma transplant?'" Limbaugh said in a Jan. 29 segment. "He's always been who he is. It's just that he's never been touted."
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