Class warfare and the Elite Media | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's Note: Jim Bispo's weekly column appears in the Beaufort Observer.

    It was interesting to hear about Mitt romney's alleged bad behavior while in Prep School (not elementary school, not middle school, not high school but "Prep School". (Ahhh, the beauty of not so subtle class warfare.)

    The Anointed One, didn't go to Prep School; or did he?? What we are not told by the elite media is that he attended Punahou in Hawaii. It isn't clear why they didn't mention that. Perhaps they didn't know, or want us to know, but in either case, that kind of sloppy reporting is surely not what they learned in journalism school. For those of you who may not have ever heard of Punahou, it is a private, college preparatory school located in Honolulu, HI. It is a well respected prep school, even on the mainland. One is not admitted to Punahou because you show up at the door with a completed application and a smile on your face. You take a bundle of money or you take political muscle - or both. Our Prez attended Punahou from 1971 to 1977.

    Mitt romney is not the only one who attended "prep school". The Anointed One also attended "prep school".

    To give you some idea of the influence of Punahou, the following is a listing of "important" political alumni (quoted from Wikipedia):

   U.S. President Barack Obama ('79) attended Punahou from 1971 to 1979.

    Punahou has produced many leaders in the government of Hawaii. Sanford Dole (1864) was President of the brief Republic of Hawaii, then Governor of Hawaii. Walter Frear (1881) and Lawrence M. Judd (1905) were also Governors.

    The school has produced U.S. Senators from Illinois and Connecticut. Otis Pike ('39*), Congressman from New York, chaired the Pike Committee investigating Richard Nixon. Charles Djou ('88) recently finished Neil Abercrombie's term as Congressman from Hawaii, and at least three other graduates from Punahou have represented Hawaii in the U.S. House.

    Former students who made history in civic leadership include the Educator of the Disenfranchised,[46] an Unlikely Hero,[47] and the Uncommon American[48] (as described by their biographers): General Samuel C. Armstrong (1859) led the rifle company that turned back Pickett's Charge at the Battle of Gettysburg, led U.S. Colored Troops, and founded Hampton University to educate the freed slaves and Native Indians in the way that his father had educated the Hawaiians; Judge Elbert Tuttle (1914) led the federal court that desegregated the South, the "Fifth Circuit Four"; and Secretary John W. Gardner ('29*) was Lyndon Johnson's architect of the Great Society, creating Common Cause and PBS. Tuttle and Gardner were awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

    Sun Yat Sen, the Founding Father of modern, post imperial Republican China, attended Punahou when it was called Oahu College for a year of post secondary study after graduating from Iolani School (another "top drawer" school in Hawaii).

   By any account, a fairly impressive list.

    So much for Candidate Romney being a product of an "elite" prep school while the Prez was raised by his Grandmother who had to get up early to catch a bus to her job at the bank, making it sound like she was one of the cleaning women. (Not so!!) Do you suppose the elite media is trying to amplify the Dems' class warfare myths??

    What was clearly omitted from this scenario is that the Anointed One's grandmother was a big shot in the Dem party in Hawaii (for all practical purposes the only political party in Hawaii for many years since the demise of the "Big Five" - the remnants of the early missionary families - and still largely so). What the press seems to have also overlooked is that she was ultimately a Vice-president in the Bank of Hawaii, as well as being a big shot in the Hawaii Dem Party, and that the family was quite well to do.

    Clearly, the Anointed One's Grandmother is the person who was responsible for his being accepted into Punahou. Interestingly, he must have been an invisible student because we hear nothing about his school days. Nothing about middle school; nothing about High School; nothing about his educational experience in Indonesia; and nothing about college/university days (and nights) - other than references to the Harvard Law Review.

    It seems as though "investigative reporters" may be struggling lately since there seems to be little dirt to dish on Candidate Romney and none (more than likely for the lack of looking) on the Anointed One. When you have to go clear back to High School days to find something "bad" to say about someone, you are really struggling.

    D'ya think??