What is our president up to now? George W. Bush is definitely a man who is viewed by the public at polar opposites. You either love the guy, or you hate him - there's just really no inbetween. The contradictory nature of politics is sometimes astounding. Bush says that he is all for diversity yet he just has a problem with the way the University of Michigan is conducting itself. Picking and choosing has become a premiere tactic used by politicians in order to play the field so to speak. By keeping his conservative supporters happy, Bush states that he is against affirmative action. However, due to his "compassionate" conservatism, he also states that he wants the realms of higher education to be one that is fulfilling and diverse as possible.

To continue this point, one must agree that Bush did get into Yale through affirmative action. Now, we all realize that Bush is not black or hispanic but getting into a school based not on your academic record is an affirmative action policy of some sort. For a student who received fairly average to poor grades, Bush still managed to get into an Ivy League university based on family name, wealth, and attending prep school. These are all still forms of affirmative action that persist today. Someone else without all of the connections as Bush had, probably would have had no chance at getting accepted into Yale with their meager academic record. However, forms of affirmative action that include alumni connection are still highly influential today in the admissions process (most especially at prestigious universities). So the question here is: What is worst? Getting into a school based on racial favoritism without numbers or favoritism limited to your social class and prestige. It's easy when one has a lot of money and the rising costs of college education continues to steadily increase.

Bush was lucky enough to not use his race to be accepted into a admirable university (in order to pursue his future hopes of becoming governor and then president) but instead used his social status and family name instead. Affirmative action is not soley confined to one's skin color. There are obviously examples of awarding more points to someone because of their past history with the institution or their generous contributions that have been given to the school throughout the generations. Bush may not realize it but not everyone has the money to manipulate the system like he did. Not everyone is born into the upper wealthy class, but everyone is born with his or her own skin color.