Follow-on Debate Question

I have a follow-on question for Senator Obama.

Senator Obama said (and I paraphrase) that he wants to drill for domestic oil and gas, repair roads and bridges, build windmills, create a solar power infrastructure, create bio-fuel refineries and build nuclear power plants. I presume that since he also wants to create jobs, one thing he is looking at is bolstering our sagging manufacturing industries by having the US make more goods, especially in light of the environmental scares associated with buying everything from toxic China.

Senator Obama also said he wants every child to go to college in this country. Well, if he achieves that goal, just who does he suppose is going to do all the drilling, repairing, building and manufacturing? People with college degrees don't do those types of jobs. Or, maybe, that's what he wants all the illegal aliens for.

It's a sad state of affairs when a nation, its leaders or prospective leaders only measure success by the attainment of a college degree. It is this misconception, that everyone must go to college, that has helped fuel the decline of our nation's manufacturing infrastructure, trades and service industries. Not everyone is suited for college. That statement is not meant as a derision of the intelligence or talent of people who don't attend college. Instead, it is a recognition of the diversity of talent that abounds in our nation.

Some people will find their success along a path that does not include college. To force them to do something that stalls, inhibits or prevents them from realizing and contributing to their fullest potential because it doesn't support someone's personal measure of success is narrow minded and short sighted. It cheapens them, and it also cheapens those do attend college.

Everybody ought to feel as though their job is important enough for them to wear a tuxedo or formal gown to work, even if it is wholly impractical to do so. Our leaders need to recognize that and not make pursuing a life without college as somehow beneath a person's dignity.