Mediate says that President Obama wrote a handwritten letter of apology to an art professor after he made some negative comments about art history degrees:

Let me apologize for my off-the-cuff remarks. I was making a point about the jobs market, not the value of art history. As it so happens, art history was one of my favorite subjects in high school, and it has helped me take in a great deal of joy in my life that I might otherwise have missed.

So please pass on my apology for the glib remark to the entire department, and understand that I was trying to encourage young people who may not be predisposed to a four year college experience to be open to technical training that can lead them to an honorable career.

Marco Rubio wasted no time in calling President Obama's apology "pathetic."


Remember when Rick Santorum called Obama a "snob" for wanting people to go to college? This feels, to me, like an extension of that: By attacking art history majors, Rubio is aligning himself with perceived "real" Americans, the hootin'-and-a-hollerin' Sarah Palin fans who think anyone with a collidge edumacation is a soshuliss. But that's a tiny demographic: The truth is that people with four-year college degrees lean Republican. Rubio is shooting himself in the foot by attacking art history degrees and by arguing against culture.

Worse, this attack feels disingenuous. Rubio's not a stupid man. Why does he feel the need to pretend otherwise? Doesn't he have polling people on his staff who can tell him that he's arguing against his own base? Are we looking at another race to the bottom in the 2016 Republican primary? (The answer to that last question is "probably.")