XPost: ba.politics, dc.media, soc.penpals   
   XPost: alt.burningman   
   From: gayhussein@msnbc.com   
      
   WASHINGTON — President Obama issued an artful apology Tuesday,   
   taking back a “glib” remark encouraging students to ditch art   
   history for more lucrative pursuits.   
      
   Playing to the lunchpail crowd at a General Electric plant in   
   Wisconsin late last month, Obama took a swipe at art-history   
   courses while trying to persuade young people to pursue more   
   practical skills.   
      
   “A lot of young people no longer see the trades and skilled   
   manufacturing as a viable career, but I promise you, folks can   
   make a lot more potentially with skilled manufacturing or the   
   trades than they might with an art-history degree,” he said.   
      
   Immediately sensing that he had painted himself into a corner,   
   Obama kept going:   
      
   “Nothing wrong with [an] art-history degree. I love art history.   
   I don’t want to get a bunch of ­e-mails from everybody. I’m just   
   saying, you can make a really good living and have a great   
   career without getting a four-year college education, as long as   
   you get the skills and training that you need.”   
      
   Obama’s backtracking didn’t satisfy Ann Collins Johns, an art   
   professor at the University of Texas at Austin, who fired off a   
   letter through the White House Web site.   
      
   Johns told the art website Hyperallergic that she wrote Obama to   
   point out that her courses “challenge students to think, read   
   and write critically,” as well as educate them about art history.   
      
   Johns, who runs UT’s program in Tuscany, was stunned to get a   
   handwritten apology from the president himself on White House   
   stationery.   
      
   “Ann — let me apologize for my off-the-cuff remarks. I was   
   making a point about the jobs market, not the value of art   
   history,” he wrote.   
      
   “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,” Obama said in   
   the 13-line note.   
      
   He added: “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.”   
      
   He signed the letter, “Sincerely, Barack Obama.”   
      
   Johns wrote on her Facebook page that she loves Obama and now   
   feels badly about the whole incident.   
      
   “What I did NOT expect is that THE MAN HIMSELF would write me an   
   apology,” she wrote.   
      
   “So now I’m totally guilty about wasting his time.”   
      
   http://nypost.com/2014/02/18/obama-apologizes-to-art-teacher-for-   
   mocking-art-history-degrees/   
      
   Stupid bitch.   
      
       
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)