Things that irk!

George Mason University's Distinguished Professor Walter Williams recently wrote: "There are a lot of things, large and small, that irk me. One of them is our tendency to evaluate a presidential candidate based on his intelligence or academic credentials."

Well.. that started me thinking... what was Dr. Williams talking about? So I decided to look up the formal education credentials of the presidents.

First, a few of the "good" presidents:

No. 1: George Washington has long been described as First in War, First in Peace, First in the hearts of his countrymen. His education was rudimentary, probably being obtained from tutors but possibly also from private schools, and he learned surveying.

No. 2: Abraham Lincoln gained what education he could along the way. While reading law, he worked in a store, managed a mill, surveyed, and split rails.

No. 3: Thomas Jefferson attended the College of William and Mary and read law (1762-1767) with George Wythe, the greatest law teacher of his generation in Virginia.

No. 4: Ronald Wilson Reagan earned a BA degree in 1932 from Eureka (Ill.) College.

No. 5: Harry S. Truman attended the public schools in Independence, Mo.

And, a few "stinkers":

No. 1: (Thomas) Woodrow Wilson. A Princeton graduate, he turned from law practice to post-graduate work in political science at Johns Hopkins University, receiving his Ph.D. in 1886. He taught at Bryn Mawr, Wesleyan, and Princeton, and in 1902 was made president of Princeton.

No. 2: Franklin Delano Roosevelt. A Harvard graduate, he also attended Columbia Law School.

No. 3. Theodore Roosevelt. A Harvard graduate.

No. 4: William Howard Taft. A Yale graduate.

No. 5: James Earl Carter, Jr. Graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis

And, we must not forget:

No. 6: Barack Hussein Obama obtained early education in Jakarta, Indonesia, and Hawaii; continued education at Occidental College, Los Angeles, Calif.; received a B.A. in 1983 from Columbia University, New York City; studied law at Harvard University, where he received J.D. in 1991

I could go on, but no need... I now think I see what Dr. Williams was talking about!