"Folks can make a lot more potentially with skilled manufacturing or the trades than they might with an art history degree. Now, there's nothing wrong with an art history degree. I love art history so I don't want to get a bunch of emails from everybody." (Via The White House)
That jab at art history majors is from a speech last month in Wisconsin where President Obama was stressing the importance of skilled labor. But, despite his little disclaimer there...
"The President did receive an email from professor Ann Collins Johns. She teaches art history at the University of Texas at Austin. Johns wrote that her courses challenge students to think, read, and write." (Via CBS)
Well, her letter certainly challenged the president to write.
Obama penned a handwritten apology to the professor, calling his remarks "off-the-cuff" and "glib." He adds "art history was one of my favorite subjects in high school." (Via The Huffington Post)
Johns told The Huffington Post she respects the president and the message he was trying to convey in his Wisconsin speech. But even a benign apology can be cannon fodder in Washington.
Florida Republican representative Marco Rubio called Obama's apology "pathetic" saying, "We do need more degrees that lead to jobs." (Via Twitter / @marcorubio)
Johns said she was surprised by the personal apology, writing on her Facebook page that she didn't expect a letter from "the man himself."
