Affirmative action president

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Affirmative Action President (AAP) is a term that implies that the President of the United States was elected largely because of "affirmative action" -- meaning that they were chosen because of their nonwhite race, nonmale gender, etc.

Conservapedia claims to have coined^[1] on 25 January 2008 regarding Barack Obama running for the office of President of the United States of America. Of course, they didn't; it was coined in 2001 regarding George W. Bush.^[2]

Definition[edit]

Andrew Schlafly defines AAP in Conservapedia:

An Affirmative Action President is someone selected for that office based partly or entirely on the person's race or gender. In 2008, affirmative action was used to fill the position of President of the United States. [....] Some liberals strongly support affirmative action. As they support affirmative action for other positions, it is a logical extension of this support that they favor it for the presidency also. [....] Under affirmative action, a candidate's race or gender is considered to be as important as, and perhaps more important than, traditional criteria of qualifications and experience.

Original usage[edit]

The term originally appeared in newspaper print approximately 7 years earlier. A Chicago Tribune op-ed published on February 7, 2001, titled, "The Affirmative Action President's Dilemma," shows that in recent history, Daniel Wilkins, at that time a law professor and director of the legal profession program at Harvard Law School, is the one who coined the term while referring to president George W. Bush, and referring to his entrance into Yale through his father's alumnus status.^[2]

Subsequent usage[edit]

Conservapedia incorrectly boasts it was the first to coin the phrase, which was picked up by Michael Savage^[3] ten days later and Worldnetdaily^[4] the month after that. Please refer to the above section for the first usage of the term, which occurred approximately 7 years earlier, in an op-ed referring to George W. Bush.

On Feb. 4, 2008, Savage said on his radio program:^[3]

If elected, Barack Obama will be the first Affirmative Action President, as he has such a small amount of political (or military) experience. We have a woman and a multi-ethnic man running for office on the Democrat side. Is this not akin to a -- an affirmative action election? Isn't that why the libs are hysterical, tripping over themselves to say amen and yes to this affirmative election vote?" Savage added, "America's not ready for an affirmative action presidency."

Even better, WND said:^[4]

[Clinton], too, is a beneficiary of affirmative action politics – a wholly unqualified candidate whose greatest asset is the misguided notion that it is time for a woman to be president.

References[edit]