Yeah, then after all those trust funded Humanists and sensitive souls in Mercedes Benz get done making fun of him, poor little Peanut’ll have to walk 6 blocks to The Harvard School through the snow.

As I commented over at ThinkProgress, this really isn’t anything new—unfortunately. What do you think the whole premise of the “legacy student” is? I think it’s safe to say that at least in some cases, Mumsy and Daddums actually *didn’t* make all those donationss to the school purely out of nostalgic affection for the good ol’ alma mater nor out of the altruistic goodness of their hearts—not even for the benefit of the tax deduction.  No...on at least some level, it’s an insurance policy for the next generation so that their darling progeny can get that little extra edge on the competition come college admissions time. That way, they don’t bring dishonor on the family by having to attend a less prestigious school—even if their grades don’t make the cut. After all, why would the school bite the hand that helps to feed it—even if the “feeding” is in a sense a very subtle form of bribery or blackmail?

According to one of the articles linked to the ThinkProgress entry for this item, Bush himself took advantage of the “legacy student” program at Yale—his SAT scores were a whopping 180 points below the median score of his fellow Yale classmates. Let’s face it...Bush did NOT get accepted on his own merits. It’s safe to say that he was accepted largely on the basis of the fact that his father and grandfather were Yale alumni.

Perhaps the more important question is not whether “Peanut” will still be going to HBS this fall since that appears to be a fait accompli—but whether he’ll be able to survive his two-year tour of duty without dropping out or being asked to withdraw from the program. I know from personal experience that graduate school is a LOT different and a LOT tougher than college. When I was in graduate school at an different Ivy League institution, I was required by school policy to receive at least a “B-” in all my classes—if I had received even ONE “C”, I would have been dismissed from the program and not permitted to complete my degree. I have a very hard time believing that there isn’t a similar policy in force at Harvard Business School—they ain’t gonna hold his hand there, that’s for sure. If “Peanut” literally and figuratively fails to make the grade (as seems likely, since the lad apparently couldn’t even survive two years of college), will they dismiss him from the program as they would any other underperforming student...or will they permit him to “graduate” with the rest of his cohorts as the class joke? I’ve worked with more than a few Harvard Business School graduates who were at the top of their class when they left, and I know for a fact that these people are indeed wicked smart—not to mention the fact that they worked hard both to get accepted and to earn their top rank at the school. My prediction is that he won’t get as warm a welcome nor as much help as he might expect from his classmates once they find out that he’s been little more than Bush’s go-fer for the past few years—and in the heart of blue-state Massachusetts?  They’ll eat him alive…

Maybe Truthdig could get Peanut a date with Little Miss Can’t be Wrong and have The White House appoint Condoleeza as their chaperone.