Get Rid of Legacies

If the President is serious about this, I support him one hundred percent:

President Bush said Friday he opposes the use of a family history at colleges or universities as a factor in determining admission.

Bush stated his position to what's known as "legacy" in response to a question during a Washington forum for minority journalists called Unity 2004.

He was asked, "Colleges should get rid of legacy?"

Bush responded, "Well I think so, yes. I think it ought to be based upon merit."

Now some people are going to jump on this the same way they jump on Clarence Thomas for opposing affirmative action: they'll assume (perhaps correctly) that George W. Bush himself was a legacy admission, and then argue that if you benefit from the program, you can not later attack it. Of course, this is a hugely fallacious argument. Often times, as with Clarence Thomas, it is precisely because an individual has "benefitted" from a program or policy that they can see the drawbacks. Or perhaps they just changed their mind. Accusing the President of hypocrisy will make for good rhetoric, but I see no reason to doubt that he simply thinks a straight merit-based admissions policy is the most equitable way to resolve this longstanding debate.