Tuesday, April 11, 2006

Did you know...

Did you know that the Vice President's wife, Lynne Cheney, has a Ph.D.? I think that's one of those things that I heard at some point and then promptly forgot, because when I read her Official Page today, it sounded vaguely familiar. She's written a bunch of stuff too. But I'm more concerned with the Ph.D. Take a quick glance at her official White House page here, or her official White House Biography here. She is always referred to as Mrs. Cheney. Not Dr. Cheney -even though her bios go into great detail on the work she has done in preserving American history, writing American history, etc. Do her credentials as Dear Ol' Dick's wife trump her Doctorate?
Ok, now let's look at Condi's info. She got one of those degrees too - but apparently, it means more for her. Because her bio takes care to always give her the proper title. so does her personal information on the Dept. of State's page.

My theory? It isn't important that the Vice President's wife has the degree, but it is important that our Secretary of State has one. I think (and you knew my opinion was coming) that anyone that has the degree has earned the respect of being given the title "Dr." But that might make Dear Ol' Dick look not quite as smart. Because to be proper, they should be introduced and addressed as "Vice President and Dr. Cheney." That's only while he's VP, though. Before he got his illustrious position, they should have been addressed as "Dr. and Mr. Cheney." I don't see Dear Ol' Dick liking that very much.

But this post started because it annoyed me that unless I read to the very end of Dr. Cheney's bio, I wouldn't know that she had this degree. Over and over again, she's referred to as Mrs. Cheney. And I think that the fact that her relationship to her husband is given more precedence in her title than the degrees that she's earned for herself speaks volumes not only about the current administration, but also about what is considered important by the vast majority of the public.

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