<p>I think the idea that politics revolves around Washington DC and that therefore the way to break into politics is to go to school in DC badly disserves thousands of gullible political wannabes annually. It just ain’t true. As the late, great Thomas P. “Tip” O’Neill once said, “All politics is local.” Local politics in DC is nothing special and insofar as the District doesn’t even have representation in Congress and is so lopsidedly in favor of one party (the Democrats), it’s possibly the worst place in the country to learn your political chops. If you really want to learn how to DO politics, go someplace where local politics is a hardball sport, like Chicago or Boston. Or go to an important swing state with swing gubernatorial and U.S. Senate seat, a lot of swing Congressional districts, and a lot of swing districts in the legislature. The way to make a mark on politics is not by hanging around in the shadows of the major power centers, but by identifying and seizing opportunities in places where your smarts, your savvy, and your effort will really make a difference. And by and large, that means places far away from Washington, DC where you could spend your whole life being a nobody.</p>
<p>Look at the people calling the shots in the Obama administration. How many of them cut their political teeth in Washington? Approximately none. </p>
<p>Position-holder: (undergrad school) first entree to politics
Chief of staff Rahm Emmanuel: (Sarah Lawrence) Chicago
Senior Adviser David Axelrod: (U of Chicago) Chicago
Senior Adviser Valerie Jarrett: (Stanford) Chicago
Press Secretary Robert Gibbs: (NC State) Alabama & North Carolina
Campaign manager David Plouffe: (U Delaware) Iowa<br>
Vice President Joe Biden: (U Delaware) Delaware & Pennsylvania. </p>
<p>We could go through the backgrounds of Obama’s Cabinet members, or leading Members of Congress, or key figures in the Bush Administration, and the story would be pretty much the same. DC schools give you a perch to watch politics being played out. But by and large the payers are not products of DC. They rise through local backgrounds, attend schools across this far-fling country, get involved in local political fights where they learn their craft and, if they’re good and lucky, rise above the local players and emerge onto the national stage. There are no shortcuts. If you want to do politics, you’ve got to get your hands dirty at the local level. And if you want to rise to be a player on the national stage, one of the worst places in the country to be “from,” politically speaking, is the District of Columbia.</p>