Got an email from Marty Nesbitt a few minutes ago. He’s a Chicago businessman and, in the words of the
Tribune, the “
first friend” to President Obama. Since 2014 he has served as the chairman of the
Barack Obama Foundation,
the nonprofit that will build the Obama Presidential Center and
library, and it was to the possible architects of the library that his
email sought to introduce me. “We have big plans for the Obama
Foundation and Presidential Center, friends,” he wrote. Of this I am
sure.
Nesbitt has a lot of plans. An article in
Politico this week
described one of the many business opportunities that await the Obama
presidential circle, and how some members of that circle wish to
capitalize on it, as the forty-fourth president moves out of the White
House. Jaded observers of politics know all about the revolving door
between the private and public sectors, the iron triangle of special
interests, campaign donations, and legislation, the tell-all books and
cable news contracts that await influential staff, confidants, and
hangers-on of former presidents. Cynicism is a part of the D.C. dress
code; on
Veep jadedness and self-seeking are elevated to art. But I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t shocked by what I read in
Politico.
“
Bid to buy for-profit college by former Obama insiders raises questions,”
read the headline of Michael Stratford and Kimberly Hefling’s story.
Questions like, Are you kidding me? For years the Obama administration
has scrutinized and tightened the regulation of for-profit colleges, the
most famous of which, the University of Phoenix, has been subject to
multiple investigations and court actions. The battle has taken a toll.
As
Preston Cooper
observes, shares of the Apollo Education Group, which sold at $87 when
the president was inaugurated, have sunk to less than $10 a piece.
Critics of the for-profits are gleeful. “
Let’s hope this Phoenix does not rise from the ashes!” Alan Singer, a social studies educator at Hofstra University, lamely punned on the
Huffington Post last spring.
Sorry professor, but you might not get your wish. Because some of the
very same people who decided that for-profit colleges should be run
into the ground, and successfully achieved that result (with not a
little help from the colleges themselves), have now decided, well, hey,
what do you know, maybe these diploma mills aren’t so gross and
hazardous after all.
Among Marty Nesbitt’s various enterprises is the
Vistria Group,
a private equity firm he founded a few years back and whose chief
operating officer, Tony Miller, was formerly deputy secretary of
Education under President Obama. Last February Vistria and other
investors agreed to buy the Apollo group and the University of Phoenix
for $1 billion in cash. When the deal closes, Miller will be chairman of the board.
http://freebeacon.com/columns/profit-government-industry/