By: Politico

It’s taken two and a half centuries, but Columbia College, one of the oldest in the nation, finally will have an alum occupying the Oval Office.

And if the transition chatter is accurate, Barack Obama will choose as his attorney general Eric Holder, another graduate of the 254-year old Ivy League college in New York’s Morningside Heights.

Alexander Hamilton and John Jay, who attended what was then called King’s College, were secretary of the Treasury and chief justice of the Supreme Court in the nation’s early years. But having a Columbia graduate become president has taken a very long time.

"We note with pride" Obama’s election, university President Lee G. Bolinger said in an elated statement the day after the presidential returns were in. "We are reminded of the university’s core commitment to public service and its tradition of producing outstanding leaders for our nation and our world," he said.

Bollinger also pointed out that David Paterson, the governor of New York, is also a Columbia graduate.

Holder, meanwhile, would succeed Michael Mukasey, like him a native of The Bronx and a Columbia College alumnus.

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