What does President Obama's “pro-knowledge” remark mean?

Today’s (May 17) New Yorker carries an article written by Andy Borowitz under the title, “Obama alienates millions with incendiary pro-knowledge remarks," which begins with the following passage:

“President Obama handed the Republican Party a gift for the general election by making a series of offensive pro-knowledge remarks at Rutgers University over the weekend, a leading Republican official said on Monday.”

From the following lines;

“The President’s inflammatory comments, in which he offered full-throated praise for such controversial fields of knowledge as math and science, are sure to come back to haunt the Democrats in November.”

I assume “pro-knowledge” means being in favor of sophistication in math and science, but neither Oxford nor Cambridge English Dictionary carries this word. GoogleNgram doesn’t show “pro-knowledge” either.

What does “pro-knowledge” exactly mean? Is it only applicable to math and physical science? Is the knowledge of liberal arts, metaphisic and social science excluded? Is the word widely used and accepted?

Solution 1:

Borowitz is a writer of satire, his pieces are intended to be parody. Satirical works are often characterized by one-off language and terminology, in this case the idea of being "pro-knowledge."

There is a stereotype in US politics that the Republican party is anti-science, due to the beliefs of many its members and leaders on science-related issues, including global warming and the theory of evolution. Borowitz has satirically extended this stereotype to include being "anti-knowledge" in general, which would mean the Republicans are against all forms of knowledge. The statement from Obama is meant to imply that he is pro-knowledge, casting himself in opposition to the Republican position of being against knowledge.

This satire is driving at two ideas here:

1) Republican opposition to science can be humorously characterized as a broader dislike of knowledge in general. 2) This contempt for knowledge is shared by the general US electorate, making a "pro-knowledge" position politically dangerous for a politician.

Solution 2:

Andy Borowitz is a comedian and that article is very much tongue in cheek.

'Pro-knowledge' is not a set phrase; it means what it says, that it is in favor of knowledge. It isn't restricted to math and science but anything that is based on facts.

The tongue-in-cheek part is that one could take either position, pro or con. Con would be strange because reality would literally contradict you. And pro would be strange because why would you ever not be that.

It is a reference to absurd statements made by people close to President Bush during his presidency that the government leadership was not bound to reality-based rules.

Solution 3:

I think you already know this (since this is english.SE not ell.SE), but just to be clear:

pro- as a prefix means "being in support of" something. So even without the context, you could guess the meaning.

The sides in political arguments often get called things like "pro-choice" or "pro-life", for example.

"anti-knowledge", "pro-ignorance", or "pro-believe-whatever-you-want" would be the opposite position. As the other answers point out, this is where the satire comes in.

Solution 4:

I assume “pro-knowledge” means being in favor of sophistication in math and science, but neither Oxford nor Cambridge English Dictionary carries this word.

Addressing that part in particular, it's not a word in and of itself, it's the word knowledge¹ with the prefix pro,² meaning "in favor of." E.g., pro-knowledge comments are comments that are in favor of knowledge. Usually a hyphenated word indicates a prefix (like pro) attached to a root word, and one must look them up individually. This is also sometimes true even without the hyphen, but less commonly; by the time the word is commonly written without the hyphen (such as cooperation³ in American English and modern British English [still co-operation in BrEng well into the 70s if not beyond]), it likely has its own dictionary entry.

¹knowledge - "information, understanding, or skill that you get from experience or education" - Merriam-Webster

²pro - "in favor of something" - Merriam-Webster

³cooperation - "a situation in which people work together to do something" - Merriam-Webster