March 13, 2008 05:41 PM UTC

Obama at the Law Review, his Affirmative Action benefits, and more

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• by: parsingreality

I promised in the main blog to try to find what I had read about Obama and the Harvard Law Review.  Specifically, that the cases under his year are the least used.

I could not find that.  I did find an enlightening article from the NYT, October 2007, way before BO was thought of as a serious contender.  

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01…

Noteworthy points:

1.  The writer states about Obama “He had acknowledged benefiting from affirmative action in the past.”  So, to those who have screamed about me being racist because I saw the obvious, stuff it.

2.  BO’s ability to talk good talk was obvious then.  His words and actions were thought by both libs and cons to be spoken to them.  A great talent, for sure.  Good for a president?  Possibly.

3.  Even then, the today’s biggest objection about Obama was manifest: Lots of style, little substance. From a colleague: “”It’s the inspiration of the speech rather than the specific content,” he said.”  Wow, could have been 2008!

My local paper had an AP story Sunday about Obama and his first year in Congress.  It was very interesting about how consults the elders, does a lot of planning and thinking.  I certainly like that.

OTOH, we still know so little about what he really stands for and his leadership ability.  How successful will he be actually leading?  The NYT story would indicate “pretty good.” But we really have little beyond that, especially in the legislative houses.

Personally, I would probably have found Obama much more appealing in four or eight years.  That’s presuming that there would be a track record so that we could better understand him.

However, my concern is probably exactly one reason he is running now: He is still The Unknown, and he knows that’s better than having baggage.