Monday, September 8, 2008

Barack Obama's Accomplishments As President Of The Harvard Law Review

10 comments:

Dr Ralph said...

I note this is identical to Bob Barr's accomplishments as a Libertarian, unlike his accomplishments as a Republican: advocating federal prohibition of medical marijuana, sponsoring the Defense of Marriage Act (opposing same-sex marriage), and voting for the Patriot Act, as well as proposing the Pentagon oppose the practice of Wicca in the military.

All good Libertarian stances.

Oh wait...

The Whited Sepulchre said...

Hey, we're Baptists. We believe in Deathbed Conversions.

The Whited Sepulchre said...

Dr. Ralph,

I kept up with you, you freakin' Troll.

Dr Ralph said...

You did! Believe me, I was impressed! It was all I could do to keep up with you!

I promise to (try and) be better behaved in the future.

The Whited Sepulchre said...

I can't believe that Obama didn't publish any major articles in The Harvard Law Review.

Could it be that the man is just an empty suit? (See next four posts....)

Dr Ralph said...

The question is more than a little disingenuous since the position of President of the Harvard Law Review is that of being editor-in-chief, and not that of author. At the end of his first year at Harvard, Obama was selected as an editor of the Harvard Law Review based on his grades and a writing competition. The following year he elected president of the Law Review, a full-time volunteer position functioning as editor-in-chief and supervising the law review's staff of 80 editors. He held both positions while he was (least you forget) continuing his course load as a graduate student.

Your question makes it sound like you think this is nothing. I sure as hell could not have done this.

How about you?

The Whited Sepulchre said...

Dr.,
I couldn't even understand The Harvard Law Review, much less edit it.
However, some of the editors have cranked out something memorable relating to the law at some point in their lives, if not during their time as editor.

Dr Ralph said...

Ah but your question was what were his accomplishments *as* President of The Harvard Law Review.

Now you're changing the question.

Arguably his major accomplishment was to get his law degree from Harvard while holding down the editorship of an extremely respected legal journal.

If you slice anyone's life thin enough it looks like baloney.

Sew daze said...

Dr Ralph...You do know that you are debating with a roll of salami right?

I guess it all depends on what your definition of "is" or "as" is.

Dr Ralph said...

Final note: I suspect all the "Accomplishments" posts are rhetorical flourishes, not genuine searches for information. Still, you asked. So I'll continue my informative answers.

As a followup, let's put this in context. In the fall of 1988, Barack Obama, age 27, entered the Harvard Law School. He'd graduated from Columbia University in 1983 and probably could have written his own ticket to anywhere, but instead chose to work with the poor and disadvantaged in Chicago.

Such arrogance.

Law school is no cakewalk. And lest we forget, this is freaking Harvard Law School we are talking about.

The Harvard Law Review comes out monthly from November through June (8 issues) and has roughly 2,000 pages per volume, 250 pages an issue. No glossy photo spreads -- just lots and lots of words.

It reviews case law: lawyers argue these, not law students, since they haven't passed the bar.

The Editor-in-Chief (which is what the President of the Review is) works about 50 hours a week. Shit, I put in that many hours a week and I bitch unmercifully. And I'm not even in law school, much less Harvard.

So to treat this like the editorship of some PTA newsletter is hardly an accurate representation of the situation.

I mean, when I was a teaching fellow in grad school, I taught 18 year-olds that blue and yellow make green.