Grading Barack Obama

Reason.com ^ | Feb 2011 | Nick Gillespie

[qaz123]

Few legal scholars have blown as many minds and impacted as many national arguments as Richard Epstein. His 1985 volume Takings: Private Property and the Power of Eminent Domain made the controversial argument that zoning, environmental regulations, and other government actions that substantially limit the use or decrease the value of property should be viewed as a form of eminent domain and thus strictly limited by the Constitution. The result was a firestorm of outrage, followed by a trickle of acknowledgment that maybe the guy was onto something.

As Epstein told reason in a 1995 interview, “I took some pride in the fact that [Sen.] Joe Biden (D-Del.) held a copy of Takings up to a hapless Clarence Thomas back in 1991 and said that anyone who believes what’s in this book is certifiably unqualified to sit in on the Supreme Court. That’s a compliment of sorts.…But I took even more pride in the fact that, during the [Stephen] Breyer hearings [in 1994], there were no such theatrics, even as the nominee was constantly questioned on whether he agreed with the Epstein position on deregulation, as if that position could not be held by responsible people.”

http://reason.com/archives/2011/01/24/grading-barack-obama/singlepage

[Bernard]

Obama’s real grades? A Straight Affirmative Action A.

[Godzilla]

Grading 0bama? Do they have a low enough score - preferably a very large negative number.

[thecodont]

Great article.

“We have more debt, more unemployment, and less happiness in this country now because hope and change turn out to be discord and confusion.”