“STAR PUPIL? Let’s see those transcripts!”
Notice Tribe did not say Obama was a star pupil. Those are the reporter’s words. Tribe’s quote was; “He was one of the most amazing research assistants I’ve ever had,”
In other words Obama performed Tribe’s grunt work. Tribe told him to go to the library, or on the internet to look up something, make a copy and bring it back. He didn’t say Obama was a great thinker, a great scholar, or a great student. If he meant to praise Obama’s work as a research assistant, he is merely indicating Obama can follow direction well.
Also, notice the adjective Tribe chose — “amazing” and how he used it in the sentence. Amazing doesn’t necessarily mean good or excellent in this sentence. The dictionary definition of amazing is “causing great surprise or sudden wonder”. Tribe may have actually found Obama to be inept. Using the word “amazing” in this context may sound nice, but really indicate Tribe was extremely surprised at Obama’s incompetence.
Liberals, particularly those from academia, are extremely skillful at selecting words meant to obfuscate what they really mean. If Tribe intended to praise Obama’s intellect, reasoning ability, and academic talent he would likely have phrased his “compliment” differently. After all, we know Obama distinguished himself at Harvard Law School as the editor of the law review who could not be bother to write anything for the publication. Perhaps even Obama, as editor, realized his own writings were not of the caliber to be published.
"Bonfire of the Vanities" comes to mind. Actually, now that I think about it, it was quite a prescient storyline with variations seen with saints Skittles & Swisher.
“He was one of the most amazing research assistants I’ve ever had,”
Very open ended. "Amazing" has a number connotations. I wonder if BHO had a hand in Tribe's plagiarism problem(s)?
A "star pupil" who can't pronounce 'Navy corpsman', and thinks that Austrian is a language...
Sounds like one of those strategically ambiguous recommendations that former employers give so that they can't be liable for claims of libel or slander, such as:
“Barry Obama is definitely a man to watch. You won’t find many people like him. You’ll be lucky to get Barry to work for you. I don’t think he could have done a better job for us if he had tried. No salary would be too much for him.”