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Barack Obama, Harvard Law Review editor
LA TImes ^ | March 19, 1990 | Tammerlin Drummond

Posted on 10/21/2008 5:37:22 PM PDT by chet_in_ny

Barack Obama stares silently at a wall of fading black-and-white photographs in the muggy second-floor offices of the Harvard Law Review. He lingers over one row of solemn faces, his predecessors of 40 years ago.

All are men. All are dressed in dark-colored suits and ties. All are white.

It is a sobering moment for Obama, 28, who in February became the first black to be elected president in the 102-year history of the prestigious student-run law journal.

The post, considered the highest honor a student can attain at Harvard Law School, almost always leads to a coveted clerkship with the U.S. Supreme Court after graduation and a lucrative offer from the law firm of one's choice.

Yet Obama, who has gone deep into debt to meet the $25,000-a-year cost of a Harvard Law School education, has left many in disbelief by asserting that he wants neither.

"One of the luxuries of going to Harvard Law School is it means you can take risks in your life," Obama said recently. "You can try to do things to improve society and still land on your feet. That's what a Harvard education should buy-enough confidence and security to pursue your dreams and give something back."

After graduation next year, Obama says he probably will spend two years at a corporate law firm, then look for community work. Down the road, he plans to run for public office.

(Excerpt) Read more at latimesblogs.latimes.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: harvard; harvardlawreview; latimes; obama
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Fascinating article about the One from 1990. This article is chock full o' information that journalists have neglected. One of many interesting contradictions to note is that in 1990 he claims he went to New York "more for what (New York City) had to offer than for the education," when now-a-days he states his years at Columbia were an "intense period of study" (See NY Times Article dated 10/30/07)
1 posted on 10/21/2008 5:37:24 PM PDT by chet_in_ny
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To: chet_in_ny
what a Harvard education should buy

Tell us, Obama, who bought your Harvard education?

2 posted on 10/21/2008 5:40:27 PM PDT by SirJohnBarleycorn
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To: chet_in_ny

He still can not prove where he lived while there - most believe he lived with Ayers and Dhorn off the Columbia campus.


3 posted on 10/21/2008 5:40:49 PM PDT by xcamel (Conservatives start smart, and get rich, liberals start rich, and get stupid.)
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To: chet_in_ny

How many of the previous heads of law review were selected when they were freshmen?


4 posted on 10/21/2008 5:43:25 PM PDT by secret garden (Dubiety reigns here)
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To: chet_in_ny
Note that Susan Estrich was HLR Pres in 1976.

Wiki - "In 1976, Estrich was elected the first female president/editor-in-chief of the Harvard Law"

5 posted on 10/21/2008 5:43:43 PM PDT by Paladin2 (Palin for President! (PUMA))
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To: chet_in_ny
For example, Tribe said, Obama wrote an insightful research article showing how contrasting views in the abortion debate are a direct result of cultural and sociological differences.

A precursor to "bitter clingers" ?

6 posted on 10/21/2008 5:46:53 PM PDT by ikka
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To: Paladin2

The stupid news media can’t even get its facts straight about that. They are truly pathetic, and truly Obama flunkies.


7 posted on 10/21/2008 5:47:40 PM PDT by popdonnelly (Never doubt Hussein Obama)
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To: xcamel

Referring to his fellow students at the review, whom he edits, he said: “These are the people who will be running the country in some form or other when they graduate. If I’m talking to a white conservative who wants to dismantle the welfare state, he has the respect to listen to me and I to him. That’s the biggest value of the Harvard Law Review. Ideas get fleshed out and there is no party line to follow.”


8 posted on 10/21/2008 5:49:31 PM PDT by chet_in_ny
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To: secret garden

“How many of the previous heads of law review were selected when they were freshmen?”

Wasn’t he a second year law student when he was elected?


9 posted on 10/21/2008 5:49:54 PM PDT by TKDietz
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To: chet_in_ny
"He was soon chosen through the strength of his writing and grades to serve as one of 80 student editors on the law review. "

The Law Review is public. Surely there is an example of "his writing" in the public domain.

yitbos

10 posted on 10/21/2008 5:51:48 PM PDT by bruinbirdman (GET OUT THE VOTE !!!!)
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To: TKDietz

I had heard it was his first year but don’t know for certain. It’s not like he volunteers any information about his past.


11 posted on 10/21/2008 5:54:21 PM PDT by secret garden (Dubiety reigns here)
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To: bruinbirdman

Supposedly he never submitted anything to the law review, or if he did, I remember hearing that he was never published.


12 posted on 10/21/2008 5:56:44 PM PDT by machogirl (alan colmes gives me a headache, and I am Joe the plumber)
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To: chet_in_ny

He can edit HLR, but can he cook?


13 posted on 10/21/2008 6:00:49 PM PDT by smokingfrog ( God doesn't wear a wristwatch.)
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To: machogirl
"he was never published"

Well, then, he sure wasn't elected on the strength of "his writing" at Harvard.

When did he write his faux autobiographies?

yitbos

14 posted on 10/21/2008 6:03:06 PM PDT by bruinbirdman (GET OUT THE VOTE !!!!)
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To: xcamel

“He still can not prove where he lived while there”

In his car?

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/03/08/obama_paid_late_parking_tickets/


15 posted on 10/21/2008 6:03:24 PM PDT by Sparky1776
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To: Sparky1776

...was talking about the time at columbia...


16 posted on 10/21/2008 6:05:36 PM PDT by xcamel (Conservatives start smart, and get rich, liberals start rich, and get stupid.)
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To: chet_in_ny

The article says he was elected president of the law review, not editor. Was he the editor as well? I read awhile back that the president position was something of a popularity contest, while the editor position always went to the real brains/top of the class academically types.


17 posted on 10/21/2008 6:07:11 PM PDT by Cecily
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To: secret garden
How many of the previous heads of law review were selected when they were freshmen?

Obama was selected to be an editor of the law review at the end of his first year, along with about 40 others, which is the standard practice. In February of his second year, he was elected president of the review.

18 posted on 10/21/2008 6:07:31 PM PDT by Bubba Ho-Tep ("More weight!"--Giles Corey)
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To: chet_in_ny

Great find.

I got a response to my criticsim of the LATimes article that ran on Sarah Palin this morning... completely missed the point


Dear swordfishtrombone,

Thank you for writing. Here are citations for three stories that address Obama in college. Just because you are not paying attention does not mean we have not addressed the topic.

Best,

Robin Abcarian

Saturday January 27, 2007

Early on, Obama showed talent for bridging divisions

Home Edition, Main News, Page A-1
National Desk
31 inches; 1073 words

By Richard A. Serrano and David G. Savage, Times Staff Writers

WASHINGTON — Barack Obama’s entry into politics came on a winter morning at the white-columned Harvard Law Review building when, about 2 a.m., a deeply divided editorial staff chose him as the first African American to lead the prestigious publication.

Monday January 29, 2007

Occidental recalls ‘Barry’ Obama
* The Eagle Rock liberal arts college is quick to claim the Illinois Democrat as an alum. He says he has ‘fond memories’ of the school.

Home Edition, California, Page B-1
Metro Desk
40 inches; 1321 words

By Larry Gordon, Times Staff Writer

Memories of 1980 at Occidental College’s Haines Hall have the standard fragments of the era: stereos blasting the B-52’s through the dorm, pot-fueled bull sessions about the revival of draft registration, late-night cramming for economics exams.

That otherwise private nostalgia took on public significance this month when a former Haines Hall resident from Hawaii known at the time as Barry announced that he was forming an exploratory committee to run for president of the United States.

U.S. Sen. Barack Obama is usually described as an alumnus of Columbia University, where he earned his bachelor’s degree, and of Harvard Law School.

Thursday, August 28, 2008

DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION
In search of identity
* Barack Obama, half black and half white, fights the undertow of race.

Home Edition, Main News, Page A-1
National Desk
97 inches; 4224 words
Type of Material: Profile

By Thomas Curwen, Times Staff Writer

Four years ago, Barack Obama introduced himself to America by painting a picture of a country that was united, somehow, in spite of itself.

The pundits, he said in the keynote address to the Democratic convention, like to “slice and dice” the country: red states for Republicans, blue states for Democrats.

“But I’ve got news for them too: We worship an awesome God in the blue states, and we don’t like federal agents poking around our libraries in the red states. We coach Little League in the blue states, and yes, we’ve got some gay friends in the red states.”

His task that night was to ready the crowd for the presidential nominee, John F. Kerry, but in the end his words were most memorable for an argument that challenged the partisan divide and was built on the foundation of his own unique story. Since then, it’s become a familiar element of his speeches. His father was from Kenya and his mother from Kansas.


From: **********
Sent: Tuesday, October 21, 2008 11:01 AM
To: Abcarian, Robin
Cc: Readers Rep
Subject: RE: Sarah Palin’s College Years

Dear Robin

What a fascinating read!

Very enlightening... is there a chance we could get a piece on the Obama years in Columbia and Harvard?

Perhaps you could unseal his transcripts and let us good folk take a look? After all, you’ve had 2 years to write something on our soon to be Commander and Chief, we should get a tiny glipse into His Majesty, yes?

I sit & wait with baded breath for the day that Dr. Al-Mansour reveals he paid his way into Harvard with Saudi oil funds and Percy Sutton’s “naiveity” is invalidated... or perhaps an explaination how the president of the Harvard Law Review was able to skate by with writing 1 paper throughout his entire tenure? To make it really simple, how about the bizarre fact that the intelligentsia backs a candidate who refuses to release any records that would only prove to verify his terrific educational accumen?

It’s no wonder the Times is raking in the ad revenue hand-over-fist... with page-turning, hard-hitting exposes like this, I can barely wait for the next hit pie— err, investigative report!

SFTB


19 posted on 10/21/2008 6:07:47 PM PDT by swordfishtrombone
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To: bruinbirdman
There are law review articles out there written by him along with a couple of books he wrote himself without any ghost writers. I disagree entirely with Obama’s ultra-liberal politics, but I have to admit he is a very sharp guy. He's an extremely intelligent and capable person. I respect him for that but he's wrong about too many things. He's the uber-liberal type who thinks government can fix everything. He's going to tax the crap out of us and redistribute that wealth blowing it on a lot of government handout programs. He will spend and spend and spend us into a worse hole than we are already in. Of course I have to say though that Republicans have been absolutely horrible in this regard too in recent years. They cut taxes but still spend like drunken Democrats. I'm afraid were in trouble no matter who gets elected.
20 posted on 10/21/2008 6:10:27 PM PDT by TKDietz
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