An “underprivileged overachiever?” Obama?? When exactly did all this “underprivilege” take place?
Oh, I know, he likes to talk about being raised by a single mom on food stamps, but Ann Dunham hardly fit the image of the struggling single mother such talk is meant to evoke. No, she was by choice a college student in between husbands who availed herself of taxpayer subsidies. Her second husband, with whom Obama lived from age three through ten, was an executive with Mobil Oil. His grandmother with whom he lived after age 10 was the first female vice president at Hawaii’s largest bank. He attended a prestigious private prep school where his tuition was paid mostly by scholarships. He then enrolled in a pricey private liberal arts college transferring after his sophomore year to the Ivy League. Later, of course, he went to Harvard Law. Hardly a life of underprivilege.
Now, what about all that “over-achievement?” By his own admission, Obama spent his two years at Occidental drinking, doing drugs and seeking the fellowship of radicals. His Columbia years are largely a mystery although he claims he spent most of his time in the library. And yet, he managed to graduate without honors, without even departmental honors. Obama has allowed access to neither his grades nor his test scores. Since he is inclined to a self-celebratory, self-congratulatory vanity, we must conclude that those grades and scores would demonstrate that his advancements in higher education were based on something other than merit. On what basis did he transfer to Columbia? If his SATs and GPA were that good, he would have shared them with us. Even an Ivy League degree unencumbered by honors will not get you into Harvard Law. Perhaps his LSATs were out of the park, but surely if that had been the case, he would have shared. His election to the Law Review presidency was an achievement to be sure, but by the time he had come along, that position was no longer a merit appointment as Harvard by then bowed to the great diversity gods. He did, of course, graduate from Harvard with honors.
There is nothing in the Law Review over which he presided with his name attached and it is said to be the least referenced Law Review in its history. Although Obama spent a dozen years teaching constitutional law at the University of Chicago, he published nothing (not even a amicus brief). And yet, tenure could have been his for the asking. He has no notable achievements in the fields of law, community organizing, business (although his tenure there was brief) or as a state or federal legislator. His only executive experience was assessing, monitoring and funding program proposals for the Chicago Anneberg Challenge, a project that was deemed an abject failure by even by its own evaluation committee. It seems through the years that Obama has been most adept at promoting himself and positioning for the next big move without ever sticking with one thing long enough to make a difference. He has been the most successful at using his race and biography to facilitate his climb to the top (where he finally will be forced to actually perform). It should not be underestimated that, as Joe Biden so helpfully pointed out, Obama is “the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy.” But underprivileged and overachieved? Hardly. In fact, if it’s an overprivileged underachiever you’re looking for, you could do lots worse than Barack Obama. The disillusionment will come and it will be painful.
