Baraq Hussein Obama's "qualifications" nothing but smoke and mirrors

THE BELOW IS FROM AN EMAIL FROM A FRIEND:


Baraq Hussein Obama's 'qualifications' and his 'smarts' being nothing but smoke and mirrors. http://hughhewitt.townhall.com/blog "It is difficult not to conclude that Senator Obama has developed his reputation as a powerful orator and skilled politician in a protected media environment and in races against candidates that were deeply flawed.

But with his nomination assured and the most important job in the world on the line, the criticism-free zone in which Obama has long prospered simply cannot be sustained, and even MSM's many accommodations cannot camouflage the gaffe parade that is Team Obama from top to bottom.

The litany of stock responses from the left's library conveys that the senator really hasn't spent much time thinking through the issues that face the country, and his unpreparedness is both breath-taking and discomforting, even to his supporters. "Rolling the dice" with an untried rookie might be something a desperate NFL franchise might try with a quarterback, but the world cannot afford to have its only superpower turned over to a completely unqualified and wholly inexperienced lightweight."

Yeah, Hewitt is right - Obama is a 'powerful orator' and a 'skilled politician', all right. But Hewitt also brings up that Obama's failures have not been admitted to. Specifically, Obama's legal smarts as an attorney. Trust me, as a legal secretary of several decades, I've got my two cents to put in about those supposed smarts. And the first thing I'm addressing is that near mythical election of Obama as President of the Harvard Law Review.: First off, here's the link to the NY Times 1990 piece of Obama being elected President of the Harvard Law Review. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0CE2DC1631F935A35751C0A966958260

Now when you read that, please note something very important. The obamination did NOT earn that position because of his grades. No - although in the past the presidents of that review were chosen on the basis of their high grades, this practice no longer existed when Obama was elected. Read this: "Until the 1970's the editors were picked on the basis of grades, and the president of the Law Review was the student with the highest academic rank. Among these were Elliot L. Richardson, the former Attorney General, and Irwin Griswold, a dean of the Harvard Law School and Solicitor General under Presidents Lyndon B. Johnson and Richard M. Nixon.

That system came under attack in the 1970's and was replaced by a program in which about half the editors are chosen for their grades and the other half are chosen by fellow students after a special writing competition. The new system, disputed when it began, was meant to help insure that minority students became editors of The Law Review." There you have it. Obama was a token. He didn't earn it - he was given that post so that Harvard could brag that it had a black heading the Review. But even at the very moment Obama was elected, there were rumblings that he was nothing but a token. Read what the outgoing president - a Chinese-American had to say. It's carefully worded - but you can damn well get its gist: "Mr. Obama succeeds Peter Yu, a first-generation Chinese-American, as president of The Law Review.

After graduation, Mr. Yu plans to serve as a clerk for Chief Judge Patricia Wald on the of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Mr. Yu said Mr. Obama's election ''was a choice on the merits, but others may read something into it.'' 'Others may read something into it." Mr. Yu is one smart cookie - he sees clearly which way the PC winds are blowing and he doesn't want them blowing into his face. At the same time, however, he's clearly upset by the choice of someone for their skin instead of their brains. And Obama clearly doesn't have the brains. Read that article further and you will see other telltale signs that Obama doesn't have the smarts for that position.

As a creaky old legal secretary myself, let me tell about the three base qualifications for a law school graduate who wants to be accepted to our firm - to ANY big league prestigious firm. Those are (1) high grades, (2) prestigious organizations in college (the Law Review is top of those) and (3) a clerkship with a judge. Okay, let's take the first one - grades. Obama has NEVER - NEVER - (let me repeat this again) NEVER been cited for his grades. Not once, not ever. Come on, when have you ever heard his grade point average? You know, 4.0? (As in straight A's.) Or the highest which is 4.3. (A+) Okay, how about a 3.8 or 3.9? No? None? Nada? I didn't think so. Obama's high grades have NEVER been cited because - they aren't high. Oh, yeah, yeah, you hear all of the smoke and noise about them appearing to be high grades, leading you to believe he actually got them - but when you look closely, the actual grades themselves aren't described. Instead, his 'honors' are - you know, the constant blather about his popularity, how he's 'esteemed by his peers', voted to certain positions, blah, blah, blah. But that has nothing to do with grades. Trust me, if someone doesn't mention a high grade point average, it's for only one reason - there isn't a high grade point average. (2) prestigious organizations Okay, Obama was elected President of the law review.

But look closely at how he was elected: "Mr. Obama was elected after a meeting of the review's 80 editors that convened Sunday and lasted until early this morning, a participant said." In other words, 80 people got together and in a wearying all night session in which fists were banged on the tables and the air was loud with 'we have to get a BLACK in this position, it's 1990 and we haven't got one" - the weary people in the early morning hours, exhausted, worn out and unable, unwilling to fight any longer simply chose the only XXXXX they could think of to be President of the review. Obama.

And if you think I'm being too rough on the PC reasons - instead of the academic reasons - why Obama was elected, read this other article by the NYTimes in which they outline the vicious racial fighting that took place just before Obama was elected. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/28/us/politics/28obama.html?pagewanted=1&ei=5088&en=bed3e016d07394c2&ex=1327640400&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss "

...Mr. Obama was the most prominent minority student on a campus shaken by racial politics. A group agitating for greater faculty diversity occupied the dean’s office and sued the school for discrimination; Derrick Bell, a black law professor, resigned over the issue. The law review struggled to decide whether affirmative action should factor into the selection of editors, and how much voice to give to critical race theorists, who argued that the legal system was inherently biased against minorities." Well, the law review DID 'factor in' affirmative action. And to do that, all it had to do was kick grades and intelligence in the teeth. Note the telltale signs Obama didn't possess them. Especially grades.

There's not a single mention of his grade point average, not even a hint. And there's not a single mention of his papers written, not one. So what did the committee cite instead as Obama's 'qualifications' for the position? Something completely unrelated to grades or papers - politics. They cited that Obama had worked the wards in Chicago before he came to Harvard. Well, shit, what the hell does that have to do with grades or smarts or papers? I'll tell you - NOTHING.

But it was all they had. Trust me - if he'd had the grades or the papers or the smarts, those XXXXX would have cited that so fast your head would have spun. But they didn't.

And another thing - after Obama was elected to President of the Law Review, what papers did he write then? Excuse me? Huh? Do I hear the sound of crickets? That's right - no papers written and that's unheard of. Totally unheard of.

Writing no papers for the Law Review is like taking a class in gymnastics without even putting on your leotards to practice on the mat. Come on, you HAVE to have a paper. That's what the review is all about - publishing papers the students have written.

Hello? Duh?? (3) clerkship with a judge Obama didn't clerk with a judge after graduation. And the embarrassed committee admits that right up front.: "The president of the law review usually goes on to serve as a clerk for a judge on the Federal Court of Appeals for a year, and then as a clerk for an associate justice of the Supreme Court. Mr. Obama said he planned to spend two or three years in private law practice and then return to Chicago to re-enter community work, either in politics or in local organizing." "..usually goes on to serve as a clerk" means that ALL Harvard Law Review presidents serve for judges.

Even Obama's predecessor, Mr. Yu, proves that - and darned quick. Yu cites his clerkship with a judge so fast you almost think it's part of Mr. Yu's name. And there's a reason Yu is so damned insistent on letting the world know of his clerkship. It's the same reason why ALL graduates who clerk with a judge throw their clerkships so quickly in your face, you have to duck.

It is because clerking with a judge is THE sign of a law graduate's smarts. Bar non. That's why it's on their resumes, in their letters, it is the first thing they talk about in conversation "ah, yes, when I clerked with Judge so and so," etc. It is so prestigious it's the first thing other attorneys talk about when discussing you - 'oh, he clerked with Judge so and so", etc. Trust me, clerkship is THE shining golden symbol that this attorney is smart.

Why? Because judges do not pick stupid people. Why not? Because the clerks oversee the papers for the judge and help the judge write his findings, etc. Therefore, if the clerk screws up, the judge pays and it is deadly awful when that happens. So the judge will never hire a stupid clerk. His own neck is on the line and he simply will not endanger that neck.

Soooooo, knowing all that, we now have the unheard position where the President of the Law Review of one the most prestigious law schools in the country ------ has NOT been offered a clerkship with a judge. None. Zip. Nada. Zilch. Of course, Obama is more than willing to have them pick him - as he makes it clear, he's free and available, yesirree. He's going to be practicing law for 'two or three' years after leaving Harvard - so he's there for the offer. But no judge will give it to him. None. And the commmittee that chooses this ignoramus as President knows up front that he's stupid - which is why when the committee announces Obama's intentions of what he will do after graduation, they gallop to inform the public that Obama will be spending his time doing something else besides clerkship.

And what is that? You guessed it - politics. Obama will go back to Chicago and "re-enter community work, either in politics or in local organizing."

Well, sigh, when you've got nothing else to play except the race card, play it for all you're worth. I mean, why not? It got him President of the Harvard Law Review. And it just might get him President of the United States.

Unfortunately for our heroic soldiers serving overseas and putting their lives on the line for this country, and our citizens here in this nation just waiting for that next 9/11, what politics and the race card will not get them is someone who's smart enough to lead them.