Some bitter clingers continue to cling to cherished liberal myth fable that some how Barack Obama is supposed possess an intelligence somewhat above average. That is an opinion of President Fifty-Seven States that I neither share nor even respect. Charles C. Johnson boldly go where no liberal dare tread, from Big Hollywood [1]:
In his autobiography, Dreams from My Father [2], Barack Obama describes himself as an unfocused high school student whose mother scolded him for being a “loafer” (142). He describes his attitude toward his studies at Occidental as “indifferent” (146), calling himself a “bum” who abused drugs (138) and who was notorious for partying all weekend (165).
That has raised questions about how Obama earned a place at Columbia in 1981, paving the way to Harvard Law and beyond. Indeed, like much else in his biography, Obama seems to have fictionalized the process through which he gained admission to Columbia. Obama writes in Dreams: “[W]hen I heard about a transfer program that Occidental had arranged with Columbia University, I’d been quick to apply”(172).
However, there is no record of such a “transfer program” existing at either Columbia or Occidental
Reax, Bookworm, Bookworm Room [3]:
I mean, think about it: Obama has already confessed that he was a drug-user and a slacker, so no one could reasonably expect him to have decent grades. Transcripts with low grades could be explained away, especially Obama he matured and proved his brilliance later.
Transcripts stating that Obama was a foreign student, however, are impossible to explain away. And since I believe Barry was born in Hawaii, why would the transcripts say he was foreign-born (assuming, of course, that they do)? Self-identifying as a foreign national makes sense only if it was to Obama’s advantage to state that kind of lie — and the only advantage would be easier college admission. Further, the only reason in an affirmative action world that a black guy would need an admission advantage is if he was getting into college during that very small historical window when, thanks to Bakke, affirmative action wasn’t available.
Mean while in an alternative liberal universe, Outsde the Beltway [4], Doug Mataconis:
James Joyner says:
It continues to boggle the mind. While I’m narrowly disposed to vote for Romney over Obama, the performance of either man as undergraduates is well outside my interest. And I say that as a former college professor. They’re both obviously quite intelligent. Both did well enough at elite institutions to go on to Harvard Law. Romney also got into Harvard Business. Both men managed to get through Harvard Law. Romney also got through Harvard Business. Both are, to use the vernacular, grown ass men. Why is their undergrad performance still relevant?
Given that Professor Joyner has never seen Barack Obama’s college transcripts, how does the Professor determine that both Romney and Obama “did quite well?”
Clarice Feldman, 27 July 2009, from American Thinker [5]:
I have another purpose. I do not believe that someone [Barack Obama] with such a consistently weak understanding of economics, history, and the guiding legal document of our nation and its language merited admission to Columbia University or Harvard law school. Nor can I imagine how anyone could have merited graduation from these institutions (let alone edited the Harvard Law Review, the most prestigious legal publication of its kind) with these deficiencies.
Did his professors give him a special pass along the way? Or was he assisted in school, as Jack Cashill suggests he was assisted in his literary endeavors by ghost writers? Did others write his essays? Did he take only open book exams?
My vote i is, and long has been, with the lady.