Non-Sequiturs: 03.28.08
* Was Barack Obama a "real" law professor at the University of Chicago? Or just a pseudo-prof? [Marc Ambinder / The Atlantic]
* Speaking of Obama, why didn't he save more for retirement? Professor Mankiw speculates: "Maybe he is expecting vastly higher tax rates in the future, when the accumulated savings will need to be withdrawn and taxed." [Greg Mankiw via TaxProf Blog]
* Speaking of law profs, should they reveal their political leanings to their students? [PrawfsBlawg]
* The IRS on YouTube. Is "Linda Stiff" her real name? [TaxProf Blog]
* Biglaw jumps on the blogging bandwagon. [Kevin O'Keefe / Real Lawyers Have Blogs]
* We're all in favor of judicial reform. But will an appointive judiciary yield up fewer Elizabeth Halversons? [Wild Wild Law: Legal Antics and Jurisprudence in Nevada]
* "£295/hr for a junior associate? You mean that 25 year old girl who finished her training contract 3 weeks ago?! If it is true then Geeklawyer is undercharging chronically." [GeekLawyer]
* Courtesy of Slate, Hillary Death Watch. Today they peg her chances of winning the Democratic nomination at 12 percent. [Slate]
(But don't forget Monica Crowley's quip about HRC: "She's like Glenn Close at the end of Fatal Attraction. You think she's dead, and then she sits bolt-upright in the bathtub.")
(66) Comments
March 28, 2008
University of Chicago: Obama was a 'professor'
Posted: 12:00 PM ET
The University of Chicago said Friday Obama was considered a professor at the school.
(CNN) – The University of Chicago said Friday Barack Obama accurately described himself as a onetime law professor at the school, despite the fact his formal title was "Senior Lecturer."
The university's statement comes after the Clinton campaign recently suggested on several occasions that the Illinois senator was embellishing his role at the school by calling himself a professor.
The campaign also sent out a press release quoting a 2004 Chicago Sun-Times column that stated of Obama's professor claim: "Several direct-mail pieces issued for Obama's primary campaign said he was a law professor at the University of Chicago. He is not. He is a senior lecturer (now on leave) at the school. In academia, there is a vast difference between the two titles. Details matter."
But in a statement, the university said its senior lecturers are considered professors.
"From 1992 until his election to the U.S. Senate in 2004, Barack Obama served as a professor in the Law School," the statement said.
"He was a Lecturer from 1992 to 1996. He was a Senior Lecturer from 1996 to 2004, during which time he taught three courses per year. Senior Lecturers are considered to be members of the Law School faculty and are regarded as professors, although not full-time or tenure-track," it also said.
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/03/28/university-of-chicago-obama-was-a-professor/
Lat,
Why no coverage of the 11th Circuit's order that former Georgia Governor Don Siegelman be released from prison pending disposition of his appeal of his 2006 bribery conviction?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Siegelman
Lat,
Thanks for dumping SEN.
We love Kash.
5:46 - What is in that statement that is not contained in the Marc Ambinder link posted by Lat?
5:50 - Read Morning Docket.
According to Chicago's statement, "professor" encompasses both "Lecturer" and "Senior Lecturer."
But their faculty profiles distinguish between individuals titled "Professor of Law," etc. and individuals titled "Lecturer in Law," etc.
The statement seems a little disingenuous, but maybe the lowercase "p" makes all the difference....
A post referencing Greg Mankiw. Nice! The guy is an economics god. If only Bush had listened to him when he was Bush's top economic advisor.
Stop all the SEN hating -- both she & Kash offer some quality.
In the meantime, Lat, count on me stealing your lunch money on Monday. Bullying is so much fun.
"[B]oth [SEN] & Kash offer some quality."
True. Then again, both a VW GTI and a Carrera Turbo offer *some* quality.
Comparing a Carrera Turbo to Kashmir Hill is like comparing a really nice sports car to an average looking woman.
God DAMN America!!
Obama got a white momma!!
Barack Obama has never been a "real" anything.
He wasn't a real community organizer; he was the henchman of a political machine, out manufacturing votes by any means necessary, destroying rather than building.
He wasn't a real state senator; he got there as the puppet of the above-referenced political machine and did little while there except to serve their interests and his own ego and ambitions.
He wasn't a real United States Senator; he ran against Alan Keyes and has done little while in office except to serve his own ego and ambitions.
And he won't be a real President; he'll be a placeholder until he gets pwn3d by Condi the Obama Killer in 2012.
6:26 -
Right, if you take out the gratuitous "like."
Comparing a carrero turbo to kashmir hill IS comparing a nice sports car to an average looking woman.
6:54: criticizing Obama (even while supporting Condi Rice) is racist!!
Eat Kash.
If Barrack was not a "real" professor than neither are Dick Posner, Frank Easterbrook and Diane Wood. All of them split time between the law school and another major engagement (7th Circuit Judges), and as a result are not full-time professors.
I went to U of C before Barrack was a Senator and he was very much considered a "real" part of the faculty. Indeed, the biggest difference is not in the amount of teaching -- 3 classes is actually quite a lot -- but in the legal research and writing, for which he had less time as an active State Senator.
Posner, Easterbrook, and Wood are not "real" professors. But they are "real" judges. Obama's not a "real" anything.
I'm sure your perch from the library at San Jose state gives you real insight into these matters...
Obama will kick your ass and enslave your wife and mother, 6:54.
You think that Lebron GQ cover meant nothing?!?
Obama is a "real" racist, anti-semite, and America hater?
Does that count, 7:10?
5:51 - I totally agree. Lat made a wise move in dumping SEN, Kash has been a remarkable improvement.
7:05,
Diane Wood is not a professor, but I loved her in "Hannah and Her Sisters." Her recent movies suck though.
Obama couldn't kick anyone's ass. He looks like a kid who'd get bullied a lot (noodle arms, jug ears, etc.).
His shirtless pic is embarrassing compared to Putin's.
He's also about as black as Ryan Seacrest.
5:51 - I couldn't agree more. Lat made a wise decision in dumping SEN, Kash has been a remarkable improvement.
Obama's student reviews from his time at Chicago are very illuminating. I'm surprised that no one has leaked them / gotten their hands on them yet.
Of course, reality is often less sensational and sexy than the spin. IMHO, both sides (pro and con) are overblown. Obama is a smart man and a halfway decent starter professor who was also helped into Chicago because of his background and external-to-academia ties. He wasn't a superstar genius pedagog, nor was he a bumbling idiot. What he would have become had he remained in the academy is simply indeterminable - at least for the present.
Voting for Obama over McCain is like voting for a pay cut.
Whose shirtless pic, as far as politicians go, is *not* embarassing compared to Putin?
I don't know, Angie Merkel, but we better find him fast or this country is doomed.
Obama will make sweet love to you for saying those nasty things about him, 7:19. But, because he is the champion of change, afterward he will stay all night and let you hold him.
Bully that.
Didn't you see my name, 7:34? I bet Obama got his dick from his mom, so no thanks.
size queen FTW
If you transpose the B and the S in Osama Bin Laden's name, you get Obama Sin Laden.
Just an observation.
LAT: PLEASE DELETE ALL ANTI-OBAMA COMMENTS.
Looks like they let the AutoAdmit boys back into the computer room for a night. Can't wait to see them when they get their subpoenas, crying for their mommies, wetting their pants, and drooling on their shirts, just like AK47. They need a chronicler, their own version of Brokaw, who could memorialize them for posterity. Frank Perdue, The Chicken Shit Generation sounds about right.
OBAMA WILL COST YOU $35K
Who would win at weightlifting: Arnold or Putin?
Why would anyone vote for a paycut? That is what you are doing if you vote for Obama.
: Why would anyone vote for a paycut?
I don't know. Because not everyone is a self-centered, selfish prick?
Why would anyone vote to continue to lose American troops? That's what you're doing if you vote for McCain.
"Self-centered, selfish prick"??? You mean like the public employee unions that support Obama so that they can extort cushy 9-3 jobs with full pensions available at 55 and lifetime healthcare for them and their families? If you really believe that you are doing good by giving more money to that mess of waste, corruption, and inefficiency we call government...you sir are an idiot...if you really want to do some good, donate to a reputable charity or do some pro bono work...but giving more money to government is just adding to the funds of an instutition that is 100% incentivised to waste your money...
RON PAUL ROCKS..RON PAUL FOR PRESIDENT..RON PAUL 2008.
10:46: Your irresponsible and improper use of ellipses undermines your argument.
10:58,
Go fuck yourself.
-10:46
10:46: Heh.
Bring back MERCK!
Living in NYC is like taking a $50K paycut. Why would anyone vote to live in NYC?
Remember what happened when spending got out of control in the middle of the century? Top tax brackets went above 90%. You can keep your extra couple thousand now, but you're going to pay it back five fold when you're income is 1M instead of 250K. I'd rather pay a little extra now while my income is "low" than pay 60% when my income is high. Don't be an idiot. It's just like saving for retirement, the early you start, the less you actually have to pay. If you pay into it late, the percentages have to be much higher to get the same result.
Uh, what?
Anyone have any idea why Ann Coulter is now pimping for Hillary Clinton? Does she hate McCain that much?
1:13, yes, she does.
Check out the new US News Rankings @ http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/grad/law/search/page+2
UA Law Tier 1
Roll Tide!
Ann Coulter hates America.
1:13: On social issues, John McCain supports stem cell research, has a mixed record (at best) on marriage, and once compared Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson to Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson. On foreign policy, John McCain is against waterboarding and basically wants to close Guantanamo. On fiscal issues, McCain initially opposed the Bush tax cuts and never demonstrated a serious commitment to small government. On judicial appointments, McCain will seek judges who will uphold McCain-Feingold, which will lead him to appoint left-wing activist judges to the left of even Kennedy. Add that to the fact that McCain has no desire to mitigate illegal immigration and believes in evolution and global warming. Is it really surprising that he has little support among conservatives?
Of course, McCain is still infinitely better than Clinton. Ann Coulter knows that, and to the extent that she suggests otherwise, she is just being disingenuous. But my prediction is that as the threat of a Democratic presidency becomes more imminent, Coulter and other conservatives will rally behind McCain out of fear of what would happen to this country if he were to lose.
Fed Soc, you so crazy.
Fed Soc, I think you just sold me on McCain!
Thanks, Fed Soc. For real. Any thoughts on whether Coulter is "supporting" Clinton b/c she thinks that she is more beatable than Obama? That was the only theory I could come up with, but I am a crazed liberal.
9:39: That's certainly possible, but I don't think it is the most likely explanation. Coulter, in my view, may well be more interested in getting publicity/media exposure/money than in promoting the best interest of America/the Republican Party. My take is that she wants to convey the (correct) point that McCain is extremely bad for conservatism and exaggerates her point by making the (blatantly incorrect) argument that he is more liberal than Clinton, just to get more of a reaction.
The thing is, I could picture a conservative hoping for a Democratic victory in 2008 under the reasoning that this will make us more likely to win with a genuine, all-around conservative in 2012. But to my knowledge, this has never been Coulter's argument.
2:38 on March 29th...your post is the most idiotic I've ever seen in any medium at any point in my entire life...at no point in your ramblings did you even come close to a rational thought...everyone who views this blog is dumber for having read it...
Fed Soc--thanks again for your views. My take on Coulter has always been that she's the mad performance artist of the punditocracy. The Karen Finley of the far right, if you will.
9:39
Jesus, 9:39, it's Ann Coulter. Why even waste the energy?
Hey 9:13, this is ATL. It's ALL a waste of energy, bud.
9:32: You're an idiot.
7:38,
I had the same sentiments, which I only withheld because I couldn't imagine 2:38 to be anything other than the trolliest of trolls. That being said - yeah - that was a stunningly idiotic comment.
To disclose, i'm a conservative, especially when it comes to fiscal policy. And while 2:38 is most likely a troll, i took a look at the historic tax rates, and he's right. Rates were ridiculous high all the way up until 1986 when the tax code was reformed into 4 or 5 brackets or whatever they were.
I think what he was trying to say was that maybe it's better if we reigned in spending and gave in to marginal tax increases now, as (assuming) young, lower earning associates, than to have the unfortunate burden of a democrat controlled gov't, after the national debt gets to 20T, coming in and raising rates to 60 or 65% ... which wouldn't be unprecedented.
11:27,
You're half right...spending needs to be cut...big time.
Coulter is not a ninja.