If Barack Obama wins on November 4, he will be the 26th lawyer
elected president, but only the second from Harvard Law School (the
first being Rutherford B. Hayes). With the election quickly
approaching, voters should consider what Obama’s HLS education
means. In many ways it epitomizes his candidacy and reflects a man
who is intelligent and thoughtful but also liberal, enigmatic, and
completely out-of-touch with most Americans.
When the New York Times published an article headlined,
“In Law School, Obama Found Political Voice,” on January 28, 2007
(back when Obama’s quest for the Democratic nomination seemed
improbable at best) reporter Jodi Cantor noted, “Senator Obama’s
legal education is barely a blip, one of the least known chapters
of his life.” Over 18 months and one presidential nomination later,
Obama’s campaign still rarely mentions the candidate’s time at HLS.
Why not?
First, Americans generally frown upon lawyers (studies have
shown only the media ranks below lawyers in consumer confidence).
The Obama ticket consists of not one, but two lawyers. Senator Joe
Biden graduated from Syracuse Law School, which almost expelled him
for plagiarism. In Congress, Senator Biden is also a known ally of
trial lawyers, an important Democratic constituency.
Second, despite HLS’s prestige, Harvard embodies the liberal
creed and remains doctrinally left-wing and politically correct. It
helped nurture the Critical Legal Studies movement, whose advocates
argue that law merely reflects biases and injustices and entrenches
male, Caucasian societal dominance. Harvard’s politically correct
dogma bit its former president, Lawrence Summers, who was forced to
resign in 2006 when he dared to suggest that innate differences
conceivably could account for variable performance trends between
the sexes in science and engineering. Members of the conservative
Harvard Law School Federalist Society gave Summers, a Democrat, a
standing ovation at its 2005 Student Convention to protest the
persecution of him.
HLS boasts far more left-wing professors than centrists or
conservatives. A 2005 study published in the Georgetown Law
Review revealed that nearly 90 percent of HLS professors who
donated more than $200 to political campaigns gave exclusively to
Democrats. Despite strong Federalist Society and Republican
chapters, the student body remains overwhelmingly liberal.
Claudio Simpkins, a member of HLS’ Class of 2009, says he may be
the school’s only black student who backs John McCain. Simpkins
believes that “the historical significance of Obama’s rise alone
won’t solve America’s problems,” and he surmises that Obama’s legal
education was probably “a liberal one in which few of his deeply
held convictions or beliefs were challenged.”
Although Obama hardly was regarded as radical at Harvard, he
navigated many of the same racial issues that face his candidacy.
When Obama was elected as the first black editor of the Law
Review, he said in the February 6, 1990 New York
Times: “I personally am interested in pushing a strong
minority perspective. I’m fairly opinionated about this.” Obama’s
HLS professors included Charles Ogletree, a leading voice
advocating taxpayer-funded slavery reparations. Although Obama
never publicly supported that position, Ogletree was among Obama’s
mentors at HLS and now sits on Obama’s black advisory council,
along with former Harvard professor of Afro-American Studies,
Cornel West, according to the National Journal. West also
serves as honorary chair of the Democratic Socialists of
America.
While a majority of American presidents possessed legal
backgrounds, some would argue that lawyers are better suited for
legislatures and courts. “Legislators, like lawyers (Kerry is
both), believe that if you get the process right, if the right
people are consulted along the way, and the right arguments are
made at the right times, good decisions will follow. Executives
know better.” So explained William Stuntz, himself a politically
moderate Harvard Law Professor, in a 2004 Tech Central
Station article, titled “Sunrise in the West.” Stuntz just as
easily could have invoked Obama, rather than John Kerry.
Obama’s seamless shifts in policy stances and caution in
adopting positions and adhering to them display his lawyerly
tendency. Lawyers, after all, are trained to consider arguments on
both sides of issues. They often are paid to make either argument
with equal ferocity, or to avoid embracing either perspective. When
Russia invaded Georgia, John McCain quickly and unequivocally
criticized the Kremlin. Obama’s first response was muted and
decidedly more neutral. He then revised his position several times
so that it eventually resembled McCain’s stance. When asked by Rick
Warren last month at what point a baby obtains rights, Obama glibly
dodged it by saying the question “above his pay grade.” It reminds
me of the advice often given to first year law students prior to
taking exams, which is that the correct answer is not “yes” or
“no”…it’s “maybe.”
Obama’s challenge never has been to show people he is smart
enough to serve as president; few would deny that he is. His HLS
degree confirms his intelligence, although it certainly does not
prepare him to be commander-in-chief. Whereas voters question
Obama’s liberalism, elitism, and values, Obama’s Cambridge roots
should only exacerbate these concerns.
