Harvard Law Professor Remembers Obama

[illinoisprogressive]

Obama was a marvelous student at Harvard and has a remarkable mind. He is capable of absorbing a great deal of difficult material with amazing speed.

Obama is a strong advocate that governmental policies must be based on the best available science. For example, his actions in the field of nuclear nonproliferation are based on a careful study of the relevant scientific facts.

Obama has a gift for going behind labels and looking at difficult problems in new ways. In Professor Minow's opinion, Obama is likely to be substantially more successful than Hillary Clinton in finding a middle ground among liberals and conservatives in developing federal legislation.

Obama has studied the U.S. Constitution, constitutional case law and constitutional history in great depth. He is a fervent advocate of the separation of powers and of constitutional protections such as habeas corpus.

http://www.cmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070719/REPOSITORY/707190313/1029/OPINION03

[babylonsister]

1. Wow. Nice. nt

[Diane R]

2. Contrast that to the Yale professor who remembered gwb.

[momzno1]

4. or the Harvard Biz school professor

who basically described the chimp as a sociopath.

[Qutzupalotl]

11. or the ANG officer

who couldn't recall Bush being on base at all.

[whistle]

3. Great, the country will need a brilliant president and a smart vice president

...also, and lots of very bright representatives and senators. Larry Flynt needs to release another republican congressman name from the DC Madam's telephone list!

[draft_mario_cuomo]

5. This was interesting

==Obama is likely to be substantially more successful than Hillary Clinton in finding a middle ground among liberals and conservatives in developing federal legislation.==

Do we really want a "middle ground" (what the DLC, Clinton, and Blair call the "Third Way") between progressives and conservatives? There is a lot of enthusiasm for "unity" but little discussion of whether the price of achieving a semblance of "unity" (consensus with conservatives) is worth paying.

[maximusveritas]

8. That's not what Obama wants

That's just the way the person who wrote this letter put it. Maybe the Professor used that phrasing as well.
But Obama has specifically said in his book that his idea of consensus is not finding some middle ground between liberals and progressives. He rejected that nonsense completely.

[iamjoy]

10. Of Course We Do

yes, we want a middle ground. Is the price worth paying? We really don't have a choice.
I mean, I know a lot of us hate the idea of compromise or selling out, but the fact of the matter is, we can spend our time fighting and accomplishing nothing or we can compromise and get something done. Now, before anyone jumps on me for what limb I want to amputate, let me give you an example of what I mean

I really want is universal coverage - by whatever means. I don't want anyone in this country denied health care because of financial reasons or going into bankruptcy because of medical expenses. I don't think we should compromise on that.

Many people advocate a single payer health care system and removing the profit from the health care equation. I think that sounds noble. On principle, I don't really object and it may in fact be the best way of attaining my goal. But, I am also convinced that at this time removing the profit will NOT happen. The Insurance companies are too powerful and they are not going to let it happen. We all know that's wrong, but that doesn't magically change the facts.

Now, if we are stubborn about having a single payer system as the only solution for our health care crisis and refuse to give an inch, well, we can look very noble as we lose. And fifty million Americans still have no health care, plus all the insured Americans with insufficient coverage or getting screwed by their insurance companies are still in the same awful situation.

Or, we can find a way to compromise.

But, I disagree that Obama is the best at finding middle ground. Hillary has done it before. She fought for universal health coverage in 1994 and was soundly whipped. Then, the Clinton administration came back with HIPAA and CHIPs. Baby steps, but better than nothing. Furthermore, evidence of finding middle ground.

And I think John Edwards's health care plan is just awesome. You want your Aetna plan - great. You can't get affordable coverage on your own - buy into Medicare now. I also think it would stand a chance of actually passing because it doesn't take away anyone's free choice. Of course, facts don't seem to matter much anymore.

[Hekate]

15. Give it a rest.Compromise to get things accomplished is not selling out...

...and this country sure as hell could use someone to work toward genuine reconciliation.

Just because Bush's idea of compromise is the equivalent of date-rape doesn't mean diddly squat in context of Democrats committed to progressive ideas. It is possible to find common ground with Republicans when they aren't in charge of all three branches of government; even more so when they aren't in control of any of them.

Obama's track record on all counts is very good.

Hekate

[never cry wolf]

19. please read this essay, there are middle grounds that help us all

oblems; they are in general not terribly flashy; and they tend to focus on achieving solutions acceptable to all concerned, not by compromising on principle, but by genuinely trying to craft a solution that everyone can get behind.

His legislation is often proposed with Republican co-sponsorship, which brings me to another point: he is bipartisan in a good way. According to me, bad bipartisanship is the kind practiced by Joe Lieberman. Bad bipartisans are so eager to establish credentials for moderation and reasonableness that they go out of their way to criticize their (supposed) ideological allies and praise their (supposed) opponents. They also compromise on principle, and when their opponents don't reciprocate, they compromise some more, until over time their positions become indistinguishable from those on the other side.

This isn't what Obama does. Obama tries to find people, both Democrats and Republicans, who actually care about a particular issue enough to try to get the policy right, and then he works with them. This does not involve compromising on principle. It does, however, involve preferring getting legislation passed to having a spectacular battle. (This is especially true when one is in the minority party, especially in this Senate: the chances that Obama's bills will actually become law increase dramatically when he has Republican co-sponsors.)

So my little data point is: while Obama has not proposed his Cosmic Plan for World Peace, he has proposed a lot of interesting legislation on important but undercovered topics. I can't remember another freshman Senator who so routinely pops up when I'm doing research on some non-sexy but important topic, and pops up because he has proposed something genuinely good. Since I think that American politics doesn't do nearly enough to reward people who take a patient, craftsmanlike attitude towards legislation, caring as much about fixing the parts that no one will notice until they go wrong as about the flashy parts, I wanted to say this. Specifics below the fold.

much more---> http://obsidianwings.blogs.com/obsidian_wings/2006/10/barack_obama.html

[Ethelk2044]

6. He is what this country need.

[Colobo]

7. Exactly.

[Kingstree]

14. I Agree

[goclark]

16. Totally agree ~ it's a brand new day in the world

and we need a President that understands how to work with people all over the world.

[jackbourassa]

20. I agree

and kick

[David Zephyr]

9. Kick!

K&R.

[eweaver155]

12. This is a nice article. It is nice to see someone still believes in the

constitution

[illinoisprogressive]

13. that was my favorite part. the Constitution.

[goclark]

22. Refreshing to know that he truly understands

our precious document.

Bushco has stepped on it so many times that it will be a miracle if we ever know of it again.

[Ethelk2044]

21. I agree. He actually knows what it means

unlike Bush

[TeamJordan23]

17. good article. thanks. nm

[AtomicKitten]

18. nice

:thumbsup: