The Time To Lead Is Later

Rachel Swarns of the Times delivers a comedy classic in trying to whitewash cover Obama's evolving views on affirmative action.  Over the past twenty years Obama has been all over the map, which is fair enough - people ought to be allowed to change their thinking as they accumulate new experiences and encounter new ideas.  However, as the Times reporting makes clear, most of Obama's new thinking seems to be about how best to position himself politically on this topic.

No matter - the biggest howler is in the fifth paragraph:

His ruminations about shifting the balance between race and class in some affirmative action programs raise the possibility that, if elected in November, he might foster a deeper national conversation about an issue that has been fiercely debated for decades. He declined to comment for this article.

I can hardly wait - Obama is so eager for a national conversation on affirmative action that he won't talk to the Times about it, but we can look to the day when he shines his light into the darkness of America's soul.  Please.

The Times appreciation (or anticipation) of Obama's nuance provides a nice companion piece to "Barack Obama's Lost Years" by Stanley Kurtz in the Weekly Standard.  There was a politician who favored minority set-asides!

MORE:  Obama has personal experience of the notion that affirmative action stigmatizes black achievement:

Mr. Obama was sympathetic to minority students who argued that affirmative action undermined them in the eyes of their white colleagues. But he said he never felt that way at Harvard.

“I have not personally felt stigmatized,” Mr. Obama wrote in his letter to the editor in 1990.

That changed after law school.

A federal judge once asked a friend of Mr. Obama’s whether he had been “elected on the merits” as law review president, Mr. Obama told The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education in 2001. He said the question came up again when he applied for a job as a professor at the University of Chicago Law School.

Mr. Obama has not described how he felt then. But as a state senator, he spoke with empathy about accomplished minority students at elite universities who sometimes lived “under a cloud they could not erase.”

However, Ms. Swarns can't make the intellectual leap necessary to connect that stigma to this:

Studies suggest that employers often favor white job seekers over black applicants, even when their educational backgrounds and work experiences are nearly identical.

I can't dredge up any links [Yes We Can!] but I am certain this was kicked around here a few years back, when an economist wrote about discrimination against people with "black-sounding" names in resumes that were mailed to prospective employers.  One of my points was that if the two people have seemingly equal resumes but one has had a consistent opportunity to benefit from affirmative action, than the resumes are not really equal, now are they?

PILING ON:  Donald Douglas of American Power details the link to the Kurtz piece.  Don Surber asks a rhetorical question, so I'll answer it:

Question: Did Republican Sen. John McCain benefit from affirmative action?

Answer: Nope.

Not so fast - John McCain benefited from a legacy preference at the Naval Academy, if "legacy preference" is broadly defined to include being given additional opportunities to have your sorry ass shot at.  Tricky call - Obama can go on for half an hour about service to the United States without ever mentioning military service, so maybe getting shot at is not a real benefit.

The North Vietnamese also offered McCain an early release based on his legacy status, but McCain turned then down.

 

Comments

[M. Simon]

kim,

I have been following that at No Quarter.

TechDude seems quite credible or else Larry has one hell of a ghost writer with serious forensic skills.

Would Clinton want to run this year with her campaign practically shut down? I don't think so. In fact she has withdrawn her name from the list of available candidates. If I were her and this breaks her way I'd make the Dems put up a mope.

Tech Dude says he has been able to recover the original name on the COLB. He says it is a bombshell and will give the forgers time to come clean. If they do not make and admission of guilt he will blow the whistle.

Of course Larry trades in all kinds of rumor, innuendo, and made up facts so who knows?

[M. Simon]

I used to record Stud's radio program on WFMT Chicago in the 60s (I was an engineer there). At the time I was a D so he sounded fine to me. Today he makes me gag. He was pretty good with the art scene though and my favorite was an interview he did with Claus Oldenburg. The guy who did sculptures out of cloth.

[Porchlight]

Did anyone see the HuffPo rumor (via Patterico) that Obama will announce Bayh as his VP pick on Wednesday? It's more convincing than the average VP rumor, for my money.

FWIW on Bayh's Wiki page it says this:

It has recently been discovered that the URL www.obamabayh08.com redirects to the Democratic Party homepage, which is evidence of that Bayh is Obama's likely VP pick.

I'm no Wiki expert but from the history it looks like that was added today. Another version states flat out that Bayh will be announced as VP on August 6, 2008.

Reminds me of Geraghty breaking the story of Kerry picking Edwards after hearing that Kerry's plane had been repainted.

[Sue]

I don't trust techdude. But, I enjoy the story so I follow it. I mostly like watching another blogger debunk the myth for the gazillionth time. You know, you never get enough debunking...right?

[kim]

bad, two commenters over at NoQuarter have imbedded links to Fox and Yahoo stories with Bill Clinton's phrase about the Constitution. Fee Fi Fo Fum, I smell the blood of Obama hokum.
===================================

[Ann]

Great Job, M. Simon!!!

[kim]

Sue, there is a claim out there that another techie has replicated TechDude's analysis. If, as he says, others can do it, we'll know the name on the certificate by tomorrow.

Axelrod, Axelrod, Fly away Home.
Your house is on fire,
Your candidate will burn.
============================

[Sue]

Kim,

I hope it is true and I hope the name is out there tomorrow. I'm not holding my breath though.

[Elliott]

Why would anyone—man, woman, or messiah*—born outside Hawaii have a Hawaiian COLB?
____________________
*Today, August 4th, the grocery store finally had the chocolate I sought. Can it be mere coincidence?

[kim]

Heh, Sue, my inner ocean is acidifying. The tone of TechDude's opus is key, to me. He has not been so certain, before.
===================================

[Lesley]

Kim -

Thanks for the Ludwig Bemelmans quote the other day. One of your charming and clever moments which always delights me.

[kim]

Also, I think that the name has meaning is very important. Were it a generic name, little could be implied; that the name links importantly is the giveaway. Have I ever been wrong before? Once, as the saying goes.
==================================

[kim]

Thank you, Lesley; we endeavour to give satisfaction.
================================

[bad]

*Today, August 4th, the grocery store finally had the chocolate I sought. Can it be mere coincidence?

Chocolate, especially the kind you crave, is magical. Was there a unicorn to guide your way?

[bad]

Kim your predicted outcome will be much more fun than my paranoia path.

[kim]

By the time Obama was born hadn't the Kennedy funded flights had a chance to start? Any chance that with more money available Senior might have wangled emergency flights to the homeland? Oh, this twig is making me dizzy! If Obama's Fight the Smears site hadn't supplied enough fertilizer to make the Tiny Acorn of my doubt sprout to lofty heights of Mighty Oakdom, my fancy would not have followed.
================================

[kim]

bad, you know that the magic ingredient of chocolate is Theobromine, the food of the Gods; truly a choice superior to Theophylline, only loved by the Gods, and Caffeine, the choice of mortals.
======================

[bad]

Mis kim, I jist no hit reely taastes gud. an Im rite sorey thet thar theo feller got et bi the gods an put in chawklet. i dint meen to be no kanibal. ole theo shor do taaste gud tho.

[Rick Ballard]

I dunno - is Lucy really going to let Charlie Brown kick it this time?

Any word from the listening posts outside the Endor wing at Hariworts? Broom One sightings?

[Pofarmer]

but either she is the dumbest Speaker ever,

I'd just pretty much stick with that.

[bad]

I dunno - is Lucy really going to let Charlie Brown kick it this time?

Have you read any accounts of Hillary campaigning for him?

[Elliott]

No unicorns, for such beasts are inadequate to supplying the strategic cacao reserve with a sufficient cornucopia.

[PaulL]

Wow! The Zogby poll results are amazing. In two weeks, Obama has given up his 10-point lead on McCain, and is now actually behind him 1 point.

And look at some of these finer breakdowns from Zog:

* McCain gained 20% and Obama lost 16% among voters ages 18-29. Obama still leads that group, 49%-38%.

* Among women, McCain closed 10 points on Obama, who still leads by a 43%-38% margin.

* Obama has lost what was an 11% lead among Independents. He and McCain are now tied.

* Obama had some slippage among Democrats, dropping from 83% to 74%.

* Obama’s support among single voters dropped by 19%, and he now leads McCain, 51%-37%.

* Even with African-Americans and Hispanics, Obama shows smaller margins.

Whew! I don't think Bayh is going to be able to turn it around for Obama.

[Elliott]

Bayh, Bayh Barry.

[Rick Ballard]

bad,

Nope. When she does it will be in NY or CA or MA - you know, where it will really, really be meaningful. I'm not sure that knocking him off at this point will be enough. She's about $20 mil down and the fundraisers are at low idle.

[Pofarmer]

O.K. We've never elected a sitting Senator as President, correct? And now the Dems think we're going to elect a Pres and Vice-Pres who are sitting Senators? What's that old saying about studying history?

[RichatUF]

Rick-

Any word from the listening posts outside the Endor wing at Hariworts?

I did hear that a revolting hellbeast washed up on The Hamptons beach dead over the weekend. Maybe an experiment gone wrong, those potions can be tricky.

[Porchlight]

If McCain picks Meg Whitman we can have O-Bayh and McEBay.

Okay it had to be said. By me, apparently.

[Elliott]

For he's a fine upstanding, patriotic, healthy, normal American boy.

[Porchlight]

Wow, those Zogby breakdowns are pretty wild. Just the change in the 18-29 group alone is hard to fathom. Well, even outliers show where the movement is.

[Elliott]

Heh, Porchlight. That's a good one.

With respect to my 'had to be said' line above, I find it surprising that '"For he's a fine upstanding &c.' Obama*" gets no results at Google. I would have thought someone would have deployed it when the discussion was about Wright, Ayers, Michelle Obama's "proud" remarks, and flag pins.
_________________
*Link to search removed as it ran afoul of the spam filter.

[Elliott]

Just the change in the 18-29 group alone is hard to fathom.

And to think I refrained from posting "Kids, who can understand why they vote that way," just minutes ago!

[Ann]

Here is proof that the uppity, elitist, McCain ads hurt Obama and he knows it.

From Jack Tapper:

As his 47th birthday came to a close and he flew from Boston to Youngstown, Ohio, this evening, a celebratory Sen. Barack Obama came back to the cheap seats and talked to reporters on his plane.

He compared Sen. John McCain's tactics last week to a "squid" squirting ink, discussed all sorts of issues ranging from energy to the new dark blue tie his daughters bought him -- "one guarantee, this tie cost less than John McCain's shoes," he told me, joking about his opponent's pricey Ferragamo loafers -- and served the press corps birthday cake.

Asked by ABC News if McCain's attacks last week hurt him -- Obama went from being up eight points in the Gallup daily tracking poll to being tied -- Obama demurred.

"You know, I mean, Jake, I will leave that up to you to make your analysis," Obama said. "One thing I’ve learned is to not read daily tracking polls. If I had been reading daily tracking polls I think I would have quit right around August of last year, wouldn’t I?"

Obama said attacks were not a problem. "I’m not one to suggest that there’s anything wrong with them hitting us hard on things that they fundamentally disagree with me on," he said. "I mean I think there is a very real difference in our tax policies, there is a very real difference in our energy politics, there is a very real difference in our health care policies, and they have a right to make their arguments.

"My sense was last week wasn’t about any of that stuff," he said. "It was all about seeing if they can slap onto me a certain caricature that will help carry them though the election.

"Last week I think was just a series of distractions," he said. "It felt like, you know, I guess it's a squid that sends out ink..."

When a reporter turned down his offer of birthday cake (not this reporter), Obama joked, "No cake? Maureen Dowd will write a story about you not eating cake! Don't want to be an elitist now!"

[bad]

Rick

Do you suppose Hillary and Pelosi are BFFs?

[Porchlight]

"Last week I think was just a series of distractions," he said. "It felt like, you know, I guess it's a squid that sends out ink..."

M. Simon, this supports your theory that McCain got inside Obama's OODA loop. Pretty nifty thinking on your part.

[Ann]

Makes me wonder what Bob Herbert would do with the " I guess it's a squid that sends out ink..." remark if McCain had said it.

Okay it had to be said. By Ann :)

[bad]

Makes me wonder what Bob Herbert would do with the " I guess it's a squid that sends out ink..." remark if McCain had said it.

It would be a phallic squid raping with impunity.

[Porchlight]

I find it surprising that '"For he's a fine upstanding &c.' Obama*" gets no results at Google.

Elliott,

That is odd. You'd think Steyn would have pounced on it, at minimum. Send him a line....

Vaguely related - I'm thinking it's about time to watch Wild in the Streets again.

[kim]

He's got the ink part right, but the giant squid is MSM.
==================================

[Rick Ballard]

Bad,

Dunno. And I'm sure not counting her out - can't do that until Glynda gives the word and a Munchkin doc pronounces her "sincerely" etc. It's just a real tough row to hoe for her to get back in at this point.

Wouldn't Pelosi and Hill be more like WW East and WW West? And Cindy McCain is Glynda?

(Can you tell I have a crew of grandkids in the house?)

[kim]

Yup, Rick, it is obvious you have better things to do today than save the planet.
====================

[BobS]

Hi, gang!

[BobS]

Awwwwww, guys...you cannot get all worked up over Dem hack Bob Herbert

[Elliott]

Squid Vicious.

[bad]

Worked up? Please... I pity the fool and laugh in his direction.

[BobS]

Damn, Elliott. Now we are trashing the Sex Pistols

[bad]

Grandchildren must be divine. I have a couple of practice/honorary ones so imagine having my own would be awesome.

[BobS]

Cool, bad....a Mr. T refernce.

[Rick Ballard]

Kim,

Gaia is smiting the CO2 Monster for chasing the Baby Ice. And The One is skidding right off stage on that huge banana peel ego.

All's right with the world at the moment.

[MayBee]

I can't believe Evan Bayh would be named as VP while clarice is out of the country. She had him pegged (knew he would be chosen?) as Hillary's VP.
So that is very interesting, and I'll be sorry not to get clarice's immediate take.

Stupid France.

[BobS]

Hi Kim, Rick, Porch, Ann, bad and E Train!

[Ann]

Rick, I had no idea you had grandkids. Do you tell them bedtime stories? If you do, I bet they are Awesome. Please tell me you let them sleep with flashlights? LOL

[bad]

Jake Tapper says Obama is "mistaken" in his new ad about McCain and oil contributions.

LUN

[BobS]

Hey, gang. I to have a something I need to run by you. I'm considering spltting into two blogs - one for NY Sports and the other politics/culture. What think you?

[Elliott]

This is such a wonderful place.

Goodnight, dear night people!

And good morning to the freaks of nature stalwarts of the morning contingent!

[Rick Ballard]

"Do you tell them bedtime stories?"

Well, I read to them. They've come to prefer George McDonald over C. S. Lewis. I'm sure that will change again as they grow older. I'm betting on Tolkien to surpass McDonald on the lighter side but Tolkien read aloud is a bit tedious (for the reader anyway, maybe not as much for the listener).

[bad]

Good Morning Elliot

[Elliott]

Obama spokesdrone: Senator Obama has always been mistaken about John McCain's campaign contributions from oil companies and is committed to bringing real change to Washington.

[Elliott]

Good morning, bad. My, how time flies.

[Ann]

OT,
When I was younger (without chillren), my nephews visited and I took them in our big bad woods and told them stories of witches in the trees and how you had to wear a hat to protect yourself from them. I must of scared the life out of them because to this day they remind me of it.

Never knew I would really believe in witches ever again, until Rick!!! and Hillary and Pelosi and ....:)

[BobS]

Elliott: Real change in Washington would only come if the 1st Calvary Division uses the same blueprint it used on Bahgdad on Washington to give our country back to us

[bad]

20,000 Leagues under the Sea was one of the first read to our oldest. He was enthralled. Partly because the book had big margins with illustrations and definitions.

[narciso]

And just when you thought you could go back into the water, Ron "We're an empire, we make our own reality" Susskind pops up with the 2008 version of the Rathergateforgeries.
the IIS letter supposedly involving Atta, with training in Iraq:href politico.com/news/stories/0808/12308_Page3.html> are you surprised that John Maguire, who he identifies as one of the leaders of the Iraq Operations Group(something I would be at pains to deny) is one of the sources for his wild claims. Then again they gave Craig Unger, multiple publishing contracts after his brush with libel; so deception and fraud is no bar to book publishing (re; Scott McClellan)

[bad]

Hey Bob, where do you get you're energy? I might ask the same of many here....

[BobS]

crap, narciso. I cannot make sense of any of that. Dont C/P!

[kim]

Rick, see jeez's comments #255, #293, and #311, on that Baby Ice thread. Way too funny.
================================

[BobS]

Thanks...and sorry, too, bad. Its the exchange of ideas. And being around kids during the school year

[BobS]

Mary Landrieu of LA said she disagrees with Pelosi on H & C tonight on drilling

[Topsecretk9]

Rhetorical question on the energy crisis:

What happens to Meals on Wheels?

[Topsecretk9]

Landrieu is one of the gang of 10 and she on thin ice in that oil producing state.

She's Blanco with a term left and earmarks.

[BobS]

Its BO's birthday. Happy Birthday, Barack! Have a nice day with the family

[BobS]

You are right, Top. I want Bobby Jindal to take her seat in six years

[RichatUF]

BobS-

Shorter narciso: Ron Suskind, writer of various BDS tomes, took a big dump in the punchbowl with an allegation the White House ordered the CIA to forge a document (post-invasion) linking Iraq to Atta and 9/11 which was picked up by the British press. Even then the document in question was considered suspicious.

Very cute-the unnamed and named sources must be very nervous about what is showing up in the Harmony Documents and the IPP for them to go on this merry-go-round again.

[BobS]

Sorry, gang...I'm a REP hack

[MayBee]

Someday we will know the story behind narciso. He's a cryptic genius.
I don't want to know the story now.

[BobS]

Rich: One needs to keep correcting DEM false narrative. One is that there are 68 million acres the oil companies have that they wont drill in. There AINT NO OIL THERE!!!What a bunch of liars MSM and DEMS are!!!

[bad]

Don't apologize for energy. It's awesome.

So is the intellect and logic around here. The military firepower is unbelievable. I feel sorry for the little trolls who get lost in here and don't even know how much they don't know. They have such an opportunity to learn and just squander it.

[bad]

Bob are they liars or just dumb? Oh wait..

[MayBee]

From Tapper, about the next Obama-proposed roundof rebate checks, financed by the windfall profits:

The rebates would be fully paid for with five years of a windfall profits tax on record oil company profits.

To which I must say- what happens if the oil companies don't have 5 more years of 'windfall' profits?
And think about 5 years of these enormous profits to fund these....rebates, I suppose they want to call them.
That's halfway to having more oil in production. 5 years to pay for these 'rebates' (of someone else's money) is not that long! But five years after that-- why that is too long!

[BobS]

bad: Ummmmmm...well, I actually worry about DEM/Lib agendas. Is it Enviro/Socialist groups? Maybe

[BobS]

Ah, Maybee...about those "windfall profits"
here:

http://www.gettingpaidtowatch.com/2008/08/04/politics-obama-dems-misrepresent-oil-company-profits-for-political-gain/

(Apologies for self promotion)

[bad]

Maybee

When do "windfall profits" start applying anytime anyone makes some money? Will it apply to your employee bonus? Obviously a bonus is something extra. One's husband dies and life insurance is paid to wife and kids. Hand it over, this is a windfall.

Current abusive tax systemis enough. Lefties have to go above and beyond. (for once)

[JM Hanes]

GoodMorningElliott. :)

Laugh of the day from Jake Tapper

Last night in Chicago, Marvin Nicholson, the national trip director for Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, left Obama's birthday present in a taxicab.

If you want to give Daddy something on his birthday, that's OK, just don't be buying presents for his girls!

[bad]

Something cute from JammieWearingFool: LUN

Let's face it. Kerry just can't stomach the fact a genuine war hero with a much better-looking sugar mama has a much better chance of ever occupying the White House.

[Topsecretk9]

GOP could file an ethics compliant against the purveyor of the most ethical congress EVUH for attempting to get windfall profits from her book while on taxpayer paid vacation...but NO ONES BUYING IT!

LITERALLY, and figuratively I guess.

[bad]

Now try LUN for jammiewearing fool.

[Topsecretk9]

Why don't I know what "LUN" means (disclaimer - I was like the last JoM'er to know what "VRWC" meant for the longest time I thought it had to do with veterans and so you can imagine the head scratching I did till I got the courage to ask)

[Sara]

While Kerry and one of his co-conspirators, Fonda, were practicing their diplomatic skills with the enemy, John McCain and his compatriots were being beaten, starved, tortured and the emboldened North Vietnamese were given new life and the war was prolonged.

While Kerry was sipping French wine while negotiating illegally with the enemy, John McCain was in the most disgusting cell, drinking in filth.

While Kerry was proclaiming that our troops and their officers were committing horrible atrocities, John McCain and the other prisoners with him were suffering horrible atrocities.

[RichatUF]

Link Under Name

Page 9 in that pdf is pretty good, the estimate of total oil available in the 4 OCSAs-85 billion barrels.

[RichatUF]

Good Night and Good Morning to all.

[Topsecretk9]

Rich
Thanks so much. And I just thinking how much I missed you. Night friend.

[Topsecretk9]

Sara

It's so insane it's almost as if the McCain campaigne got him to do...otherwise

Wee wood Halp u Jon Carry buttt U R 2 Stooopid...thatz Y u lossseted

[BobS]

Sarah:

I'd love to reprint your Kerry/McCain compare and contrast in my blog with your permission of course

[BobS]

I'll leave off the "h" too

[Sara]

TSK9: LOL

BobS: no problem

[BobS]

TY, Sara

[BobS]

Thanks Sara....here's the link

http://www.gettingpaidtowatch.com/2008/08/05/politics-putting-john-mccain-in-perspective-versus-dems/

[Jane]

Does anyone else thing Lanny Davis is sleeping with Hillary, or dying to? My gawd he goes on and on about her virtues. Perhaps he just hopes to be able to get a gig in the next administration.

I went to the baseball game last nite - minor league and there was a table set up for John Kerry. So I asked the kid about drilling? He's against it.(the kid) I asked if he was willing to pay $10 a gallon, or $20 a gallon. Because I'm such a calm cool debater I ended up telling him he should not be allowed to drive as all the gasoline should be reserved for people like me.

Later I found out congresscritter McGovern was at the game. He is the guy who was communicating with FARC under Pelosi's direction, and who has never answered my three emails on the subject. It's a damn good thing I couldn't find his seat, because I was ready to give him a piece of my mind. Sometimes maturity just oozes out of me!

And we won - 8-2.

Oh and Good Morning!

[Pagar]

Good Morning to ALL!
Sara, that's a very clear and concise summary of what John Kerry did to this nation.

Slightly O/T. But for anyone who might be wondering why Obama would reverse him self and want Florida and Michigan delegates to count at the Democrat convention.

"Sen. Hillary Clinton won the Jan. 29 primary with 870,986 votes to Obama's 576,214".

"Leon County Democratic Chairman Rick Minor was among casualties of the delegation "purge" by Obama, who ousted six delegates and two alternates and replaced them with his own choices"

LUN (Link under Name)

With the tactics that Obama is using to insure he has no opposition, he should replace Michael Moore with Fidel Castro sitting beside Jimmy Carter, and put Joe Stalin and Saddam Hussam behind them. Maybe he could get a few of the African dictators and Chavez there too.

[Jane]

Bob, re: splitting up your blog into 2 - if you don't you risk losing liberals who are looking for NY sports (or conservatives who are Red Sox fans). If the draw is big enough it won't matter.