By Nancy Thorner -
Hearing the main stream media repeatedly portray President Obama as a former Constitutional Law professor, Obama's recent kerfuffle on April 2nd with his veiled threat remarks directed to Supreme Court brought forth the skeptic in me.
If President Obama is really a Constitutional Law professor, how then could Obama not know there was ample precedent for the Supreme Court to overturn a law, even if, as Obama claimed, it was were passed by a strong majority of the democratically-elected Congress?
Overturning unconstitutional laws has been a part of the Supreme Count ruling for more than two centuries. Furthermore, the health care law wasn't passed by a strong majority. It barely passed the Senate, and in the House 34 Democrats voted with all Republicans House members in opposition. http://www.factcheck.org/2012/04/obama-eats-his-words/
In speaking with a friend who was a Chemistry Professor at Loyola University in Chicago and also served as Department Chairman for six year, she explained that at the most you are an Adjunct professor if teaching only one course or so, meaning you have a part-time teaching position and are retained only as long as the professor receives good student reviews. My professor friend went on to explain that adjunct professors are a blessing for many institutions that cannot afford full time faculty, they make much less, and have no benefits.
Resorting to fact check I came up with a document entitled: "Obama a Constitutional Law Professor?" http://www.factcheck.org/2008/03/obama-a-constitutional-law-professor/
Question: Was Barack Obama really a constitutional law professor?
Answer: His formal title was "senior lecturer," but the University of Chicago Law says he "served as a professor" and was "regarded as" a professor.
A University of Chicago Law School media site informed me that in 2008, in response to media inquiries, a carefully worded statement was released regarding Obama's status as a "Senior Lecturer." The statement related that Obama was a Senior Lecturer from 1996 to 2004 during which time he taught three courses per year. As a Senior Lecturer Obama was considered to be a member of the University of Chicago Law School faculty who ARE regarded as professors. In other words, Obama served as a "professor in name only" in his part-time position at the University of Chicago Law School, without any of the qualifications implied by a professorship appointment. http://www.law.uchicago.edu/meida
But the story doesn't end here.
In a blog post by at DougRoss@Journal on March 1, 2010, "To be (a lawyer) or not to be... ", comments are offered from one who corroborates that Obama's "teaching career" at The University of Chicago, was to put it kindly, a sham. This evaluation came about after talks the individual had with the highest tenured faculty members at Chicago Law about Obama, who was Barry at the time. Among them were:
* Obama applied for a position as an adjunct and wasn't even considered.
* A few weeks later the law school got a phone call from the Board of Trustees telling them to find him an office, put him on the payroll, and give him a class to teach.
* The Board told Obama that he didn't have to be a member of the faculty, but they needed to give him a temporary position.
* Obama was described by other professors as being lazy, unqualified, never attending any of the faculty meeting. It was clear that the position was nothing more than a political stepping stool.
* Some doubted whether Obama was legitimately an editor on the Harvard Law Review, because, if so, he would be the first and only editor of an Ivy League law review to never be published while in school.
The same blogger then asked reader to consider:
1. Having surrendered his license back in 2008, Obama is no longer a lawyer (allegations that the surrendering occurred to escape charges that Obama "fibbed" on his bar application.).
2. According to a Chicago Sun-Time article: "Obama did not 'hold the title' of a University of Chicago law school professor."
3. According to Marsha Ferziger Nagorsky, an Assistant Dean for Communications and Lecturer in Law at the University of Chicago School of Law, "He did not hold the title of professor of law."
4. As a former Constitutional senior lecturer, how could Obama cite the U.S. Constitution during a State of the Union Address with a quote that was from the Declaration of Independence?:
"We find unity in our incredible diversity, drawing on the promise enshrined in our Constitution: the notion that we are all created equal…." The notion that we are all created equal" is not "enshrined in our Constitution" it’s from the Declaration of Independence.
This mistaken attribution is an understandable faux pas for the average person, but Obama is supposed to be a Harvard-trained constitutional lawyer. http://directorblue.blogspot.com/2010/03/to-be-lawyer-or-not-to-be.html
Why does the media continue to refer to Barack Obama as a former law professor at the University of Chicago. Professor does roll of the tongue better as when saying "special lecturer" or "professor"?
Might it also be a continuing effort by the media to portray Obama as a highly intelligent man or intellect following that idiot of a president that proceeded him, George W. Bush?
As for the University, possibly it likes to play up Obama's connection. It's just another university trying to convert names into money?
But what about Bill Ayers and his rehabilitation from fugitive terrorist to a retired Distinguished Professor at the University of Chicago whose connections with Obama are unmistakable?
All signs point to his rich father, Thomas Ayers, who was CEO of Commonwealth Edison and a major power player in the Chicago establishment.
This is just another example of "The Chicago Way", that now also exists in Washington, D.C. enthroned in the White House.
