This statement is from Hillary Clinton's campaign website, part of a charming list titled "Just Embellished Words: Senator Obama’s Record of Exaggerations & Misstatements," released a mere three days ago, on March 25:
Sen. Obama consistently and falsely claims that he was a law professor. The Sun-Times reported that, "Several direct-mail pieces issued for Obama's primary [Senate] 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." In academia, there's a significant difference: professors have tenure while lecturers do not. [Hotline Blog, 4/9/07; Chicago Sun-Times, 8/8/04]
Though the allegation was relaunched a few days back, it's been part of the Clinton campaign's bill of anti-Obama particulars for a while.
Well, guess what? It's nonsense. (more below:)
Today the University of Chicago addressed the issue. As NBC's Domenico Montanaro reports:
The University of Chicago released a statement clarifying Obama's status at the university. He is a senior lecturer and has cited that he is a constitutional law professor on the trail. That's something that has caused some criticism and allegations of exaggeration. It's something the Clinton campaign has pushed as well in conference calls with reporters in the past week.
Here's the statement:
"The Law School has received many media requests about Barack Obama, especially about his status as "Senior Lecturer." From 1992 until his election to the U.S. Senate in 2004, Barack Obama served as a professor in the Law School. 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. The title of Senior Lecturer is distinct from the title of Lecturer, which signifies adjunct status. Like Obama, each of the Law School's Senior Lecturers have high-demand careers in politics or public service, which prevent full-time teaching. Several times during his 12 years as a professor in the Law School, Obama was invited to join the faculty in a full-time tenure-track position, but he declined.
Along with many other people, I've known for some time that this line of attack on Obama was pathetic. I've worked both as an adjunct and a "visiting professor" at different colleges, and I was always addressed as "Professor," even though it occasionally seemed silly to me. But it would be ridiculous of me to parse my experience for others, always adding the title "Visiting" just to ensure no one thought I was puffing myself up.
And Obama was in a much, much bigger league than me. As the University of Chicago statement makes clear, he was a long-time professor with a full courseload, who was actually invited to join in a tenure-track position numerous times.
I'm sure Clinton die-hards will find something wrong with this, yet again, despite the facts now staring them in the face. It's a matter of pure faith to them that Barack Obama is some kind of cheap huckster.
Bear in mind, though, that the Clinton press release cited above came out in the heat of her Bosnia sniper follies.
I think that says it all. It's classic projection.
I have no desire to hurt sincere supporters of Senator Clinton. In fact, my mother-in-law, who I love and hold in high regard for her intelligence and political savvy, is still supporting HRC. I obviously want our candidate to be Obama, but I know that most Hillary supporters believe she'd be best for guiding us out of the Cheney-Bush nightmare.
But respect is a two-way street. As long as Senator Clinton spreads silly, easily-debunked garbage like the above about Obama (remember, it's on her campaign website), it's hard to give her much respect. Period.