When I was up last night, finishing the last batch of reports for my own graduate studies, I also researched articles on Obama that gave insight into who he was and what perceptions have been for him over the years. I have read his books and books by others about him, but I wanted to know the contempary thoughts on what was going on in his own life according to news articles.
The first of these I found was when he first came on the national scene. But not as a starry eyed young politician, but as the first black Harvard Law Review President in 1990. An honor for any law student in the country, but especially significant for any black law student who had never held the honor.
So now I present to you my analysis of one article in the LAT that documents the achievement and Obama's own view of his future and what he wished to do with the coveted spot.
LAT (Warning: This is a pay article and I am only using small parts of the entire article. I believe the parts I am using are within fair use but I am not completely sure. If this is a problem please tell me.)
Barack Obama worked as a community organizer before he entered Havard as a law school student. In 1990, he made history as the first black Havard Law Review President. In doing so he attracted national attention as well as many profiles and interviews. One thing that jumped at me immediately is how consistant he is in his vision and how that vision has remained unchanged since 1990.
The then 28 year old Obama on the use of his new postion and what he plans to do with it:
The post, considered the highest honor a student can attain at Harvard Law School, almost always leads to a coveted clerkship with the U.S. Supreme Court after graduation and a lucrative offer from the law firm of one's choice. Yet Obama, who has gone deep into debt to meet the $25,000-a-year cost of a Harvard Law School education, has left many in disbelief by asserting that he wants neither.
"One of the luxuries of going to Harvard Law School is it means you can take risks in your life," Obama said recently. "You can try to do things to improve society and still land on your feet. That's what a Harvard education should buy-enough confidence and security to pursue your dreams and give something back."
The fact that he could have easy paid off that debt by going to any law firm in the country and making a lot of money makes his decision even stranger in terms of what is expected from someone in his position. That he kept his promise to go back to Chicago and help out in the community tells you about his character. Many people would have forgotten about the South Side and moved on with their lives. He never forgot them and came back to help, while deeply in debt, and not getting paid very much in the bargin. To me this is not a characteristic of a man who is glory seeking, but one who seems as if he wants to make a geniune difference.
The article also goes over the conflict that many had over him being Harvard Law Reviews first president. Including getting it because of his race and from other black students that he would not give them high positions in power. It is an irony that many of the same questions and the same conflicts that haunted him then now haunt him as he runs for presidental office.
The article also explores how he looks at problems and examined questions of law through the lends of sociological justice. Lawrence Tribe explains one article Obama wrote:
But what truly distinguishes Obama from other bright students at Harvard Law, Tribe said, is his ability to make sense of complex legal arguments and translate them into current social concerns. For example, Tribe said, Obama wrote an insightful research article showing how contrasting views in the abortion debate are a direct result of cultural and sociological differences.
This is a talent Obama still uses to his benefit today. His speech on race was not only insightful but explored the sociological reasons for both the anger in the white community and the black community and how those things can be defused by social action and economic empowerment. It is one of the reasons why I really admire him because he can look at both sides of an arguement, and not only see what the conflict is but what was the atmosphere around the conflict that made it a conflict. That is uncommon thinking, and it is a a reason why he sometimes gets into trouble with others. His diversity in the people that are around him are not necessarily a reflection of his own views but a reflection of his joy in argument and considering something he had never considered before. Which his why his team of advisers have a diverse view of the world but have come together for his campaign because they believe, like he does, that what separates us is not as big as what brings us together.
Obama is consistant in his vision about how to bring about change and what it takes to get there. Obama opinion that human beings can bring about real and lasting change through activism is still the same as it was eighteen years ago. He's still the same old Obama.