Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Barack Obama's college days
The subject of this post is (probably) not important, so please don't pretend that I'm mounting an attack or making sinister insinuations. A blog may discuss a molehill as well as a mountain.
I've noted a couple of odd things about Barack Obama's college days in Los Angeles, as related in this piece in the the Confluence.
Obama spent his teen years in Hawaii, where he was, by all reports, not a standout as a high school student. In 1979, on full scholarship, he transfered to Occidental College, located in Eagle Rock, a suburb of Los Angeles, CA. Aside from playing basketball -- he was a top scorer -- he spent two years eating pizza, getting high, BS-ing with friends and putting off his assignments until the last moment. In short, he was typical.
Why Occidental? It is an admired and respected liberal arts college. But in the 1970s, most ambitious youths in Los Angeles considered Occidental a second choice school, after UCLA or USC. Surely institutions of comparable prestige exist on the Hawaiian islands...? I've seen no indication that he held a job during his college years. A school in Hawaii would have meant lower tuition, which would have left more scholarship money for living expenses.
In his book Dreams From My Father, he says that he went to Occidental “mainly because I’d met a girl from Brentwood while she was vacationing in Hawaii.”
Los Angeles is a massive place. The posh enclave of Brentwood -- within walking distance of UCLA -- is many miles away from Eagle Rock. If UCLA was impossible, Santa Monica Community College is close enough. UCLA was quite cheap for California residents back then -- around $275 a quarter. (It's a lot more now!) Out-of-state students paid a much higher tuition. I recall hearing that Occidental was also rather expensive. (My memory may be faulty on that point.)
After two years, Obama went to Columbia University, an Ivy League school in New York. An Oxy professor who wrote a recommendation for him later told a reporter only that Obama sometimes turned assignments in late.
I suspect that something is hidden in this resume -- not necessarily a dark and disturbing something, but something.
Obama may have received an athletic scholarship, which he may now consider an embarrassment. The scholarship may have reflected his race -- another fact he may now prefer not to discuss. He may have fudged his residency in order to receive an in-state tuition -- not an impossible thing to do if you have a relative or close friend living in your "target" area. He may have received more financial help from his grandparents than he now cares to discuss.
I'd also like to know how someone with a less-than-stellar academic record can finish up his undergrad career at Columbia. It is widely reported that Obama came under the wing of the fiercely anti-Russian Zbigniew Brzezinski at Columbia. At Occidental, he may have taken classes with a certain Professor of Politics who had been one of the CIA's chief experts on the Soviet Union. It is not unreasonable to suspect that this professor knew Brzezinski and recommended Obama.
I've noted a couple of odd things about Barack Obama's college days in Los Angeles, as related in this piece in the the Confluence.
Obama spent his teen years in Hawaii, where he was, by all reports, not a standout as a high school student. In 1979, on full scholarship, he transfered to Occidental College, located in Eagle Rock, a suburb of Los Angeles, CA. Aside from playing basketball -- he was a top scorer -- he spent two years eating pizza, getting high, BS-ing with friends and putting off his assignments until the last moment. In short, he was typical.
Why Occidental? It is an admired and respected liberal arts college. But in the 1970s, most ambitious youths in Los Angeles considered Occidental a second choice school, after UCLA or USC. Surely institutions of comparable prestige exist on the Hawaiian islands...? I've seen no indication that he held a job during his college years. A school in Hawaii would have meant lower tuition, which would have left more scholarship money for living expenses.
In his book Dreams From My Father, he says that he went to Occidental “mainly because I’d met a girl from Brentwood while she was vacationing in Hawaii.”
Los Angeles is a massive place. The posh enclave of Brentwood -- within walking distance of UCLA -- is many miles away from Eagle Rock. If UCLA was impossible, Santa Monica Community College is close enough. UCLA was quite cheap for California residents back then -- around $275 a quarter. (It's a lot more now!) Out-of-state students paid a much higher tuition. I recall hearing that Occidental was also rather expensive. (My memory may be faulty on that point.)
After two years, Obama went to Columbia University, an Ivy League school in New York. An Oxy professor who wrote a recommendation for him later told a reporter only that Obama sometimes turned assignments in late.
I suspect that something is hidden in this resume -- not necessarily a dark and disturbing something, but something.
Obama may have received an athletic scholarship, which he may now consider an embarrassment. The scholarship may have reflected his race -- another fact he may now prefer not to discuss. He may have fudged his residency in order to receive an in-state tuition -- not an impossible thing to do if you have a relative or close friend living in your "target" area. He may have received more financial help from his grandparents than he now cares to discuss.
I'd also like to know how someone with a less-than-stellar academic record can finish up his undergrad career at Columbia. It is widely reported that Obama came under the wing of the fiercely anti-Russian Zbigniew Brzezinski at Columbia. At Occidental, he may have taken classes with a certain Professor of Politics who had been one of the CIA's chief experts on the Soviet Union. It is not unreasonable to suspect that this professor knew Brzezinski and recommended Obama.
Well lets see. First, Occidental College was one of the best colleges in California. Girlfriend or not, it would have been a much better choice than any school in Hawaii by a long shot. Second, what's the point? So what if he got an athletic scholarship in to Columbia. Finally, the well must be dry if you're now resorting to this benign narrative without inference. And that's a good thing ... not that Obama is that much different than HRC. Just maybe this blog will return to fine form instead of this compulsive effort to make Obama much more interesting than he is.
When I wrote, I knew that I would receive a comment EXACTLY like yours, from someone who would pretend not to have read my first paragraph. And I also predicted that this response would come from someone who remained bravely, ever-so-bravely, anonymous.
I did read the first paragraph. I also read the last: ". It is widely reported that Obama came under the wing of the fiercely anti-Russian Zbigniew Brzezinski at Columbia. At Occidental, he may have taken classes with a certain Professor of Politics who had been one of the CIA's chief experts on the Soviet Union." Now that sounds simi - "sinister" to me: (Websters) "3: singularly evil or productive of evil" You're only implying the possiblity Obama might took a course from a top CIA expert;or that he didn't; or that he did but went surfing instead of being influenced. In addition, the CIA is not "singularly" anything. So, while failing to embrace "sinister," you did take a half step in that direction. But you did get the "Obama" and "CIA" implication out there. Not 1/2 bad.
PUNAHOU BRAT
Puhanou School (Oahu) is reserved for previliged, pamperboys who wouldn't venture past the parking area on the North Shore for fear of being stomped by surf gangs.
A visit to this (Puhahou) spawning pool for blodclot softboys and chronic bed soiler titty addicts should be all anyone needs to learn about Obambi's "street cred". They are laughing their asses off at Tropical Rush (N.S. surf shop)
This candidacy isn't about becoming an agent of "Change" but getting even for the highschool bathroom wedgies and bitch slapping by the locals for being such a haole jagoff.
Nuke 'em Danno!
<>_<>
Puhanou School (Oahu) is reserved for previliged, pamperboys who wouldn't venture past the parking area on the North Shore for fear of being stomped by surf gangs.
A visit to this (Puhahou) spawning pool for blodclot softboys and chronic bed soiler titty addicts should be all anyone needs to learn about Obambi's "street cred". They are laughing their asses off at Tropical Rush (N.S. surf shop)
This candidacy isn't about becoming an agent of "Change" but getting even for the highschool bathroom wedgies and bitch slapping by the locals for being such a haole jagoff.
Nuke 'em Danno!
<>_<>
Even I am sort of at a loss to understand why these discrepencies in Obama's past are significant, Joseph. Unless you think that perhaps he's going to be left open to charges that he's a socialist.
Didn't say they WERE significant, Jen.
I'm guessing, just guessing, that when the guy's autobiography is properly written, we will have an as-yet-unknown small embarrassment pop up here. Such as: He got a massive scholarship without reporting income he was getting from his grandparents. That sort of thing.
I'm guessing, just guessing, that when the guy's autobiography is properly written, we will have an as-yet-unknown small embarrassment pop up here. Such as: He got a massive scholarship without reporting income he was getting from his grandparents. That sort of thing.
I believe that this subject is very important and should not be taken lightly... who funded Barack with his scholarships and how did he get into Columbia when he was a marginal student... was he picked, pruned and funded long ago by a unknown group for this presidency?
According to Commander Richard C. Boehm of the U.S. Navy, Obama, under the name Barry Soetoro, received financial aid as a foreign student from Indonesia. To qualify, for the escholarship, a student must claim foreign citizenship.
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