It’s a line we’ve been hearing ever since he launched his campaign.
There’s some writing in The Weekly Standard I feel compelled to waste my time yakking about. They are really starting to grasp at straws here. An article by Dean Barnett titled “Would You Hire Barack Obama?” calls him a “chronic underachiever” and dismisses almost everything he’s done:
It’s when Obama leaves law school in 1991 that his résumé starts raising questions. He didn’t begin a full-time job until 1993. Between 1991 and 1993, Obama divided his time between lecturing at the University of Chicago Law School, writing a book, and returning to his pre-law school activity, community organizing.
With childish hobbies such as University lectures, community organizing and penning an autobiography, there’s only one word to describe Obama’s refusal to get a 9 to 5: lazy.
What is striking about Obama’s résumé circa 2004, as he began his U.S. Senate campaign, then, is that 13 years out of law school, he had yet to commit himself to one line of work. More important, potential employers would wonder about a gulf between the ability Obama showed at Harvard and his actual accomplishments. Obama never made it beyond lecturer at Chicago, where he wrote no scholarly articles. He wrote one book, then stopped writing for over a decade.
Outrage! I demand a Tom Clancy level of output from Obama. Who does he think he is–JD Salinger?!
Bill Kristol, born into wealth, privilege and politics, doesn’t think Obama has accomplished much. He writes:
Here is Obama’s résumé: an Ivy League law degree, a few years of community organizing, seven years in the Illinois senate, three and a half years as a U.S. senator. Kind of modest.
Modest? What does Bill think of the rest of us? Of course, Bill finds George W. Bush to be a great President. Bush was a failed businessman and a drunk until he was pushing 40. Modest indeed.
