All I ever needed to know about how smart Obama is comes from a friend of my wife’s who was in law school with him. The friend didn’t read the books for administrative law, didn’t go to class. He borrowed Barack’s notes from the class. He got an A. Obama could capture the essence of the teaching and get it down. Didn’t miss anything important. Probably good penmanship too!
One of the great things about Obama is that No one is saying he’s an affirmative action baby. There’s just not a question. The asterisk that hung over so many second-raters in big jobs–Clarence Thomas–is gone. I hope that this will change American culture, move us out of the affirmative action period. I’ve always been very pro-affirmative action, but part of the reason I was is that I always regarded it as transitional. Obama may prove that point.
And when he’s president (aren’t we past If now?), imagine what that will do for minority hiring! It will be a boon to black employment in executive position. Foreign countries will hire black representatives with the idea that they will command Obama’s attention. So will local communities. NFL franchises and energy companies will all want to show that they’re down with the program. Affirmative action will give way to a kind of patronage. Like the Irish political machines of the early 20th century, Obama’s rise will include his community in American society in a whole new way. And blackness will never be the same…
