RSS Feed MenuRush Limbaugh charged in a Fox TV interview that Barack Obama’s law review articles were ghost-written for him.
Former White House associate counsel Brad Berenson, who served on the Harvard Law Review with Obama, disputes this allegation.
These charges are not accurate. As a 2L [second year law] student, Barack wrote the same amount as all of his 2L peers, although by policy of the Harvard Law Review, no student writing is signed or attributed to individual authors. As a 3L, it is true that he did not write, but that is because he was the President of the Review. Because the President does so much editing, including of all the major faculty articles, he is not expected to author original pieces himself and almost never does so. I saw Barack hunched over manuscripts editing articles on many a late night at Gannett House. He simply could not have been elected President if he was not regarded by his fellow editors as being among the best legal writers and legal minds in his class.
I should add here that I know Brad well. If he says something is so, it is so. It’s also worth mentioning in this context that Brad is not only one of the most eminent criminal defense lawyers in Washington (Sidley & Austin by the way if you are a client seeking representation), but also a very strong conservative with very little time for the Obama administration’s policies.
One more thing worth adding in this context. As the acknowledgments to the volumes make clear, both of Rush Limbaugh’s own books were ghosted for him, 1992’s The Way Things Ought To Be by John Fund of the Wall Street Journal, and 1993’s See I Told You So by Joseph Farrah, now of World Net Daily.
msmilack // Feb 5, 2010 at 9:39 pm
balconesfault
Your description of O’Reilly closely matches one I heard Stewart make in a different interview where he described O’Reilly (I’m paraphrasing) as an intelligent man wrapped in a bubble of ego. Whatever his exact words were, Stewart’s insight was the same as yours, that O’Reilly’s thin skin makes him explosive which in turn covers up or distracts from what is really good mind. Of course, after calling him the sanest voice at Fox, Stewart adds: “that’s like saying you’re the thinnest person at fat camp”. It is a very, very interesting interview. Definitely watch the unedited version which is more powerful than the one that aired.
It’s available on Fox at:
http://video.foxnews.com/v/4003531/entire-jon-stewart-interview/?playlist_id=86923
If you lack the proper software (Adobe flash), you can find the five parts on u-tube starting at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4WGtg1uXQQ
msmilack // Feb 5, 2010 at 9:41 pm
GoProud
If I said anything that hurt your feelings or offended you, I am genuinely sorry. I can’t seem to say anything right to you, but honestly, it is not my intention that you should feel as you do about my comments. I am really trying to understand your point of view. Take it for what it’s worth. I wish you well.
balconesfault // Feb 5, 2010 at 9:57 pm
Usually the cover would have something like “by Rush Limbaugh with John Fund”, with the “with John Fund” part in smaller print.
Sorry – but no. Who knows if “usually”, but one helluva lot of time the ghost is never acknowledged publicly. Pick up a copy of “Profiles in Courage” some day and look for Ted Sorenson anywhere on the cover.
Jim_M // Feb 6, 2010 at 10:28 am
((yawn))
Limbaugh established YEARS ago that his books were “written” by someone else. He didn’t type a single word. Constructed entirely from recorded commentary.