With the birther issue finally put to rest, Donald Trump has now turned to Obama's intellectual abilities: "I heard he was a terrible student." That rumor -- probably based on Obama's comment in his memoir that he was not always an academic star -- made Trump wonder how President Obama got into Columbia University and Harvard University Law School.
Trump claims that Obama's earlier school grades, particularly at Occidental College prior to transferring to Columbia University, were lackluster and did not merit admission to Ivy League schools, hinting that Obama received special favor. Once again Trump is demanding proof -- this time he wants to inspect Obama's school transcripts. Should we be concerned? I think not.
The broader question is how meaningful or predictive is early academic performance. While there is generally a high correlation between early academic success with later academic performance and success in some aspects of life, there are notable exceptions. And these should make us wary of statistical analyses that apply to large groups but tell us little about individual cases. That's why it's better to evaluate the merits of present performance than to look at the past. Certainly, in Obama's case, regardless of what his early records show, his achievements in higher education and in political office testify to his superior intellect. You don't graduate magna cum laude or become editor of the Harvard Law Review because you're a nice guy.
At the moment we have only Obama's statements, in his own writings, about what sort of student he was. We do know that he attended a high-ranking elite private school in Hawaii, where the demands on students were considerable. But even if he was not at the top of his class, it's important to recognize that many students who do poorly early on excel later, often making significant contributions. Should we demonize them and Obama for their early school standings?
Well, what does history have to say?
Let's begin with Sir Isaac Newton, one of the greatest scientists in the history of the world. Much of modern life runs on Newton's discoveries. Yet Newton did so poorly in grade school that his teachers held little hope that he would improve his grades. One school report even called him "idle and inattentive." Then there's Albert Einstein, a scientific genius, equal to Newton. Einstein's grade school performance was so bad that one of his teachers thought he was mentally retarded and advised him to quit school, adding that he would never amount to anything. Inventor Thomas Edison, who gave us the light bulb and other inventions (1,093 patents) that ushered in the 20th century, was called dull by a grade school teacher who believed that Edison had no ability to learn. Pablo Picasso was dyslexic and a poor student who had great difficulty with reading. One report said that "dyslexia made school difficult and he never really benefited from his education." However, Picasso's early school difficulties could not forecast the immense impact he would have on modern art. Winston Churchill, a Nobel Prize winner and two term Prime Minister of England struggled in school and actually failed sixth grade. A current example, Richard Branson, one of today's great entrepreneurs, also had dyslexia and exhibited poor academic performance. Branson later capitalized on other innate talents that have catapulted him to the stratosphere of business success and wealth. The list goes on.
What can we learn from all this? Mr. Obama: Don't show us your school transcripts. Whether outstanding or not they don't matter. Let's focus on the now!
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I understand you want to bolster the president's standing.But,making arguments including Newton and Einstein as 'late achievers is so inane it's embarrassing for me to read it. That you're not embarrassed to write it is your affair. The President's intellect seems oversold.That's not a terrible thing-even for him At this point in his life,achievement is more important than his LSAT For his sake, I hope his LSAT"s don't find the light of day.
And,perhaps the greatest example of poor early performance reversing is Mac Arthur's.From a poor hs student he transitioned to the top 1-3 students in West Point history. (Source:American Caesar.One of the other top 3 was RE Lee.don't know who the 3rd was.)
(Still Dulles never clamed to be pinned down by a deadly hail of Cong fire at Bosnia or wherever.)
Still , I do wonder at the initial (years ago) flurry of oohing about the Pres and his intellect.My feeling is (and may God help us if this is true) Biden may be the SMART one.
"I can't pretend that I had any idea then that he would be a serious presidential candidate _ that would have been a crazy thing for anyone to project at that stage of a career _ but he was certainly the most all-around impressive student I had seen in decades," said Laurence Tribe, a constitutional scholar at Harvard for whom Obama served as a research assistant."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/26/AR2007012600970.html
And what have your former professors at Wharton have to say about your no doubt vaunted academic career, Mr. Trump?
I'm sometimes impatient with the level of intellect or analysis shown here,but for a minority student to receive an appointed academic honor isn't impressive.One can balance Lawrence Tribe's comments with the U of C faculty member who called him the 'least impressive intellectually and least curious member of the faculty.This isn't really evidence either way.And ,it's not really pertinent,is it? If the President's performance improves,he'll be re elected.There is still a resrvoir of good will for him. If it doesn't improve,he won't be.
Simple question - with a simple answer.
No,... and why is this relevant?
Maybe some of them will feel better if they can create a conspiracy theory that he's actually 100% white.
I don't recall the President boasting of his academics at any time.Let's talk of important thngs.
And I don't think there's much Mr. Trump won't stoop to.
Remember what Trump said about President Obama's birth certificate, right before it was released:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/26/donald-trump-obama-birth-_n_853782.html
"The Obama campaign has refused to release his college transcript, despite an academic career that led him to Harvard Law School and, later, to a lecturing position at the University of Chicago," the Sun reported in September 2008. "The shroud surrounding his experience at Columbia contrasts with that of other major party nominees since 2000, all whom have eventually released information about their college performance or seen it leaked to the public."
When the newspaper inquired, the Obama campaign did not offer an explanation for why the transcript had not been released.
According to the New York Sun, a program from Columbia's 1983 commencement ceremony lists Obama as a graduate. University spokesman Brian Connolly confirmed that Obama graduated with a major in political science but without honors. Nonetheless, he was later admitted to Harvard Law School.
HE DID NOT.......duhhh
I'll bet you anything that most of these anti-Obama types, are more interested in these trivia's, than in the fact of there being over 900 bills, proposed and/or passed, that are religious based and anti-women in nature. They have been so immersed in all of these things, that they have ignored the tactics of the republican's, in both houses, to stonewall and impede everything that the Democrates have tried to do.
I believe that they are not voting FOR the republicans, but AGAINST Obama. They vote against their own best interests, because they have been led, by the nose, to believe that Obama is a greater threat to America, than the present day right-wing agenda.