Would You Hire Barack Obama?
barnett, dean
Would You Hire Barack Obama? The r?sum? of a chronic underachiever. BY DEAN BARNETT For over a decade I worked as a headhunter specialized in placing lawyers. I’ve often wondered what I...
...He said his partner Jud Miner “spent months convincing him it was a better place to work” and that Davis, Miner offered a “superior lifestyle...
...On the side, he continued lecturing at the University of Chicago Law School, and his autobiographical Dreams From My Father came out in 1995...
...After roughly three years practicing law, he had turned away from that career...
...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...
...You’d reluctantly have to conclude that Obama’s failure to commit himself to any career suffi ciently to excel at it suggests some unexplained restlessness...
...Obama graduated magna cum laude, near the top of the class...
...This is high praise, and refl ects Galland’s genuine regard for his erstwhile associate...
...After winning that race, he became a part-timer at Davis, Miner and a member of the Illinois senate, also a part-time job, while continuing to lecture at Chicago...
...circa 2004, as he began his U.S...
...today, part of you would really want to hire him...
...He wrote one book, then stopped writing for over a decade...
...He didn’t begin a fulltime job until 1993...
...if it had come across my desk...
...As a former legal headhunter, I am interested in Obama’s law fi rm work...
...By 1996, Obama was also running for the Illinois legislature...
...In 1993, Obama went to work for the small Chicago law fi rm of Davis, Miner, Barnhill and Galland...
...Initial sales of the book were poor, though they would take off years later, once Obama became a national fi gure...
...Between 1993 and 1996, Obama was a full-time associate at Davis, Miner...
...Shortly after becoming a senator, Obama began writing his second book, and shortly after that he began running for president...
...And he was less than a force in the Illinois legislature...
...It’s when Obama leaves law school in 1991 that his r?sum...
...But you’d still have the cold, hard facts of his r?sum...
...Senate campaign, then, is that 13 years out of law school, he had yet to commit himself to one line of work...
...Obama never made it beyond lecturer at Chicago, where he wrote no scholarly articles...
...When I asked about Obama, Galland raved...
...I’ve often wondered what I would have made of Barack Obama’s r?sum...
...I asked Galland how his relatively tiny fi rm managed to get a guy with Barack Obama’s multitude of options to choose them back in 1993 over the better paying big boys...
...Being editor in chief of the Harvard Law Review is an even greater one...
...His accomplishments in the Senate have been virtually nonexistent...
...And that’s exactly how it worked out for Obama’s constituents in Illinois...
...So if you’d hired Barack Obama at the end of 2004, let’s say to be a United States senator, you would have been on notice: You were getting a wonderfully gifted individual, but one with a history of failing to focus for long on the task at hand...
...The feeling would only intensify after an interview process, in which Obama would certainly shine...
...I’d start off being impressed—very impressed...
...This is a real achievement...
...Even 17 years after graduating from Harvard Law School, Obama’s work there remains his greatest strength...
...What is striking about Obama’s r?sum...
...Dean Barnett is a staff writer at THE WEEKLY STANDARD...
...Last week, I spoke with George Galland of Davis, Miner—now known as Miner, Barnhill and Galland...
...Galland added, “Barack could have been as good a lawyer as he wanted to be...
...The net effect is this: His accomplishments haven’t been commensurate with his talents...
...More important, potential employers would wonder about a gulf between the ability Obama showed at Harvard and his actual accomplishments...
...His enthusiasm was unqualified...
...starts raising questions...
...In the legal industry, almost regardless of a candidate’s seniority, the first thing anyone looks at is the candidate’s education...
...He could have gotten a job with any major law fi rm in America...
...staring you in the face...
...BY DEAN BARNETT For over a decade I worked as a headhunter specialized in placing lawyers...
...A lot of people in the legal industry, rightly or wrongly, would infer a certain softness from Obama’s chosen path...
...His belated selection of a boutique law firm that offered lower pay but a better lifestyle than the top fi rms is striking...
...Looking at Barack Obama’s r?sum...
...At the same time, the pattern is familiar: Obama did fi ne work for Davis, Miner, but his vast potential remained untapped...
...Talent like his is rare...
Vol. 13 • August 2008 • No. 47
