[Psudo]

In March of 1983, while attending Columbia University, a young Barack Obama wrote an essay for the school paper entitled "Breaking the War Mentality". A pdf of it is available online.

It largely consists of quotes and summaries of the views of campus anti-nuke and anti-military spokesmen. The writing sounds a lot like his present style to me, though in the role of journalist he sounds a little more detached and aloof than in the role of active politician. Human Rights Magazine said young Obama was blaming the USA for the Cold War stresses of the time, but the impression I got was of a student whose only thought of activism was local activism. It's not that the Soviet Union was blameless, but that he couldn't imagine taking his own activism to a foreign locale. I do agree with their description of the article as "a wholesale endorsement of all sorts of leftist claptrap fashionable at the time."

[JJ]

I am quite impressed at what a talented journalist and writer Obama was at that age. As someone who used to edit student newspapers, it reflects quite poorly on a lot of the student journalism I've been exposed to.

[BartSimpson]

Now if we can only get the rest of his 'scholarly' works released.

[Mr_Canada]

May I ask why it is important to read his homework? Is this going to solve something? Are you looking for something to oppose? Why don't you call up his Kindergarten teacher and ask if Obama was nice to others?

[commanderkai]

Mr_Canada wrote:

May I ask why it is important to read his homework? Is this going to solve something? Are you looking for something to oppose? Why don't you call up his Kindergarten teacher and ask if Obama was nice to others?

Background. Obama was basically an unknown in politics before 2008. He quickly moved up the political ladder to become President, while, (and I remember saying this back then) we really had no idea what kind of person he was, politically. University essays certainly can highlight political beliefs in ways rhetoric and political speeches can't.

[bootlegga]

commanderkai wrote:

Mr_Canada wrote:

May I ask why it is important to read his homework? Is this going to solve something? Are you looking for something to oppose? Why don't you call up his Kindergarten teacher and ask if Obama was nice to others?

Background. Obama was basically an unknown in politics before 2008. He quickly moved up the political ladder to become President, while, (and I remember saying this back then) we really had no idea what kind of person he was, politically. University essays certainly can highlight political beliefs in ways rhetoric and political speeches can't.

That's not necessarily true. Essay topics are usually handed out by editors/professors and students are usually expected to write a 'certain' way to make sure to get it published/get a good grade, so it is might be less reflective of Obama than it really appears.

Here's my own example. I wrote at the UofA newspaper (the Gateway) when I was a student, and an author quoted one of my book reviews to make me sound like rabid anti-American, when in reality I was being totally facetious. Often things I wrote were never published, because the editor told me 'it didn't match with the tone of the Gateway'.

If you want unbiased material to judge Obama on, you need to find briefs he wrote for businesses or political groups (like Harper's NCC papers). That, IMHO, gives a far better indication of his true beliefs than some articles written by a fresh-faced kid in college for a free newspaper with a circulation of a few thousand (usually).

[commanderkai]

bootlegga wrote:

That's not necessarily true. Essay topics are usually handed out by editors/professors and students are usually expected to write a 'certain' way to make sure to get it published/get a good grade, so it is might be less reflective of Obama than it really appears.

True, I certainly have done this as well, but, at least in my case, if you are forced to write a certain way, it usually lacks the passion of it being your own words. At least, that's my experience. It depends on what exactly the paper was about, and what class it was.

[Ombrageux]

Excellent article from the budding Obama. Much better than his speeches! It is extremely lucid although also simultaneously wrong and right on the specifics of the time: the European peace movements and the Germans Greens would be marginalized, the Pershing II nuclear missiles would be installed, but Reagan would soon look for engagement with the Soviets... and find Gorbachev. (This, by the way, enraged the American Conservative intelligentsia at the time, who in its usual hysterical fashion saw Reagan as ceding to a new Neville Chamberlainism.)

Incidentally JJ, your post on Colbert/the ad documentary was very good.

[JJ]

Thanks! Someday people will be able to comment on those blog posts directly...

[Psudo]

Mr_Canada wrote:

May I ask why it is important to read his homework? Is this going to solve something? Are you looking for something to oppose? Why don't you call up his Kindergarten teacher and ask if Obama was nice to others?

It's not homework, it's student journalism. It wasn't a class assignment, but an extracurricular activity that shows his interest in political activity at a relatively early age. Frankly, the greatest effect I've noticed from the article is to endear him to me; we have political interest from our youth in common.

[Quantum_Wizard]

commanderkai wrote:

Background. Obama was basically an unknown in politics before 2008. He quickly moved up the political ladder to become President, while, (and I remember saying this back then) we really had no idea what kind of person he was, politically. University essays certainly can highlight political beliefs in ways rhetoric and political speeches can't.

One should still remember that this was long ago and people change. The general impression is that many people tend to become somewhat less idealistic when they grow older.

[KorbenDeck]

JJ wrote:

I am quite impressed at what a talented journalist and writer Obama was at that age. As someone who used to edit student newspapers, it reflects quite poorly on a lot of the student journalism I've been exposed to.

Because back then student didn't have spelling and grammar checking programs, so you had to get it right yourself

[commanderkai]

Quantum_Wizard wrote:

One should still remember that this was long ago and people change. The general impression is that many people tend to become somewhat less idealistic when they grow older.

Another true statement. But, once again, he's already president, and no matter what people might say, he was an unknown before 2008, and people voted for him based on what their views of hope and change were, and not actual political debate. It provides insight, I think, and yes, he might have moderated himself over time (though, I'd say that his essay/article/whatever was pretty extreme), the problem is, this is my first glimpse of his actual progress as a political individual in relation to his ideology, and not his office.

[CommanderSock]

BartSimpson wrote:

Now if we can only get the rest of his 'scholarly' works released.

It will strengthen his liberal base.

Based on his journalistic article, not bad at all.

[Rhoffman]

BartSimpson wrote:

Now if we can only get the rest of his 'scholarly' works released.

Because Obama writing something potentially embarrassing in his twenties is worthwhile political discourse today, but Dubya snorting coke in his twenties is old news?

Long story short, unless someone committed murder or rape, who really cares what someone did two or three decades ago?