Strengthening Constitutional Self-Government

No Left Turns

I know John Moser is raring to join

Historians for Obama. There’s some background in this article. There are a few claims in the manifesto that are grounded in "historical expertise," especially this one:

As historians, we understand that no single individual, even a president, leads alone or outside a thick web of context. As Abraham Lincoln wrote to a friend during the Civil War, "I claim not to have controlled events, but confess plainly that events have controlled me."

I suppose that I would be a little more impressed, or less unimpressed, if the arguments made on Obama’s behalf displayed some disciplinary specificity or intellectual sophistication. But they’re campaign boilerplate.

I’m a little more impressed by the academic members of this list, in part because I trust that the issues that moved them to give their names to the effort have something to do with their expertise. I recognize, of course, that every campaign could come up with a "Lawyers for" organization, but I think I’d find myself less in sympathy with the legal and constitutional views of, say, Lawrence Tribe, Cass Sunstein, Geoffrey Stone, Jack Balkin, and Edwin Chemerinsky.

Discussions - 4 Comments

My invitation must've gotten lost in the mail.

Intellectuals can be wowed by sweet nothings, just as Iowans can.

Those liberals are just supporting him because his name sounds like Osama. They figure it's the closest they can come to getting an actual terrorist elected.

We'd be glad to have you join us, John. You do need to do something to distance yourself from "Hal Holst" and his cheap shot. If this is what American conservatism has come to, deliver me from it.

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