Althouse: "I think within the first minute I’ll know. ... Just my touch, my feel. That’s what I do."

June 10, 2018

"I think within the first minute I’ll know. ... Just my touch, my feel. That’s what I do."

Trump re Kim Jong-un.

91 comments:

mccullough said...: Sounds like a useful super-power to have like the ability to read other’s minds.

Hopefully better than W’s ability to look into Putin’s eyes and see his soul.; 6/10/18, 12:48 PM
YoungHegelian said...: Well, somebody oughtta tell Lil' Rocket Man right away that you've only got one chance to make a first impression!

I bet no one's ever told him that...; 6/10/18, 12:51 PM
Hagar said...: Not a super-power, but very useful in the property development business.; 6/10/18, 12:52 PM
Seeing Red said...: What McCullough said.; 6/10/18, 12:53 PM
Darkisland said...: Hagar,

I used to think I had that power when I was selling machinery. Sometimes I didnt but most of the time my gut wad more or less correct.

I think any successful salesperson has this superpower to some extent

John Henry; 6/10/18, 12:57 PM
Rob said...: Good: the ability to read others' minds
Better: the ability to cloud men's minds
Best: the ability to induce derangement in the minds of the liberal media; 6/10/18, 1:01 PM
Sal said...: It's fun having Trump as president.; 6/10/18, 1:02 PM
Michael K said...: I agree that he will know how much Kim is wiling to deal.

Past history with the Kims is not a good pattern but Trump is probably a better negotiator than presidents for a long time.; 6/10/18, 1:02 PM
madAsHell said...: The Chinese refused to roll a set of stairs to the front of Obama's Air Force One. So, he exited the rear of the aircraft like a turd.

He didn't have the balls to say "Make ready for take-off!!"; 6/10/18, 1:03 PM
David Begley said...: The MSM will be horribly disappointed if NoKo does a deal with Trump.

But why wouldn’t Kim do a deal? Something like 30% of its tiny GDP is spent on the military. And China was forced to cut them off. Winter is coming and it needs coal and oil.; 6/10/18, 1:04 PM
Earnest Prole said...: I heard this reported on NPR this morning, and the tone was so sneeringly contemptuous I thought they would pee themselves in their excitement to pee on Trump.; 6/10/18, 1:05 PM
Francisco D said...: Let's not fool ourselves.

We are doing a deal with China not North Korea.; 6/10/18, 1:07 PM
Trumpit said...: After the "summit," I fervently hope that Kim isn't so pissed at our barf president that he launches nukes willy-nilly at that ninny Trump's country clubs, and the White House. What did Tillerson do that caused Trump to fire him? What reasons did Trump give for Rex's dismissal, if any? How many country clubs & golf course does Trump own? I counted 18.

https://www.trumpgolf.com/Our-Courses; 6/10/18, 1:12 PM
Ignorance is Bliss said...: Just my touch, my feel. That’s what I do.

So will Kim let Trump grab him by the pussy?; 6/10/18, 1:13 PM
Hagar said...: The Chinese could have sprung for a NKAF-1 paint job on that plane for the occasion.; 6/10/18, 1:19 PM
rhhardin said...: Trump's putting pressure on Kim to act nice, in case he was planning sultry. Because Trump will walk away in that minute, stealing the occasion.

Acting nice makes you nice, is the deeper plan.; 6/10/18, 1:25 PM
Achilles said...: Francisco D said...
Let's not fool ourselves.

We are doing a deal with China not North Korea.

Correct.

Trump is shutting down the Canada/Mexico Chinese trade pipeline it was using to dodge tariffs.

The cronies are squealing.

Kim has one job. To make any deal he can and to bind Trump to it. Possibly even to serve as a back door trade partner like Canada was doing.

North Korea was sold off long ago.

This deal has already been made. China is just clinging to the edge of the cliff. It is impossible to lose a trade war when you have a trade deficit with said country.

The only people who need trade with China right now are the Bush/Obama donors and China.

Americans not so much.

But watch the left clamor for war during the entire summit.; 6/10/18, 1:25 PM
Kevin said...: We can only imagine how Obama would have replied:

President Obama: How will I know? How can anyone truly know? (press swoons) We can be assured that the long arc of moral history does not have a divided Korea or a world with nuclear weapons. We can be comforted that the act of meeting to discuss issues is the first step to resolving them. We can learn from the proverbs that the longest journey begins with a single step. But we must be bold for peace. We must take risks to build trust. We must respect the North Korean people.

And ultimately, we must make whatever moves are open to us.; 6/10/18, 1:26 PM
rhhardin said...: I can read your mind.

You're thinking I can't.; 6/10/18, 1:26 PM
Kevin said...: Kim to Trump upon meeting: Right off the bat I want you to know, I'm keeping the plane.; 6/10/18, 1:26 PM
Kevin said...: Kim responds in song, with apologies to Superman:

Can you read my mind?
Do you know what it is you do to me?
Don't know who you are
Just a friend from another star

Here I am like a kid at a school
Holding hands with a God, I'm a fool
Will you look at me quivering like a little girl shivering?
You can see right through me

Can you read my mind?
Can you picture the things I'm thinking of?
Wondering why you are
All the wonderful things you are

You can fly, you belong to the sky
You and I could belong to each other

If you need a friend, I'm the one to fly to
If you need to be loved
(To be loved)
Here I am, read my mind

Will you look at me quivering
Like a little girl shivering?
You can see right through me

If you need a friend
I'm the one to fly to
If you need to be loved
Here I am, read my mind

Read my mind; 6/10/18, 1:29 PM
Oso Negro said...: This is a much bigger deal for Kim than for Trump. Trump just told the G7 to fuck off. Kim had to borrow Dad's car to get there. I suspect Trump will know in the first minute if it's gonna happen. And Kim gets to think - "Do I wanna deal with Trump? Or General Mattis?"; 6/10/18, 1:30 PM
donald said...: I’m interested in if Kim will speak English.

He knows it from his education abroad. That would tell me a lot.; 6/10/18, 1:32 PM
Sebastian said...: "Hopefully better than W’s ability to look into Putin’s eyes and see his soul."

Agreed. Though, to be fair, I don't think Bush ever told us exactly what he saw.

Anyway, Trump is prepping the battle space, leaving his options open. He has already established that Kim needs the meeting more than he, and shown his own willingness to walk away. As in the trade talks, he is trying to get people to give him what he wants, while giving up as little as possible. You could call it the art of the deal.

(Whether it wil work with the allies is another matter: unlike NYC finance and real estate guys, who just assume everyone is an a**hole, Justin and Angela probably are a little sensitive about Trumpian deal-making. Since Kim is a certified a**hole, chances may be a tad better in Singapore.)

"We'll see what happens," to quote the man.; 6/10/18, 1:33 PM
Mary Beth said...: How many country clubs & golf course does Trump own? I counted 18.

You can count. Good for you. How is this relevant?; 6/10/18, 1:38 PM
madAsHell said...: How many communities did Obama organize??; 6/10/18, 1:46 PM
madAsHell said...: O/T - The former CIA director John Brennan is sure an unusual looking guy......or is that some manifestation of Parkinson's?; 6/10/18, 1:48 PM
The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...: “Well, somebody oughtta tell Lil' Rocket Man right away that you've only got one chance to make a first impression!”

Which is exactly what Trump is doing. It is amazing how Trump doesn’t miss a trick. What looks like braggadocio to the simple-minded always ends up being part of a greater strategy. Which really makes one wonder what kind of epic cornholing he’s setting up for Comey & Co.; 6/10/18, 1:50 PM
Michael K said...: Trump is shutting down the Canada/Mexico Chinese trade pipeline it was using to dodge tariffs.

The cronies are squealing.

And their leftist "trade experts" here.; 6/10/18, 1:50 PM
Trumpit said...: "How many country clubs & golf course does Trump own? I counted 18.

You can count. Good for you. How is this relevant?"

The golf courses and country clubs, along with the White House are initial targets for a nuclear strike by Kim Jong Un. I wouldn't be caught dead at one of those places. Kim acts against his perceived enemies like Trump would. He seeks to destroy them. They are not nice men. They are like Hitler, Mussolini, and Tojo are rolled into one.; 6/10/18, 1:51 PM
dreams said...: Trumpit, LOL.; 6/10/18, 1:53 PM
Michael K said...: Trumpit is almost as annoying as Ritmo. Both empty of sense and logic.; 6/10/18, 1:53 PM
Anonymous said...: He will know he will make a deal, or that he will stick to it?

Those are two different questions. I think Trump needs positive news to keep his crowd cheering. The G-7 didn't look like working with allies and Manafort going to jail next week looks worse.

The only question is if Whitford v Gill or something else will take all the hoped attention of Trump and Kim. It's SC decision day again tomorrow.; 6/10/18, 1:58 PM
Fabi said...: The comment about nuking a country club reveals that Trumpit is hilarious performance art.; 6/10/18, 2:04 PM
The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...: Trumpit is deliberately parodying the Golden Shower Left. I’m surprised some of the conservative commenters try to call him out.; 6/10/18, 2:08 PM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: I hope Trump doens't forget about the hundreds of thousands in prison in NoKO over.... displeasing the family god. and the mass starvation.

Fat F commie Kim eats well.; 6/10/18, 2:18 PM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: My own special wish is for Kim Jung Un to go home the same way Otto Weirmbier did.; 6/10/18, 2:22 PM
Kansas City said...: If you have dealt with guys like Trump, they always say stuff like that and you just take it with a grain of salt. Of course, it is not literally true, but I don't think it causes much of a problem. The discussions proceed. Sometimes, the initial impression is correct and other times it is not, but it is seldom determinative. Probably not a bad thing to say prior to meeting, because it causes concern on the other side.; 6/10/18, 2:37 PM
Comanche Voter said...: Well the Trumpster has already slapped Kim Jong Un a bit--calling the meeting off, then waiting for the beg, and agreeing to have it back on.

The Los Angeles Times had a long front page story praising Kim Jong Un the "statesman" today.
Next thing I know the "style and fashion" editors in the LA Times will be praising his choice in pantsuits. I swear Hillary and Kim shop at the same off price pant suit emporium. She goes for the bright colors, but he stays on the dark gray end of the rack.

But we will say what happens. Kim's dad wanted to organize a face to face meeting with Bill Clinton--and failed. The LA Times hails Kim's achievement in getting a face to face with Donald Trump. I agree that is a step up from meeting with Dennis Rodman.; 6/10/18, 2:40 PM
Sammy Finkelman said...: This abbility to evaluate people - or at least estimate broad probabilities as to where people are coming from - is not unique to Donald Trump. Although I don't know if Donald Trump is trying to make it sound that way.

He probably won't leave after five seconds no matter what he feels.; 6/10/18, 2:44 PM
Michael K said...: Blogger The Cracker Emcee Rampant said...
Trumpit is deliberately parodying the Golden Shower Left. I’m surprised some of the conservative commenters try to call him out.

Maybe but on another thread he sounded crazy. Seriously crazy,; 6/10/18, 2:46 PM
Hagar said...: How many communities did Obama organize??

This is off topic, but I had a thought about that this morning.
Obama's days as a community organizer was long ago and did not amount to much. That is not where Obama came from, but someone saw something in him and arranged for him to be sent to Columbia and Harvard to be groomed for something bigger. I think it was Bill Ayers, son of Tom Ayers, the honcho at Commonwealth Edison and a source of real wealth and power. Obama returned from Harvard and was provided with a teaching appointment at UC and introduced to the Annenberg Foundation as a very presentable and talented young man.
I suspect that in Illinois politics, The Organization in Star Trek terms can be considered as the Cardassian High Command and the Annenberg Foundation as the Obsidian Order.
And that is where Obama came to us from.

So, how is that for a conspiracy theory?; 6/10/18, 2:52 PM
Michael K said...: "So, how is that for a conspiracy theory?"

Not bad but I think ValJar is in there somewhere. Maybe with the MB and some rich Arabs.; 6/10/18, 3:06 PM
narciso said...: the big doorstop of a book, rising son, tried to throw everything but the kitchen sink, but left out many details, like the rezkos larger part, the part of don warden in Obama's earlier life, he basically mau maued the local citigroup office, forcing the way for the subprime deluge, he did little for altgeld gardens, which would have been the alternate choice in the 2016 Olympics,; 6/10/18, 3:06 PM
narciso said...: the Annenberg initiative, did little for the Chicago schools. except provide sinecures for some of ayers sds associates, like mike klonsky,; 6/10/18, 3:08 PM
Yancey Ward said...: "Maybe but on another thread he sounded crazy. Seriously crazy,"

To imitate seriously crazy requires one to sound seriously crazy....right?; 6/10/18, 3:09 PM
narciso said...: now who ended up on the board of citi group, through his tranche of capital, none other than prince talal, why does that familiar, originally the olayan's had the block of shares,; 6/10/18, 3:15 PM
Earnest Prole said...: someone saw something in him and arranged for him to be sent to Columbia and Harvard to be groomed for something bigger

If Obama was their Manchurian candidate they sure didn't get their money's worth.; 6/10/18, 3:17 PM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: Hagar said: Not a super-power, but very useful in the property development business.

Absolutely. Useful in sales, working with the public and anyone who has ever walked into a strange bar where you don't really know anyone.

It only takes a moment to get the temperature of the room. Just a few words to size up your sales prospect. And especially useful in any kind of negotiation.; 6/10/18, 3:21 PM
Hagar said...: I kind of think they did.; 6/10/18, 3:21 PM
Sammy Finkelman said...: We are doing a deal with China not North Korea.

Kim Jong Un traveled to singapore on a Air China 747. It's probably bugged.

OIOn any case he's letting China direct his negotiating tactics or is too frigehtened to not do it.

Before we learned what plane Kim used they were discussing if he even had aplane that could safely travel the distance.; 6/10/18, 3:22 PM
Sammy Finkelman said...: Kim is very treacherous, (he must be) but that can be used to the advantage of the U.S.; 6/10/18, 3:23 PM
Hagar said...: And it was a lot of money. The Obamas' lifestyle following his exit from office seemed a bit on the high side for a mere $60 million or so in prospective book deals.; 6/10/18, 3:26 PM
Sammy Finkelman said...: 2HAGAR Bit nobdoy thought Obama would be president.

Bill Clinton did that.

He was promoted in 2004. Bill Clinton probably expected him to be the perfect sparring partner for Hillary in 2008- he would suck up a lot of votes, but couldn't

And the same thing maybe in 2016, with Donald Trump.; 6/10/18, 3:26 PM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: Just my touch, my feel. That’s what I do.

So will Kim let Trump grab him by the pussy?

Metaphorically.....we sure hope so :-); 6/10/18, 3:27 PM
Sammy Finkelman said...: If Kim is getting his negotiating instructions from China, all that Trump needs to do is to get Kim to act treacherously toward China (which he might do if he thought it would help his self-preservation because Trump would have areason not to try to overthrow him because he's at least promising intellligence on China).; 6/10/18, 3:29 PM
Sammy Finkelman said...: But it all has to be done secretly,. Kim and Trump have to agree on what Trump says, and it somehow has to be kept secret from Chinese espionage.; 6/10/18, 3:30 PM
FullMoon said...: Sounds like a useful super-power to have like the ability to read other’s minds.
Fairly common on the left, they all know what Trump is thinking.; 6/10/18, 3:30 PM
Drago said...: This is similar to knowing within one or two sentences of a LLR Chuck post that he is a MSNBC-swilling Dick Durbin fanboy.

But in a "good" way....; 6/10/18, 3:39 PM
Sammy Finkelman said...: Maybe Trump could start by asking for Kim's help in what China and Cuba did to American diplomats - he could claim to China he wanted to learn how to do it himself.; 6/10/18, 3:44 PM
Bruce Hayden said...: "So, how is that for a conspiracy theory?"

“Not bad but I think ValJar is in there somewhere. Maybe with the MB and some rich Arabs”

Interesting. It looked to me that ValJar was the real driver there, meeting Michelle, hiring her, then getting introduced to her fiancé, and then introducing the two of them to the top tier of the Chicago machine. And, it was ValJar, not Ayers, who had the real power in the Obama White House, and acted there like his alter ego or puppet master. Of course, if they had tried to get Ayers involved in the day to day operation of the govt, given his Weather Underground past, there would have been a firestorm. And Obama couldn’t have gotten away with his claim that he barely knew Ayers and his equally culpable terroris wife.; 6/10/18, 3:51 PM
Hagar said...: I was also thinking that we still know less about Obama than any other past president (or the present one for that matter). Even those I do not know much about, I do know they were longtime party stalwarts or famous generals or otherwise well known to their contemporaries.
But Obama? What did the guy ever do? All of a sudden he was moving up through the political ranks at lightning speed and being greeted as the greatest thing since sliced bread though any actual accomplishments were conspicuously lacking.
Just how was this done? Can it happen again?; 6/10/18, 4:23 PM
mezzrow said...: (sigh) someone has to do it, so here goes:

You-oo-'ve got the magic touch (woo-oo)
It makes me glow so much (oo-woo-oo)
It casts a spell, it rings a bell
The magic touch
Oh-uh-oh when I feel your charm (woo-oo)
It's like a fourth alarm (oo-woo-oo)
You make me thrill so much
You've got the magic touch
If I go reeling, uh-oh
I'm feeling the glow (uh-oh)
But where can I go from you
I didn't know too much (woo-oo)
And then I felt your touch (oo-woo-oo)
And now I've learned I can return
The magic touch
If I go reeling, uh-oh
I'm feeling the glow (uh-oh)
But where can I go from you
I didn't know too much (woo-oo)
And then I felt your touch (oo-woo-oo)
And now I've learned I can return
The magic touch
(Do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-dooooo); 6/10/18, 4:32 PM
traditionalguy said...: China loses the plausable deniability that the NORK H-bomb Attack was actually sent by the Norks. Trump told them that trick would not work with him. So Xi gave it up. Trump and Xi made that deal 6 months ago. That is why Kim will
Go along or Trump will know in a few minutes that he is a Trudeau type.; 6/10/18, 4:37 PM
Unknown said...: The key skill in negotiating is putting yourself in the other guy's shoes. Why is he at the table?

Consider timing.

For Kim, his family's goal of building a nuclear missile was achieved - all that sacrifice would earn them power to dominate through The Big Threat. So Kim fired PR missiles about blowing up LA.

Rather than receive concessions and respect, Trump laughed at him - said His Button Was Bigger. Trump also got the Chinese to "send him a message" and clamped down on him with sanctions.

His dream is a nightmare!

Kim's smart enough to ask "how to I make the most of my big moment?"

As far as technical knowledge

Business, and politics, is people.

Boning up on "history" does not help with this negotiation any more than mock debates helped Trump win the presidency.; 6/10/18, 4:49 PM
Unknown said...: > But Obama? What did the guy ever do? All of a sudden he was moving up through the political ranks at lightning speed and being greeted as the greatest thing since sliced bread though any actual accomplishments were conspicuously lacking.

He was President of the Harvard Law Review!

That merits Master of the Universe status: better than 1000 trial wins.; 6/10/18, 4:51 PM
Hagar said...: And just how did he become President of the Harvard Law Review?
Another puzzlement.; 6/10/18, 5:15 PM
Etienne said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 6/10/18, 5:24 PM
Larry J said...: Trump has been dealing with union leaders, crime bosses, and other Democrats his entire career. This isn't his first rodeo.; 6/10/18, 5:54 PM
Comanche Voter said...: President of the Harvard Law Review? Meh---it was a political position at a time when the previous rigid academic qualifications for membership on the Law Review had been relaxed--particularly for affirmative action students. Law Review membership is, or at least was, respected as some indication of academic achievement. Folks working on the review normally had to produce some legal note or comment of publishable quality. If Obama ever did that, his effort got spiked.

Obama is a fellow who marches to his own drummer; but people who are editors of the Harvard Law Review or Presidents of the Harvard Law review usually go on to Supreme Court or Circuit Court clerkships, followed by a stint in a big white shoe law firm or on some law school faculty. Obama did not do any of those things. Was he marching to his own drummer--or were the folks who were in a position to offer such things able to smell a mediocre poseur?

Sometimes bluff and bull dust is not enough.; 6/10/18, 6:21 PM
Bilwick said...: I'm hoping Trump performs "I'm So Ronery" from TEAM AMERICA.; 6/10/18, 6:46 PM
Hagar said...: Obama was groomed for politics, not the law.; 6/10/18, 7:03 PM
Jim at said...: Trumpit is almost as annoying as Ritmo.

Not even close. Trumpit shits in small, stupid doses.
Ritmo craps all over the entire blog. Repeatedly.; 6/10/18, 7:03 PM
Amadeus 48 said...: Trump is so full of baloney, it's wonderful. He is entertaining EVERY SINGLE DAY! He jerks around the news media, our allies, our enemies, his staff, Congress, the NFL, Lebron, Steph, Comey, Mueller, the National Review, and the little old lady down the street who is sure she is a good woman, and he is a bad man. How many times have we seen someone swing a huge haymaker at Trump and end up hitting themselves in the mouth? He has adopted a conservative (up to a point) agenda with minimum squealing from the Dems and the media (same thing) because they have been so fascinated with nonsense.

This all may catch up with him at some point, but will he care? Will he know?

Trump is the ultimate expression of where we have been ever since Reagan left the White House. The arc of history has bent toward Trump.

All you kids out there should watch and learn. Wise up. The reaction to Clinton, Bush, and Obama led in a straight line to Trump. You can't separate the reward and the effort. No one wins who just shows up. As Ayn Rand said, A equals A.; 6/10/18, 7:17 PM
Amadeus 48 said...: "Obama is a fellow who marches to his own drummer; but people who are editors of the Harvard Law Review or Presidents of the Harvard Law review usually go on to Supreme Court or Circuit Court clerkships, followed by a stint in a big white shoe law firm or on some law school faculty. Obama did not do any of those things. Was he marching to his own drummer--or were the folks who were in a position to offer such things able to smell a mediocre poseur?"

David Garrow's book on Obama (Rising Star) is really good on this stuff. President of the Law Review was a political position, but Obama also was highly regarded at HLS. He got good grades and finished Magna Cum Laude. His BS factor was huge, but law school is about spotting issues and coming up with thoughtful, thorough, and creative analyses. He did very well at school. Obama is smart and worked hard at law school. It's just that none of his great ideas work in the real world.; 6/10/18, 7:32 PM
Hagar said...: When Obama returned from Harvard, the University of Chicago was told to hire him as a lecturer and Michelle was given a "job" at a non-profit, which can pretty much do what they want with their money as long as they do not issue stock and pay dividends, paying $117,500'yr., iirc. Then when they ran him for the US Senate and he won, Michelle was given a raise of $200,000/yr, so that they could live in a style befitting an Illinois Senator. Being now flush, Obama also went looking for a house to buy in Chicago, and what do you know, Tony Rezko appeared, ready with a shady real estate deal, as is SOP for the Chicago Organization with rising young politicians. Obama fell for it, but the resulting scandal was quickly snuffed out, never to be mentioned in public again, and Tony Rezko was prosecuted and sent to jail on other charges as a warning to the Organization not to try that again with this particular recruit.; 6/10/18, 8:11 PM
Curious George said...: "Trumpit said...
How many country clubs & golf course does Trump own? I counted 18."

Had to take your shoes off, eh?; 6/10/18, 8:19 PM
Amadeus 48 said...: Hagar--the U of C Law School was eager to hire Obama as a lecturer and at one pint discussed his going on the tenure track, which BHO declined. Michelle initially had a job at a big law firm, but left (to work for the city) because she felt unfulfilled doing corporate IP law. She later went to work at the U of C hospital, and as you say, got a huge raise when BHO got elected to the Senate. To put that in perspective, a prior Chicagoan went to DC to join the adminstration of a GOP president, and his wife is rumored to have gotten an immediate 150%, $300,000 raise and a transfer to her law firm's DC office.

It isn't pretty, but it is what these institutions do in this town so heavily committed to public service (graft).; 6/10/18, 8:33 PM
Amadeus 48 said...: That should be one point, not one pint. I must have had one pint too many.; 6/10/18, 8:37 PM
Hagar said...: The story someone who was there posted (on this blog?) was that the dean at UC Law put Obama's application on top of the pile with the others, but a couple of days later got a phone call informing him he had misunderstood the situation; Obama was to be hired and to such and such a salary.

Anyway, with Obama's entire career I think the point is that he did not build that; someone else did.; 6/10/18, 8:55 PM
narciso said...: Actually its a collection of many scraps of paper. Garrow gathered over 10 years. But it doesnt add up to a coherent whole; 6/10/18, 9:00 PM
Amadeus 48 said...: Charlie Payne, who was a senior librarian at the university library, is BHO's uncle on his mother's side of the family. He told Douglas Baird, who was then dean of the U of C Law School, that his nephew was the president of the Harvard Law Review. Doug told Charlie to have BHO give him a call, which he did. Because of BHO's credentials, Doug was very interested in having BHO join the law school on some basis. They worked out the lecturer arrangement for BHO to teach a Fourteenth Amendment and civil rights course, which he did for a number of years, even when he was in the Illinois Senate. There was nothing fishy about BHO's initial affiliation with the law school or any subsequent relationship. BHO did not want to join the tenure track or be a clinical professor, so he wasn't the typical law school faculty lounge denizen.

I got the story above straight from Doug Baird. David Garrow covers the same ground in his book.; 6/10/18, 9:09 PM
narciso said...: But he wasnt teaching law. He was teaching alynski power relationships and derrick bells cracked parables.; 6/10/18, 9:13 PM
Amadeus 48 said...: Garrow's book is a door stopper at 1,000 pages. He did better reporting on BHO than anyone in the media, because he actually went and talked to people. It doesn't cover BHO's presidency, but is a detailed review of how he got there. His conclusion is damning: to become electorally successful, Obama had to engage in an epic act of self-creation as an African-American (which his childhood in Hawaii and Indonesia in a white family did not prepare him for at all). That effort was so all-consuming that Obama is hollow inside. The last sentence of the book: "...it is easy to forget who you once were if you have never really known who you are."; 6/10/18, 9:23 PM
Amadeus 48 said...: narciso--I have a lot of questions about Obama, but I believe that he taught a legitimate Fourteenth Amendment/Civil Rights course for many years at Chicago, at the same time he was at the Davis Miner law firm and serving in the state senate.; 6/10/18, 9:34 PM
narciso said...: Did you read the sylabbi from the july 2008 jodi cantor piece?; 6/10/18, 10:01 PM
Gahrie said...: But Obama? What did the guy ever do?

Ghost write a couple of books.

All of a sudden he was moving up through the political ranks at lightning speed and being greeted as the greatest thing since sliced bread though any actual accomplishments were conspicuously lacking.
Just how was this done? Can it happen again?

Kamala Harris certainly hopes so.; 6/10/18, 11:37 PM
gadfly said...: @Michael K said...
I agree that he will know how much Kim is wiling to deal.

Past history with the Kims is not a good pattern but Trump is probably a better negotiator than presidents for a long time.

Unless an NBA fan is acting as translator and Dennis Rodman joins the discussion, there is no common grounds and no common language or culture for either Kim or Trump to even begin a discussion.

If Trump pulls a take-back agreement maneuver and insults all parties as he did in Quebec City, Trump will back on Air Force One very quickly or he may be dead. We know that Kim kills people but come to think about, so does Trump's buddy, Vlad Putin.

As for Trump negotiating skills - read "He Pretty Much Gave In To Whatever They Asked For"; 6/10/18, 11:50 PM
Michael McNeil said...: Richard Fernandez, a.k.a. Wretchard the Cat, on The Rocket Man and the Dotard. Read the whole thing.; 6/11/18, 1:02 AM
Rusty said...: gadfly said...
@Michael K said...
"I agree that he will know how much Kim is wiling to deal.

Past history with the Kims is not a good pattern but Trump is probably a better negotiator than presidents for a long time.

Unless an NBA fan is acting as translator and Dennis Rodman joins the discussion, there is no common grounds and no common language or culture for either Kim or Trump to even begin a discussion.

If Trump pulls a take-back agreement maneuver and insults all parties as he did in Quebec City, Trump will back on Air Force One very quickly or he may be dead. We know that Kim kills people but come to think about, so does Trump's buddy, Vlad Putin.

As for Trump negotiating skills - read "He Pretty Much Gave In To Whatever They Asked For""

And yet. Here's Kim. Out of his comfort zone on a borrowed plane to talk to the scary president.

If Kim is Xi's puppet how come pyonyang isn't as wealthy as the other large cities in China? How come China keeps returning escapees?; 6/11/18, 5:44 AM
pokerone said...: Without researching the facts, did Amadeus48 say that Obama had graduated Summa Cum Laude, from Harvard Law, quoting some lefty biographer as the source? What? Is Harvard graduating everyone with that status and is there a locksmith in Cambridge pumping out Phi Beta Kappa keys for everyone?; 6/11/18, 11:17 AM