In Law School, Obama Co-Wrote A Paper Referring To Trump As The American Dream
- 7 years ago
When Barack Obama was in Harvard Law School, he once alluded to businessman Donald Trump as representing the American Dream.
When Barack Obama was in Harvard Law School, he once alluded to businessman Donald Trump as representing the American Dream, but the tone wasn’t entirely positive.
According to the new book, “Rising Star: The Making of Barack Obama,” the reference was in a paper the then-29-year-old had co-written with Robert Fisher titled, “Race and Rights Rhetoric.”
The excerpt reads, “[Americans have] a continuing normative commitment to the ideals of individual freedom and mobility, values that extend far beyond the issue of race in the American mind. The depth of this commitment may be summarily dismissed as the unfounded optimism of the average American—I may not be Donald Trump now, but just you wait; if I don't make it, my children will.”
According to a Vice report, “The paper argued that black Americans should ‘shift away from rights rhetoric and towards the language of opportunity.’ The way they saw it, ‘Precisely because America is a racist society…we cannot realistically expect white America to make special concessions towards blacks over the long haul.’”
While Obama has maintained a relatively low profile since leaving office, he has been speaking out in defense of some of his signature policies which face uncertain futures under the Trump White House.
The former president was in Milan, Italy this week when he spoke out in favor of the Paris climate agreement and his administration’s effort to fight climate change, reports CNN.
Days before that, he was in Boston prodding lawmakers to uphold his healthcare law.
When Barack Obama was in Harvard Law School, he once alluded to businessman Donald Trump as representing the American Dream, but the tone wasn’t entirely positive.
According to the new book, “Rising Star: The Making of Barack Obama,” the reference was in a paper the then-29-year-old had co-written with Robert Fisher titled, “Race and Rights Rhetoric.”
The excerpt reads, “[Americans have] a continuing normative commitment to the ideals of individual freedom and mobility, values that extend far beyond the issue of race in the American mind. The depth of this commitment may be summarily dismissed as the unfounded optimism of the average American—I may not be Donald Trump now, but just you wait; if I don't make it, my children will.”
According to a Vice report, “The paper argued that black Americans should ‘shift away from rights rhetoric and towards the language of opportunity.’ The way they saw it, ‘Precisely because America is a racist society…we cannot realistically expect white America to make special concessions towards blacks over the long haul.’”
While Obama has maintained a relatively low profile since leaving office, he has been speaking out in defense of some of his signature policies which face uncertain futures under the Trump White House.
The former president was in Milan, Italy this week when he spoke out in favor of the Paris climate agreement and his administration’s effort to fight climate change, reports CNN.
Days before that, he was in Boston prodding lawmakers to uphold his healthcare law.