The Man Who Got Obama Into Harvard Law School

The Neocon Latina ^ | 10/23/08 | GoingBacktoCali

[DiogenesLaertius]

Errata: Objective* by any means ...

[GoingBacktoCali]

But I note that in the comments somoone claiming to be a Columbia student says that Columbia only gives honors to students who are there at least three years. Do you actually believe that if Obama had good grades at Columbia we would not know about it? I can't count how many times we've heard about Obama having graduated from HLS with honors. But the fact that they even deny that Sutton wrote a letter, that no one else has connected Obama and al-Mansour, and the fact that Obama did not need the purported Saudi financing since he had taken out loans close to the full tuition cost, leaves the story entirely reliant on the memory and veracity of an 87 year old man. Al-Mansour himself essentially confirmed the story by refusing to deny it. Read the account in Newsmax. Granted, Al-Mansour later said he refused to deny the story out of "courtesy" to Sutton, but that makes no sense. If the story were false, then why not simply deny it? And if he was concerned with being "courteous" to Sutton, why did he later explicitly deny it? In any case, there is simply no credible explanation for why a perfectly coherent Percy Sutton would have fabricated the story. The media again is failing to do its job, which is entirely unsurprising. After all, if it weren't for Stanley Kurtz at the National Review, all we'd know is that Obama and Ayers live in the same neighborhood.

[my_pointy_head_is_sharp]

I still say Obama’s been groomed (prepared, educated, trained) from way back. So, in a sense, he IS the chosen one. Who chose him? At this point, we don’t know.

[wideminded]

Law School scores are not objective by any means.

Other posts on here have discussed how grading works at HLS:
1. The grades in law school courses depend entirely on the final exam.
2. When the professors receive the final exams they contain only code numbers in place of identifying names. Grading is anonymous.

I do not think it is plausible that any student could earn consistently good grades in all their courses merely by spouting left-wing propaganda on all their exams.

[wideminded]

Do you actually believe that if Obama had good grades at Columbia we would not know about it?

Obama has no reason to release his transcript as long as he is running against someone who cannot brag about academic success. Perhaps he also doesn't want the titles of his courses to be discussed.

My own expectation would be that he did fairly impressive but not "stellar" work at Columbia. I have no doubt that the admissions committee at HLS looked quite favorably on his community organizing. As an aspiring politician he probably had some good recommendation letters. And it is quite believable that he did well on the LSAT.

Al-Mansour later said he refused to deny the story out of "courtesy" to Sutton, but that makes no sense.

Yes, it does. He didn't want to be in the position of calling an old man who is his friend a senile liar.

Here is the part of the article I linked to in which al-Mansour totally denies the story. If he was lying this could be proven wrong by anyone who could place Obama and al-Mansour together or prove they knew of each other before 2004.:

UPDATE: I spoke to Mansour Thursday evening, who said he'd avoided directly contradicting the story out of respect for Sutton, "a dear friend, his health is not good."

But pressed, he denied all the details of Sutton's story.

"The scenario as it related to me did not happen," he said.

"I’m sure he’s written a letter [to someone else] and he got it confused somehow," he said of Sutton, adding that he'd never asked Sutton to write a letter to any university supporting anyone's admission.

Mansour said he admires Obama, but first heard of him when a relative sent him a copy of Obama's 2004 convention speech.

"I've never met him," he said.

[GoingBacktoCali]

Grading is anonymous in some cases and non-anonymous in others (particularly after first year).

[GoingBacktoCali]

Yes, I am aware of that. As I said, I think it is infinitely more likely that Obama is lying about this (as was the case with Wright and Ayers) than this half-baked, after-the-fact concern about being “courteous” to Sutton. Sutton seemed perfectly coherent in that interview. The idea that Obama is trying to push — that Sutton is in fact senile — requires proof. I haven’t seen any, and moreover, the story makes perfect sense in light of what we know about Obama’s other relationships.

[HighlyOpinionated]

I still say Obama’s been groomed (prepared, educated, trained) from way back. So, in a sense, he IS the chosen one. Who chose him? At this point, we don’t know.

Well, I'll bet it was Frank Marshall Davis if it wasn't his mother's "If I was President, I'd do this'n'that" attitude. Guestimated by her dislike of all things American . . . "they are not my people."

[wideminded]

Sutton seemed perfectly coherent in that interview.

That's true. But I can think of one of my own relatives who, while a paragon of honesty during his life, began to get his stories mixed up in his final years.

The idea that Obama is trying to push — that Sutton is in fact senile — requires proof.

It is common for 87 year-olds to have diminished memory abilities. So it is plausible that Sutton could be mistaken unless there is some additional proof of the Obama-Mansour connection. There is lots of evidence that Obama associated with Wright and Ayers but no other evidence yet that he had anything to do with al-Mansour.

Also you seem to have nothing to say about the fact that the financial aspect of the story definitely doesn't make sense.

[wideminded]

One thing is definitely clear:

Either Sutton is senile or he hates Obama. He claims to be an admirer of Obama. But if that is true then he is too senile to realize that publicly connecting Obama to al-Mansour is not going to help Obama's campaign.

[GoingBacktoCali]

Al-Mansour confirmed that he knows Obama. Read carefully: “In respect to Mr. Obama, I have told him, because so many people are running after him, and when stories get printed they usually get distorted and then he has to spend a lot of time trying to unravel them – and then after the experience of Rev. (Jeremiah) Wright whom I’ve never met, but I’ve followed the media coverage – I was determined that I was never going to be in that situation. I never discuss Barack Obama,” al-Mansour said. The "I have told him" is a clear admission that al-Mansour has spoken with Obama. Also, the idea that al-Mansour will not speak about Obama because he doesn't want to be the new Rev Wright is an additional admission that al-Mansour knows Obama.

[GoingBacktoCali]

What about the financial aspect of the story does not make sense?

[wideminded]

What about the financial aspect of the story does not make sense?

Part of the conspiracy theory about al-Mansour has been that because he is an advisor to Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal, the Saudis must have bankrolled Obama's Harvard education. But Obama is known to have taken out loans totaling $42573 to pay for HLS which must have been close to the full cost at the time.

[Toki]

Damn, my friend was just asking how Obama got into college at Harvard and I just blew her off and said there were more important things about him to worry about. I need to send this to her and apologize and realize that I don’t always catch every single thing.

[GoingBacktoCali]

I am not into “conspiracy theories.” I am simply taking Sutton at his word. Although he says that Al-Mansour was raising money for Obama, he does not say anything about the Saudi government paying for Obama’s Harvard education. It’s not clear why Al-Mansour was raising money for Obama, but it could have been related to anything — including one of the “community organizing” projects.

Here’s the bottom line. Sutton unmistakably said Al-Mansoure asked him to write a letter of recommendation on Obama’s behalf. Al-Mansour confirmed that he does in fact know Obama. Case closed.

[mojitojoe]

Obama did not need the purported Saudi financing since he had taken out loans close to the full tuition cost,
_________________

Defending again, PROVE the loans.