You seem to have studied his background a lot more than I have. My estimate of him is solely based on his being a Bushie; however, so was Clarence Thomas. I’m willing to be enlightened.
What I found interesting was that he began serving as the U.S. Attorney General in an acting capacity in August 1991 when he was only 41 years old, and he has been working in the private sector for the last 25 years after he left the AG post when Clinton was inaugurated in January 1993. It's remarkable that someone would still be considered a viable candidate for such a high-profile post 25 years after he last served in it.
Years ago, I was on the phone a few times with Mr. Barr when he was general counsel for a big company where I worked. He is a very, very smart fellow. And he didn’t talk down to engineers but treated us respectfully while quickly grasping technical information.