“Nowhere but in America would my story be possible.”
Both Barack and Michelle Obama have taken the liberty to use this phrase, in interviews and in their speeches. In actuality, it is the same for all of us, for this country offers more opportunities than perhaps any other nation.
Michelle Obama’s childhood home in Chicago: a few silver spoons, she would quip!
Michelle Obama does have that “American fabric” story, as a descendant of slaves from the Civil War era, she is the daughter of two hard working Black Americans who raised their son and daughter during the tumultous civil rights movement era. Her father worked and struggled, even when he was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. She once remarked that they had “silver spoons” – one for each of them– which was obviously a comment meant to stress that she and Barack had come from simple roots.
Both Michelle and her brother, Craig (now the Head Basketball Coach at the University of Oregon) went on from high school. Michelle Robinson attended Princeton, and then law school at Harvard. Michelle took the Bar exam in Illinois, and while she did not pass it the first time, she did pass the Bar exam and got her license from the State of Illinois.
Craig Robinson and his little sister, Michelle Obama
A check of the State of Illinois Bar Association website shows no bar license for “Michelle Robinson” or “Michelle Obama”. It has been reported that Michelle Obama “voluntarily” gave up her law license in 1993, just five years after she got the license.
Why would a black woman who worked at a prestigious law firm in Chicago, who had graduated from one of the most prestigious law schools in the country, and who had endured the grueling task of sitting for the bar exam TWICE, then voluntarily give up her law license?
Many who have been admitted to the Bar go on to pursue other careers, but because of the process to get the law license, they usually maintain it in good standing. Barack Obama has placed his law license into “inactive” status since his campaign began.
While it has no bearing on Barack Obama, per se, it makes one very curious as to why this educated woman “voluntarily” gave up her law license!!
Just saw your blog about Michelle and today I saw another about Obama
Obama has no Law License
http://clintondems.com/2008/10/obama-has-no-law-license/
Obama relinquished his Illinois law license in early 2007.
Why would Obama give up something that provided his primary source of income
and something he spent so much time and energy obtaining?
Interesting article at Citizen Wells site this morning…
http://citizenwells.wordpress.com/
Maybe McCain should find a way to ask this question at the next debate! McCain should have a list of questions to try to insert into the debate on Oct 7th! The moderators won’t ask, the media won’t ask, and the people around this country NEED to know before it’s too late!
As we get closer and closer to the presidential elections. How much does the candidates spouses play in your vote? I think that they play an important part. You see them out campaigning for their spouse. Whether it be Cindy McCain or Michelle Obama. I think it is the ultimate stand by your man. I like both women and I think that they serve a big part in the presidential elections and which ever candidate wins they will serve a big part as first lady. If you are not sure what to think about Michelle Obama for example check out a http://www.kiisfm.com/pages/obama/obama.html to hear an exclusive interview with the possible next first lady.
Okay, I had a brilliant idea. What if we all write the Presidents of Columbia University, Occidental and Harvard and ask them to check their files to see if Obama applied as a “Kenyan” citizen? I already emailed President Bollinger of Columbia to say “if he is a true patriot, and cares about America, he should look at Obama’s file and divulge what he knows”. His email address is: officeofthepresident@columbia.edu
I ENCOURAGE EVERYONE TO GET AN EMAIL OUT TO THESE THREE COLLEGES IN THE NEXT 24 HOURS, DEMANDING THAT THEY VIEW OBAMA’S FILE TO SEE WHAT HIS CITIZENSHIP IS. I stated that if they found he put any other citizenship, other than American on the application, he has a legal and moral obligation to let the proper authorities in the US government know.
TinaMarie: Thank you for the link. Whoever is the First Lady is just as important as the President and Vice President. She will be our visible ambassador at many global functions. More importantly, she has the ears and mind of the President when it really matters- as he makes decisions searching his soul.
As for Michelle, I believe that she epitomizes the anger that should not exist in the black community towards whites. Both she and her husband received financial aid at the same time that I did, but as minorities they were granted more. NO, I am not a racist. I do not begrudge them, but the system that permits it in the first place.
I can guess that Michelle’s values regarding the stable family life for her girls will change on Nov. 5th if Obama happens to win. After all, when he did his brief stint of real work in the Senate before starting his campaign, he commuted to Chicago because Michelle did not want the girls’ lives and sense of community disrupted.
check michelle obama on http://www.uglyfirstlady.com
Barack Obama is an American citizen, born in the great state of Hawaii. Hawaii is a state in the United States of America. If you want to ask about someone’s birthplace, ask McCain who was born in the Panama Canal Zone, from a Mississippi plantation owning family. If Obama had been the 3rd generation of naval academy officers and graduated 5th from the bottom of his class, we would never have heard the end of it. — If Michelle Obama, like Mrs. McCain had been addicted to drugs, and married Barack 30 days after divorce from an ill wife, and had a teenage daughter, highschool dropout, pregnant out of wedlock, etc. we would never have heard the end of that either. Black people generally have to be better and above reproach. — Michelle Obama is an inspiration to gifted black women everywhere. The Obama’s as (most successful, thinking blacks who have a healthy sense of self, often considered a fault to those in the majority community) are tough yet smooth. — Obama – Biden ‘08
D. Spencer: Perhaps you are correct that Sen. Obama was born in Hawaii. But that does not change the fact that under the laws of citizenship in the US during the 60’s & 70’s, and the laws of Indonesia at the same time, Stanley Ann Dunham and Barack Obama Jr. became citizens of Indonesia when she married and moved to Indonesia. Even if Mrs. Soetoro’s citizenship remained intact, based upon Indonesian law, Obama became Soetoro’s legal son, and thus a citizen of Indonesia.
It is apparent that this is true, because he would have needed an Indonesian passport to travel to Pakistan in his college years.
I have no problem with the Obama’s being successful black Americans. That is the American dream. Which makes it all the more peculiar that Mrs. Obama gave up her law license so quickly.
I am also tired of the McCain first wife story being so distorted. Mrs. Carol McCain would be the first to say that there marriage was over. She had been seriously injured in a car accident and he had spent 5 years being tortured as a POW. Check the statistics at the Defense Dept. on the likelihood of their marriage surviving too long after his return.
As far as the Palin family situation goes, the only reason that it was even released when it was was because the media was attempting to claim that Palin’s infant son was actually the daughter’s child, in a viscious internet smear campaign. Perhaps if that had not occurred, the attacks on the “unwed” scenario may have been greater.
An inspiration to black women everywhere? Why? Because she is an angry racist? Because she still thinks she is owed something for her family’s slave roots? I think Maya Angelou is an inspiration. The late Congresswomen Stephanie Tubbs is an inspiration. Shirley Chisholm is an inspiration. Michelle Obama is not.
If Obama is so tough, he should put up or shut up: stop stalling the Berg discovery and show what is necessary; reveal the full extent of the Ayers ties and membership in the Socialist party. If we are to think this candidate is the true inspirational leader that his oratories proclaim, without substance, then be so great to be open and honest.
Here´s the bottom line on Obamas Law License:
Obama’s license is “inactive” – that means that he still HAS a law license. He is just not using it. Many, if not most states have an “inactive” status. People use it when they are not actively practicing because then they don’t have to pay bar dues, go to continuing education classes, etc. A license can be reactivated when/if the attorney chooses to return to practice. You may or may not be required to take continuing education classes to do so. There is nothing nefarious about it. If he gave up his license, he would not be inactive, he would not be listed in the bar rolls at all.
And discipline that results in a suspension or disbarment is almost always public. The purpose of attorney discipline is to protect the public. Making discipline public fosters that goal. In most jurisdictions, you cannot exchange your law license to avoid discipline. It is still reported, and still public. It is often called “disbarment by consent” but it is still public discipline.
Many people like myself have law degrees but have absolutely no need for a law license. Still others, like Michelle Obama, go into a line of work where a license and insurance are not necessary. I have seen nothing that leads me to believe that she was suspended or disbarred. The Illinois bar website by LAW has to list it if it did happen.
Barack had made his license inactive, and I’m sure there are many reasons, such as CLE’s etc, for why he made it inactive.
Regarding Michelle’s license, knowing the effort involved in achieving that Bar admission, it seems so odd that she surrendered it a mere 5 years after getting it; going into a job that didn’t require it did not mean she’d NEVER have a need for it again.
The Bar by LAW must report suspensions or disbarments– I agree– except we are talking Chicago politics and Obama! Expect the unexpected.
Craig Robinson is basketball coach at Oregon State University, not University of Oregon.
“It was due to insurance fraud. Apparently those who are defending her do not realize she was given the choice of voluntarily giving up her license or face disbarrment after the insurance fraud trial.
She took the easy way out because she knew she was guilty.”
CC: You are the first to offer even the slightest possibility of an answer. May I ask where you were able to get the information?