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A Guess about the Obama Presidency

By Jack M. Balkin

Brian commented on the Calabresi WSJ piece and I noted a post by Maimon Schwarzchild on The Right Coast re the substance of an Obama "leftist" presidency. But now that the networks have called it for Obama, I will hazard a guess that his presidency may be noted more for the process by which decisions are made rather than how many of his campaign promises are fulfilled. Despite some press attention to Obama at HLS and as part-time Chicago conlawprof, there has been too little consideration of how Obama's training as a rather deliberative lawyer/lawprof, interested in seeing all sides of an issue, might influence his style as president. For one thing, following lawyerly instincts is one way of coping with being suddenly cast into the unfamiliar role of an executive. Obama will run a disciplined WH operation (the contrast with Clinton in this respect will be sharp) with an emphasis on rational consideration of all policy options (as opposed to trusting the gut), respect for scientific evidence where appropriate, and, of course, a deep knowledge of constitutional values. These process values might be seen as characteristic of the Obama presidency about a year from now.

Full post as published by Balkinization on November 04, 2008 (boomark / email).

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