This is the Endley
I have to limit this to a few quick thoughts, but here they are:
a) Edley is the kind of administrator who gets to the nitty gritty, plans the details, and then executes. Current Boalties have not had the pleasure of seeing the law school before the DE era (and for females, this is a very good thing). DE doesn't have patience for slow moving gradual change. As a prime example, he moved at light speed (by UC standards) to gain approval for the Boalt-Haas joint building. He also moved at light speed to change the culture among Boalt alumni regarding giving.
b) Edley has been a core member of the Obama campaign since the very inception (and I'd wager even before). When you invest that much time and effort into such a fierce competition, you don't just walk away as the victor. Ever.
c) Combining A and B, it's increasingly clear that DE will have some role in an Obama Administration and that he does not have the patience to be on the judiciary. Don't get me wrong, he'd make a great, if not excellent, jurist. But he doesn't have the patience to wait for cases with standing to come before him. Whether he'll be the White House counsel or an advisor of some sort, I don't know. I would also peg him to be the AAG for the Civil Rights Division of DOJ.
d) If he goes to the White House, nothing contradicts any of his public statements. See, e.g., the e-mail to the Chron linked to by Sara in the previous thread. He is not "seeking" to go back to Washington. But he will be asked to go and he will not turn down such an opportunity. I also cannot emphasize how much the delay of the Boalt-Haas building curtailed his ambitions. Nearly all the plans for Boalt's expansion and growth as a powerhouse revolved around the new building. Now they are all dashed for the foreseeable future.
***
e) Unrelatedly, once again, others have beaten me to the punch in thinking that Marty Lederman is the ideal candidate to head the OLC. Marty's point by point criticisms of the legal arguments contained in various OLC memoranda, including the torture memos, make him particularly suitable following the current administration.
f) Foreigners flying American flags. Reminds me of the outpouring of goodwill following 9/11. Whatever happened to that?
g) Oh and my idea for Prop 8R (and in line with the comments of Laura in another thread) is the following language: "Marriages between any two individuals are recognized and valid in California. Nothing in this constitution shall be construed to require any religion to marry anyone contrary to its practices." The wording is clumsy, but that can be polished. Point is, clarify that gays can marry, and churches/temples/mosques/etc. don't have to marry anyone who does not meet their religion's standards. That would peel off enough votes, imho.
a) Edley is the kind of administrator who gets to the nitty gritty, plans the details, and then executes. Current Boalties have not had the pleasure of seeing the law school before the DE era (and for females, this is a very good thing). DE doesn't have patience for slow moving gradual change. As a prime example, he moved at light speed (by UC standards) to gain approval for the Boalt-Haas joint building. He also moved at light speed to change the culture among Boalt alumni regarding giving.
b) Edley has been a core member of the Obama campaign since the very inception (and I'd wager even before). When you invest that much time and effort into such a fierce competition, you don't just walk away as the victor. Ever.
c) Combining A and B, it's increasingly clear that DE will have some role in an Obama Administration and that he does not have the patience to be on the judiciary. Don't get me wrong, he'd make a great, if not excellent, jurist. But he doesn't have the patience to wait for cases with standing to come before him. Whether he'll be the White House counsel or an advisor of some sort, I don't know. I would also peg him to be the AAG for the Civil Rights Division of DOJ.
d) If he goes to the White House, nothing contradicts any of his public statements. See, e.g., the e-mail to the Chron linked to by Sara in the previous thread. He is not "seeking" to go back to Washington. But he will be asked to go and he will not turn down such an opportunity. I also cannot emphasize how much the delay of the Boalt-Haas building curtailed his ambitions. Nearly all the plans for Boalt's expansion and growth as a powerhouse revolved around the new building. Now they are all dashed for the foreseeable future.
***
e) Unrelatedly, once again, others have beaten me to the punch in thinking that Marty Lederman is the ideal candidate to head the OLC. Marty's point by point criticisms of the legal arguments contained in various OLC memoranda, including the torture memos, make him particularly suitable following the current administration.
f) Foreigners flying American flags. Reminds me of the outpouring of goodwill following 9/11. Whatever happened to that?
g) Oh and my idea for Prop 8R (and in line with the comments of Laura in another thread) is the following language: "Marriages between any two individuals are recognized and valid in California. Nothing in this constitution shall be construed to require any religion to marry anyone contrary to its practices." The wording is clumsy, but that can be polished. Point is, clarify that gays can marry, and churches/temples/mosques/etc. don't have to marry anyone who does not meet their religion's standards. That would peel off enough votes, imho.
posted by Armen Adzhemyan at 10:49 AM
19 Comments:
I concur. Good for Edley, bad for Boalt. Anybody remember the resistible rise of this dude? Shudder:
http://www.law.berkeley.edu/php-programs/faculty/facultyProfile.php?facID=33
a) I agree that DE's disavowals are as credible as presidential primary opponents who say they would not want to be VP. Everyone always has the excuse "The President asked me to serve my country..."
b) I admit you have an awfully good point on the joint Boalt-Haas building.
c) I just don't think DE has the kind of experience to be Counsel. Obviously he would be ideal in a civil rights position.
d) DE is over 55 years old. If he goes to Washington he will probably lose his position at UCB (I don't think they would have an interim Dean for several years). I don't think he would give that up unless it was a senior position. But time will tell; I have been wrong before.
e) Re: Prop. 8R. Why only two individuals? Actually, your proposed initiative doesn't seem to prevent someone who is currently married from adding a (separate) spouse. Also, I notice that you are also forgoing the prohibition on incest.
Assuming DE does go to Washington. Who would replace him?
DE gets a cabinet post: Education.
DE very clearly stated to students that he would not go Washington. Armen, you missed that because he said it at a town hall meeting after you had, y'know, graduated or something.
a professor told me today that at a recent faculty meeting - i think as recent as in, say, yesterday? - edley intimated that his chance of going to washington was "0%."
i have faith.
This is an excerpt of what he sent to faculty and staff earlier this year:
Dear Colleagues:
Paralleling the pace of the presidential campaign, the frequency of questions — or innuendos — I hear about my career plans is climbing. I write to share my thinking.
...
What about, uh, external developments? Force majeure? People don’t quite believe me when I explain that I have no Potomac Fever. I had richly satisfying tours of duty on the Carter and Clinton White House staffs, and have had entirely too much experience in national politics. I dislike political campaigns, and have been drawn into a limited role in the Obama campaign purely by the accident of being his friend and former teacher.
To the point: If Obama is elected, I will not seek a position. I have already told him so and chatted with him about how I might be helpful without leaving Berkeley. (I believe it is implausible, though not logically impossible, that he would try to draft me for something.)
I have fallen completely and totally in love with Berkeley and Boalt. Just no other way to say it. I imagine finishing out my career here. I look forward to life on the faculty teaching, writing, the Warren Institute, sailing. We love our house, our colleagues, our friends; the weather’s not bad, and the earthquakes no longer give me nightmares.
And, like the faculty and staff, all the students are above average.
-----
Christopher Edley, Jr.
Dean and Orrick Professor of Law
Boalt Hall, U.C. Berkeley
..."all the students are above average."
Hardly a ringing endorsement.
How can everybody be above average? At least one person has to be below average, don't they? Isn't that a rule?
6:45: It's a reference to A Praire Home Companion. Garrison Keillor's fictional Lake Wobegon was a town where "all the women are strong, all the men are good looking, and all the children are above average."
Building on 4:15's comments...I've also heard about the same comments at the faculty meeting.
Unlike the prior email extolling the virtues of Berkeley, the explanation this time had more to do with more mundane "inside-the-beltway" political reasons.
Maybe Edley has some skeletons in his closet that prevent him from entering the public eye.
Per the San Francisco Chronicle:
"[Edley] said by e-mail Wednesday he had no comment on speculation about an appointment, but he told The Chronicle editorial board recently that he had no desire to return to Washington, where he served Presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton in various capacities. Still, he is a part of the transition team for Obama and told the editorial board he has not ruled out the possibility of serving in an Obama administration."
Armen, do you think up my ideas before me?
Yes, Laura. He does.
And what's freakier still is that about 50% of the time, the two of us are thinking the same thought.
We've got our eye(s) on you.
Pat, that's a bit too creepy, stalkerish. Though not nearly as creepy, stalkerish as this
or this?
Ha ha, the police . . . that's probably excusable. But TJ, I don't even want to know how you knew to look for that.
Um, never mind. I just read the title, and I'm shaking my fist.
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