On Hannity & Colmes, Rove falsely claimed Obama was not a professor
Published
On Fox News' Hannity & Colmes, Fox News analyst Karl Rove said he had a “list of exaggerations” by Sen. Barack Obama. As one purported example, Rove said that Obama claimed, " 'I was a law school professor,' " before adding: “No, you were an instructor.” But Obama was in fact a professor at the University of Chicago Law School.
During the March 31 edition of Fox News' Hannity & Colmes, Fox News political analyst Karl Rove purported to cite a “list of exaggerations” by Sen. Barack Obama. Referring to Obama, Rove stated: " 'I was a law school professor.' No, you were an instructor." But, in fact, Obama -- who had the title “Senior Lecturer in Law” between 1996 and 2004 -- was listed under “Professors” on the University of Chicago Law School's faculty page at least as far back as August 24, 2000, according to the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine. By contrast, those designated as “Lecturers in Law,” which Obama was between 1992 and 1996, are listed separately.
Moreover, the school recently issued the following statement:
From 1992 until his election to the U.S. Senate in 2004, Barack Obama served as a professor in the Law School. He was a Lecturer from 1992 to 1996. He was a Senior Lecturer from 1996 to 2004, during which time he taught three courses per year. Senior Lecturers are considered to be members of the Law School faculty and are regarded as professors, although not full-time or tenure-track. The title of Senior Lecturer is distinct from the title of Lecturer, which signifies adjunct status. Like Obama, each of the Law School's Senior Lecturers has high-demand careers in politics or public service, which prevent full-time teaching. Several times during his 12 years as a professor in the Law School, Obama was invited to join the faculty in a full-time tenure-track position, but he declined.
From the March 31 edition of Fox News' Hannity & Colmes:
ROVE: I think he's [Obama's] got some real flaws. And I -- you know, I think we saw it. You know, look, the Bosnia thing was terribly damaging to her [Sen. Hillary Clinton], but think about the list of exaggerations we have for him: His, you know, “My parents got together at the Selma march and I came along as a result of it.” No, you were born four years before the Selma march.
SEAN HANNITY (co-host): Yeah.
ROVE: We saw this week when he said -- a new one was unveiled this week -- he's been for, in that same Selma speech, he said, “My father came to the United States because of the generosity of the Kennedy family.” Turns out the Kennedys funded the program that his father participated in after his father came here.
You know, “I'm a law school -- I was a law school professor.” No, you were an instructor.