WASHINGTON — Barack Obama's entry into politics came on a winter morning at the white-columned Harvard Law Review building when, about 2 a.m., a deeply divided editorial staff chose him as the first African American to lead the prestigious publication.
It was no small accomplishment. Obama, who at nearly 30 was older and more world-wise than most of his classmates, had to navigate among sharply drawn factions of conservatives and liberals to beat 18 other candidates for the job.
Today, Obama's weighing of a bid for the White House has provoked questions about whether he has the experience to build a winning coalition of voters. But at Harvard Law Review he showed that -- on a much smaller scale -- he had the savvy to maneuver through turbulent political waters.
"The Harvard Law Review was a place of petty and vicious internal politics," said Brad Berenson, an editorial board member with Obama and, more recently, an associate counsel to President Bush.
"Compared to Washington and the White House and the Supreme Court, the Harvard Law Review was much more politically vicious," Berenson said. "The conservatives threw their support to Obama because he could bridge the gap between both camps and retain the trust and confidence of both."
Whether Obama can reprise his role as political bridge-builder remains to be seen. Now a Democratic U.S. senator from Illinois, he plans to announce a decision Feb. 10 about the 2008 campaign -- though most observers believe that he is in the race.
The son of a racially mixed marriage, Obama did not present himself at Harvard as either a black candidate or a white candidate. He gained the respect of the law review's famously divided factions by listening to all sides.
Former staffer Michael Froman, now a corporate executive who has supported Democratic presidential candidates, agreed that when Obama led the law review in 1990 and 1991, much of the staff's right wing "felt comfortable" with Obama, even those in the conservative Federalist Society.
"It's funny," Froman said, "but it's the same thing I hear now from some conservative friends of mine -- not that they agree with him on policy, but that they feel he hears them out. Unlike some of the firebrands on both the left and the right, he was just a very good listener."
Interviews with more than a dozen people associated with the law review, both liberals and conservatives, found no one who did not profess respect for Obama.
