I have been away from my desk for a few weeks, visiting distant climes,
blissfully unplugged from The News.
I had a ball, but now it is time to get back to work.
I ran across the above Internet meme on a conservative group's facebook page, saved it and then forgot to make note of where I'd found it. Now that I"m ready to write, I can't find it on facebook, but I did find it on the social network site for TeaParty.org, otherwise known as The Tea Party Command Center.
The allegation that the Obamas surrendered their law licenses in order to avoid suspension or prosecution was easy to debunk. A quick Google search yielded several detailed evaluations of this particular urban legend, but what about the website address shown boldly in red? How does it back up the meme's claims?
The link provided took me to the website of the IARDC (Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission of the Supreme Court of Illinois). On the website one can search for a lawyer's status simply by typing in a name. The information given for each of the Obamas is this:
| Full Licensed Name: | Michelle Obama |
| Full Former name(s): | Michelle Lavaughn Robinson |
| Date of Admission as Lawyer by Illinois Supreme Court: | May 12, 1989 |
| Registered Business Address: | Not available online |
| Registered Business Phone: | Not available online |
| Illinois Registration Status: | Voluntarily inactive and not authorized to practice law |
| Malpractice Insurance: (Current as of date of registration; consult attorney for further information) | No malpractice report required as attorney is on inactive status. |
| Public Record of Discipline and Pending Proceedings: | None |
| Full Licensed Name: | Barack Hussein Obama |
| Full Former name(s): | None |
| Date of Admission as Lawyer by Illinois Supreme Court: | December 17, 1991 |
| Registered Business Address: | Not available online |
| Registered Business Phone: | Not available online |
| Illinois Registration Status: | Voluntarily retired and not authorized to practice law |
| Malpractice Insurance: (Current as of date of registration; consult attorney for further information) | In annual registration, attorney reported that he/she does not have malpractice coverage. (Some attorneys, such as judges, government lawyers, and in-house corporate lawyers, may not carry coverage due to the nature of their practice setting.) |
| Public Record of Discipline and Pending Proceedings: | None |
Note that the terminology used in the meme is "voluntarily surrendered" but the terminology used on the IARDC site is "voluntarily inactive" in the case of Michelle Obama and "voluntarily retired" in the case of the President. The site offers no information which supports the charges levied against either lawyer, so I guess the creator of the meme either didn't check it or didn't care based on the assumption that viewers wouldn't check it.
What interests me most is the facebook discussion which accompanied this meme.
There were many comments which pointed out that these allegations were old and had been proven untrue, some even providing links to the Snopes.com information. But those who wanted to believe the meme were unfazed, claiming as common knowledge that Snopes is left-leaning and not to be trusted.
When another comment pointed that FactCheck also debunked the allegations, those who still wanted to believe stated that the Obama administration is so powerful that all media sources are under its influence, made or paid to toe the party line.
On and on the it went, until finally it became clear that the only 'facts' the Obama detractors were willing to accept were those presented in the meme, even though they were undocumented and anonymously reported.
Which only serves to prove the point that for some people, politics is a matter of faith rather than logic.
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