Bad Résumé? No Rehire.
Rehire? No.
By now, you’ve all seen Joel Pollack’s & Ben Shapiro’s reports on Breitbart.com that Barack Obama’s former literary agency, Acton and Dystel, stated that he was born in Kenya in promotional materials they published between 1991 and 2007. What, you haven’t read those reports? Go ahead and check them out. We’ll wait.
Now Miriam Goderich, of the same agency, tells Political Wire that the claim that the President was born in Kenya was her own error…an error Acton and Dystel let slide for sixteen years.
Masters Degree in English from Columbia. Huh.
Assuming Goderich is telling the truth, and accepting her confession of error as fact, what does that mean?
1. Acton and Dystel do not review and correct their promotional materials, which should concern any writer they represent.
2. The author in question, Barack Obama, did not review promotional materials about himself. He either didn’t care or thought that a Kenyan birth might make him more appealing, until he considered a run for the presidency during his stint as senator.
3. The author in question, Barack Obama, purposefully told his literary agent that he was born in Kenya to make his background seem more exotic, and Goderich didn’t check that because, well, why would she? Maybe a Kenyan birth claim had given young Barack Obama several advantages, like Elizabeth Warren’s Cherokee-ishness. One wonders if this claim was used to get into good schools, and what Obama’s transcripts might say.
At the very least, this sixteen year error represents great carelessness on the part of one or both parties. At the worst, it represents willful misrepresentation of an American citizen in order to market a product. It ceased to be a sexy selling point when it would conflict with the job requirements for Leader of the Free World.
In either case, would you hire somebody who’s resume was so poorly edited?
About KJ Adan
KJ Adan writes, seethes, and laughs in Los Angeles. Follow her on twitter: @thekelliejane
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