David Hoffman at Concurring Opinions ponders why so many law professors (particularly those of us who blog) assume that they (we?) have the ability to offer interesting and worthwhile political commentary. Among other things, he thinks law professor bloggers have drawn “the wrong lesson from their students’ willingness to write down every word they say.” He adds:
Not everything a professor says is interesting. When 40, 60, 100, or more students laugh at your jokes, I guess it becomes easy to forget. Generally, people add value by writing and talking about things they know something about. . . . Most law professors have no personal experience with the innards of a modern political campaign (serving as an consultant on a committee about a substantive legal issue isn’t the same at all). We aren’t well positioned to know what commercial will appeal to lower-middle-class voters, or what song will inspire youth turnout. But we’ve blogged about it anyway.