Obama's Harvard law professor says 'President MUST be defeated in 2012' (even though he's the man Barack used to have on speed dial)

Roberto Unger, 65, is respected author and Brazilian politician
Taught Obama about 'reinventing democracy' at Harvard Law School
Professor was an adviser during the 2008 election campaign

PUBLISHED: 17:17 EST, 17 June 2012 | UPDATED: 07:06 EST, 18 June 2012

A former professor of Barack Obama has turned against his one-time student and publicly urged voters not to re-elect him.

Roberto Unger posted a video on YouTube detailing the reasons why he believes the President does not deserve a second term in the White House.

Mr Unger, a prominent Brazilian politician and an adviser to Obama in 2008, said: 'President Obama must be defeated in the coming election. He has failed to advance the progressive cause in the United States.'

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Scathing: Obama's former professor Roberto Unger said that he had 'failed' the United States and should not be re-elected

The 65-year-old academic was in frequent contact with Mr Obama on his Blackberry throughout the last election campaign but has since decided that he no longer agreed with the President's decisions.

His list of complaints against the President is a long one in the video entitled 'Beyond Obama'.

The esteemed philosopher is scathing of Mr Obama's plans to salvage America's ailing economy, saying that his policy solely consists of 'financial confidence and food stamps'.

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He adds: 'He has spent trillions of dollars to rescue the moneyed interests and left workers and homeowners to their own devices.'

The politician admits that if Republican candidate Mitt Romney wins the election 'there will be a cost... in judicial and administrative appointments'.

However his most barbed remarks he reserves for the Democrat leader saying that Mr Obama has 'evoked a politics of handholding, but no one changes the world without a struggle'.

Delete! The President regularly talked to Unger during his 2008 campaign... this is no longer likely to be the case

Taking a shot: Roberto Unger criticised President Obama after being a long time supporter

His summary of the past four years is equally scathing: 'Give the bond markets what they want, bail out the reckless so long as they are also rich, use fiscal and monetary stimulus to make up for the absence of any consequential broadening of economic and educational opportunity, sweeten the pill of disempowerment with a touch of tax fairness, even though the effect of any such tax reform is sure to be modest.'

Making enemies: Obama has lost a respected adviser Roberto Unger

Most of Mr Unger's comments seem to be politically to the left of Mr Obama, but he insists that the Republicans would be no more destructive than the Democrats as 'the risk of military adventurism' would remain the same.

And some would doubtless strike a chord with the President's GOP opponents, including the academic's attacks on Mr Obama's efforts to reform healthcare.

Mr Unger argues: 'He has subordinated the broadening of economic and educational opportunity to the important but secondary issue of access to health care in the mistaken belief that he would be spared a fight.'

He also suggests that, despite their fierce rivalry, the Democrats' agenda is little different to that of the Republicans, saying the party aims 'to put a human face on the programme of its adversaries'.

The professor concludes his video by saying: 'Only a political reversal can allow the voice of democratic prophecy to speak once again in American life.'

Mr Unger is a renowned politician in his native Brazil. He has twice has run for president of Brazil and has served as Minister of Strategic Affairs.

Unger was one of the founding members of the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party and drafted its founding manifesto.

He has also advised on politics throughout Latin America.

Model student: Obama was taught by Unger when he attended Harvard Law School in 1988

The professor is a respected author having published dozens of books on economics, philosophy and politics.

In philosophy, his arguments are said to focus on some the greatest problems of the human existence.

The video, which was posted three weeks ago, has been viewed 22,000 times.

Mr Unger has taught at Harvard Law since 1976.

Obama studied jurisprudence and reinventing democracy with the professor.

The President attended Harvard Law School in 1988 and was selected as an editor of the Harvard Law Review at the end of his first year.

Last week Obama announced that young immigrants who were brought into the U.S. illegally will no longer be deported.

The Obama administration said the policy change announced on Friday will affect as many as 800,000 qualified immigrants who have lived in fear of deportation.

The President also came in for sharp criticism last week after he combined fundraising events with an official event - and charged the bill to the taxpayer.

Obama raised a total of $4.5million at the fundraisers, one at Sex and the City actress Sarah Jessica Parker's house and the other at the five-star Plaza Hotel.

However, the President's re-election campaign will not have to pay the full cost of his jaunt to the Big Apple, because he scheduled a short visit to the World Trade Center site.

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Let's rock it 'til the wheels fall off.

- chiro, USA, 19/6/2012 04:49

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it is decadence, usa, here in brazil this man is a joke. now i understand why economy in the brics is doing far better than in decadent america. it is because lula was smart enough to pretend people like unger had any real influence in brazilian politics, for he has none. and, ideed, he is barely a public face. the average brazilian, the man in the streets, scarcely know about unger. rondonia, the brazilian state he is advising - and is mentioned in the story - is a backwater unity in the federation with no real weight in brazilian economy. in fact economically rondonia is 22º among 26 states and accounts for less than 1% of our gdp.

- ivo c, fortaleza, brazil, 19/6/2012 04:06

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We are going to do our best to rid our selves of this menace. It is not because we want someone more progressive We will hopefully move back closer to what we were. We were a much happeier country when the European communist were calling us names. I'd rather go back to that. Yes, I like to work hard & earn money. If you don't it isn't my fault. Nearly all people save those with genetic health problems, have made a choice to be what & where they are. You can be anything you want in this country. If you study hard & have ambition you can do anything. If you are told continually you are a victim & you believe it I guess you will be stifled. But we don't want to be part of a one world scheme. We also do not buy the "man made" global warming garbage. Yes the earth may be warming but it's not cow farts or my sporty car. It's called nature.

- Texan, Tulsa, USA, 19/6/2012 02:41

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No wonder Brazil is such a mess. Unger is a "professor" at Harvard? Only at Hahvahd could a Brazilian communist become a law professor. "Obama studied jurisprudence and reinventing democracy with the professor"....when anyone says they are going to "reinvent" something...run as fast as you can...look at the mess Obama has made.

- AngryBruin, Portland, Maine USA, 19/6/2012 02:19

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Obama's going down.

- Blair Colquhoun, Franconia, NH USA, 19/6/2012 02:12

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Obama is a wolf in sheep's clothing. He's now trying to give the impression that he's centrist; however, he's a socialist radical to the core. If elected to a second term, he will have nothing to loose and will attempt to unleash his socialist agenda with abandon. He must be defeated, but I'm not sure Romney can do it. Really, I don't see where we voters have much of a selection.

- Pete, Virginia, USA, 19/6/2012 01:38

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Ronald Raegan was handed double digit unemployment, home mortgage rate, inflation, a Middle East crises, and gas shortages and NOT once did he mention his predecessor or blame anyone for what he 'inherted' because Raegan (and The Iron Lady) were leaders - Moses O'Brien, St louIs Missouri USA, 18/6/2012 22:57#### It's Reagan, and Carter handed over an unemployment rate under 8%. It was the policies of Reagan that saw it rise to over 10% in 1982 and 1983. Carter also handed over a deficit that had grown $288bn, Reagan was adding that, on average, every 20 months. Reagan couldn't blame Carter on these because the results were poorer. Thatcher record on debt was exactly the same as Reagan, as in poor, being responsible for 55% of all UK historical debt by 1990 isn't the sign of a leader, a con artist maybe. The US debt was pass $12 tn before his Obama first budget but the GOP have sought to blame him for debt added by Reagan and the Bushes which you brought into.

- Not In My Name, London, 19/6/2012 00:27

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It's most likely that this is just a desparate campaign ploy to boost the image of Obama as a more responsible and competent adult than he is, or I should say "isn't". This guy is smart enough, like the good "Rev Wright" to know that his kind are an anathema to rational folks, and thus it's best for Obama if he pretends to doubt Obama's leftist liberal credentials - the guy who has just pulled off a "bloodless coup" usurping the Constitution to pander to his adoring illegals.

- Honest John, Dallas, TX USA, 18/6/2012 23:01

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Ronald Raegan was handed double digit unemployment, home mortgage rate, inflation, a Middle East crises, and gas shortages and NOT once did he mention his predecessor or blame anyone for what he 'inherted' because Raegan (and The Iron Lady) were leaders not cry baby Marxist man-child's like Obama. And the fact that Europeans don't seem to get it is absolutely stunning. I could go down the list if 'conservatives' ringing the warning bell from the subprime mortgage market to personal responsibility but the loser liberal brain dead lemmings will argue the opposite given reality, history, and the facts.

- Moses O'Brien, St louIs Missouri USA, 18/6/2012 22:57

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David 'dim wit' from Cambridge to qoute Ronald Reagan the problem with you my dear (boneheaded) friend is you know so much that isn't so. State if Wisonsin liberals and democrats made it a total mess and within two years after getting conservative republican legislature and govornor they balanced budget, lowered taxes, and now unemployment rate below the national average. Results and action speaks and your blow hard class warfare socialist baloney walks. Idiot liberals tried to recall him... Why because he was doing a good job?... And list by nine points. Nuff said about that... Now grab your liberal Obama loving shovel and di what you do best dig your hole deeper. Lol

- Moses O'Brien, St Louis Missouri USA, 18/6/2012 22:25

Click to rate Rating 30

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