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 
 
 
 
 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.' 
 
 Scroll down for video 
 
 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'. 
 
 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. ||||| 3239007 
 
 Harvard Law School professor Roberto Unger, who taught President Barack Obama classes such as Jurisprudence and Reinventing Democracy, said last month in a little-publicized video that his former student has betrayed liberals and should lose the presidency in November. 
 
 “President Obama must be defeated in the coming election,” Unger said in a sit-down video posted to his YouTube account in May, which also attacked the Republican party. 
 
 “If [The Republicans] had their way, inequality would be even greater than it is now,” Unger said, before acknowledging that a Romney win would lead to some undesirable “judicial and administrative appointments.” 
 
 But those costs, to Unger, pale in comparison to the risks of an Obama second term. 
 
 “The Democratic Party has no new direction. … [Obama] has failed to advance the progressive cause,” Unger said. “He has spent trillions of dollars to rescue the moneyed interests and left workers and homeowners to their own devices.” 
 
 Then, gripping his chair tightly as if to strap in for an earthquake of truth-telling, Unger proceeded to unleash a series of one-liners against Obama. 
 
 “He has subordinated the broadening of economic and educational opportunity to the important but secondary issue of access to healthcare. … He has evoked a politics of hand-holding. … His policy is financial confidence and food stamps.” 
 
 Unger has posted several interviews with himself on his YouTube channel, which are viewed only rarely. Unger typically disables comments on his videos, and he receives few positive or insightful comments when he does allow user interaction. 
 
 In a video Unger posted on the topic of the Hegelian and Sartrean Heresies, for example, a viewer praised Unger’s “very interesting” point of view but complained that “there’s got to be something you can do” about “your jaw click.” 
 
 According to the Harvard Crimson, Unger received tenure at Harvard Law School at the unusually young age of 29. 
 
 Watch Unger’s takedown of Obama: 
 
 Follow Gregg on Twitter ||||| (CNN) -- The second night of the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, featured speeches by Bill Clinton, the 42nd president of the United States, as well as Elizabeth Warren, candidate for the U.S. Senate. The following contributors offered their assessments. 
 
 Analysis: Clinton speech hit Obama's marks 
 
 Alan Brinkley: Clinton was not only charismatic, but serious 
 
 It has always been remarkable, I think, how Bill Clinton can bring a crowd alive, and that's what he did on Wednesday night. It was a speech full of wonky policy issues, the things he likes so well. But after so many months of paid advertisements playing ugly criticisms of the opposition, Clinton was not only charismatic, but serious. 
 
 For years now, conventions have been carefully organized for television without any real energy or excitement, one of the reasons that so few people are watching them anymore. But Clinton turned the convention into a real conversation about policy, about politics, and about the future. 
 
 His viewers might not agree with much of what he says, but his speech was still an event of the campaign. I wonder whether President Obama, who can give a pretty good speech himself, feels that Clinton has overtaken him. I wonder if Clinton's speech will lead to a more honest way of arguing about ideas and policy. I doubt it. But it might help at least some people to think about serious things. 
 
 Alan Brinkley is the Allan Nevins professor of history at Columbia University. 
 
 John Avlon: Our most talented politician makes Obama's case 
 
 Bill Clinton's speech reminded many Americans why he remains our country's most beloved and naturally talented politician, for all his faults. 
 
 On Wednesday night, he cut through the predictable partisan spin by making a credible and compelling case for Barack Obama's re-election -- better, frankly, than the president has made himself to date. 
 
 Full disclosure: I was a Clinton kid. I was a freshman in college in 1992, and Bubba's campaign inspired the sense that there was a third way, between the far right and far left, that could actually solve problems instead of simply demagoguing them. He was my sub-generation's JFK, and he inspired my unapologetic centrist politics. 
 
 Bill Clinton can talk policy without putting anyone to sleep. That means communicating a love of ideas that can be put into action. And so in Wednesday night's speech he offered a seminar in how to contrast constructively; putting forward stats that resonate with common-sense values. 
 
 Case in point: Clinton's analysis of health care reform, and even the comparative deficit and debt plans, resonates on Main Street because he talks in terms of values and respects the intelligence of the American people. He surgically skewered the alternative Republican plans as well. In the process, he reminded us that good policy can be good politics, connecting with humor to the head and heart. 
 
 Opinion: Bill Clinton, the reverse Clint Eastwood? 
 
 Some of the unrelenting Clinton nostalgia from baby boomers stems from the fact that he reminds them of when they were younger than today, and possibly wealthier and more influential than they might be now. But the fact that Bill and Hillary Clinton are today apparently the most admired Democrats among Republicans -- who once made hating them a cottage industry, as they do with the Obamas today -- is ironic and sadly hilarious, a reminder of how shallow and unprincipled poisonous hyperpartisanship always ultimately is. 
 
 If Bill Clinton were constitutionally eligible for another term, he would win. If swing voters all listened to Wednesday night's speech, I believe Barack Obama would win this election. 
 
 But Clinton's speech Wednesday night was both a seminar and a reminder of why we should love civic debates, as a matter of style and substance, focused on policy as well as politics. Write this line down: "Democracy ... does not have to be a blood sport; it can be an honorable enterprise that advances the human interest." Remember it and aspire to it, taking heart amid all the heat, to persevere in the belief that something at least a little bit better can always be within our reach. 
 
 John Avlon is a CNN contributor and senior political columnist for Newsweek and The Daily Beast. He is co-editor of the book "Deadline Artists: America's Greatest Newspaper Columns." He is a regular contributor to "Erin Burnett OutFront" and is a member of the OutFront Political Strike Team. For more political analysis, tune in to "Erin Burnett OutFront" at 7 ET weeknights. 
 
 Maria Cardona: Clinton answers the 'better off' question with resounding 'Yes!' 
 
 President Clinton's speech, delivered in his unique, well, Clintonesque manner, crystallized the choice this election. He spelled out in the way only he can why Republicans seem to have a visceral reaction to President Obama and how that has kept them from putting the interests of the nation before their politics. And he did it with emotion that was rational, passionate and pragmatic. 
 
 He spoke directly to those disaffected swing voters who are disenchanted with the pace of the change they voted for in 2008, by explaining that it was not Obama who changed or who didn't work to deliver, it was the Republicans who kowtowed to their extreme wings and put the goal of defeating the president before any commitment to solving the big problems facing this nation. 
 
 He set the record straight on Medicare and on GOP fabrications about Obama's stance on welfare reform, and he unequivocally answered the question of whether we are better off today than when Obama took office: The answer was a resounding yes. Clinton's credibility and history with a similar economic situation (though Clinton said that no president could have fixed the damage Obama was handed in just four years) made him the right messenger to the right audience at the right time for Obama. He delivered and he delivered big. 
 
 Other notable speeches? Elizabeth Warren, Cristina Saralegui -- the Latina Oprah Winfrey -- and of course Sandra Fluke, the Georgetown University law student smeared by Rush Limbaugh for speaking out for contraception coverage. They spoke to critical audiences within the Democratic Party: progressives who see Warren as a champion and crusader for consumer protection against a Wall Street run amok; progressive and independent women for whom Fluke embodies concern about politicians making decisions about their bodies, their families and their lives; and Latinos for whom Saralegui is an icon. She was introduced by a compelling "Dreamer," Benita Veliz, underscoring the importance of immigration reform. 
 
 All three women spoke eloquently and from the heart about the only candidate in the race they said would fight for middle-class families, women, Latinos, Dreamers. One who would uphold the ideals of fairness, opportunity, hard work and compassion that reflect a country where everyone has the chance to achieve the American dream. 
 
 Maria Cardona is a Democratic strategist, a principal at the Dewey Square Group, a former senior adviser to Hillary Clinton and former communications director for the Democratic National Committee. 
 
 Gergen: Now it's up to Obama 
 
 Ana Navarro: Sweet justice for the man from Hope, Arkansas 
 
 On Wednesday night, Bill Clinton showed us what a political comeback looks like. In 2008, during the Democrat primary, he went from being the "first black president" to being accused of racism. 
 
 I know Bill Clinton, and when I saw him shortly after the election, he was deeply hurt. He thought Obama and the media had been terribly unfair to Hillary and to him. 
 
 Tonight, the man who was marginalized in 2008 came to the rescue of the man who marginalized him. And he did it in classic Clinton style: long, didactic, funny and very damn good. 
 
 I am a Republican, but I love a good political speech regardless of who gives it. Clinton was at the top of his game. He started with a bipartisan preamble, even giving credit to Presidents Bush 41 and 43. Then he went on to teach a master lesson on a partisan attack. 
 
 It says a lot about how Clinton is perceived and how Joe Biden is perceived that the former president got a night as the headliner all to his own, while the sitting vice president did not. 
 
 This night was sweet justice for the man from Hope, Arkansas. In 2000, Al Gore wanted to be his own man and couldn't keep Clinton far enough away. Today, Barack Obama wants to be Bill Clinton's heir and cannot keep him close enough. However, this does create a problem for Obama. He now needs to top Clinton's speech, and Bill set the bar quite high. 
 
 Ana Navarro, a Republican strategist and commentator, served as national Hispanic campaign chairwoman for John McCain in 2008 and national Hispanic co-chair for Jon Huntsman's 2012 campaign. 
 
 Ruben Navarrette: A great storyteller, but you have to read between the lines 
 
 Bubba is back. And, from the sound of it, he never left. 
 
 Bill Clinton did Wednesday what he needed to do for Barack Obama. With a speech that was substantive and entertaining, the Democrats' Great Communicator energized the party's base. He laid out the narrative of the Obama presidency, better than anyone in this administration -- including the president himself -- has been able to do in the last three and a half years. He recited and refuted some of the more damning criticisms that Republicans lodged against Obama last week at their convention. And he assured the American people that he -- to continue a familiar theme from the Clinton years -- felt their pain and understood their worry over a fragile economy. 
 
 This being a Clinton speech, there were great lines. The former president pointed out that Obama had appointed to his cabinet people who had supported Hillary Clinton in the 2008 Democratic primary. "Heck," Clinton said, "he even appointed Hillary." 
 
 And this being a Clinton speech, there were also half-truths. For instance, you remember when GOP vice-presidential nominee Paul Ryan was criticized by the left for blaming Obama for not acting on the bipartisan Simpson-Bowles plan for debt reduction, without revealing the little detail about how he himself didn't support it. Clinton called the Simpson-Bowles commission a "balanced approach" but didn't mention that Obama had failed to heed its recommendations. 
 
 As someone who writes a lot about immigration, I heard one other line that jumped out at me: "If you think the president was right to open the doors of American opportunity to young immigrants brought here as children who want to go to college or serve in the military," Clinton said, "You should vote for Barack Obama." 
 
 He was referring to Obama's announcement several weeks ago that the Department of Homeland Security would take applications from young illegal immigrants who are interested in two years of temporary "deferred action" to keep them from being deported. 
 
 Again, Clinton left out one detail that suggests he is the last person who should talk about deporting anyone. 
 
 Immigration attorneys tell me that when they're fighting a deportation order against an individual, they first must overcome the legacy of the 1996 Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act. That law, which was authored by a Republican -- Texas Rep. Lamar Smith -- makes it easier for the federal government to deport illegal immigrants and harder to fight their removals. And who signed that terrible bill into law? 
 
 Yep, Bill Clinton. The former president is a great storyteller, as we all know. But, whether he is defending Obama or himself, you have to read between the lines. 
 
 Ruben Navarrette is a CNN contributor and a nationally syndicated columnist with the Washington Post Writers Group. 
 
 Memorable lines from the speeches 
 
 Joanne Bamberger: Reaching voters at the 'ragged edge of the middle class' 
 
 Elizabeth Warren was a great choice for the party faithful to introduce former president Bill Clinton. In the telling of her personal story of pulling herself up by her own bootstraps, as well as her reluctance to take on the bigger political struggle of running for Senate, she was able to connect the crowd with a message that is central to the Democrats' message: that the country has been built on the backs of middle-class people who struggle every day, not the supposed "job creators," a la Bain Capital. 
 
 Warren also used her story of creating the Consumer Protection Financial Bureau to remind voters that the system is rigged through the tax code for the wealthy. Using a "calling it like she sees it" approach, she reminded the crowd that there's a big difference for the country between celebrating the success of those who do the hard work of everyday life, and those who funnel money into offshore accounts, something most families can't even fathom. 
 
 The themes of the night were inclusion and partnership for Clinton, who used his speech to help map out the clear difference between the two parties, as he reiterated that Republicans aren't reluctant to eat their own if they deviate one small inch from their party line. 
 
 One doesn't have to have experienced living at the "ragged edge of the middle class" to have empathy for those who have. Both Warren and Clinton did have moments in their lives when they were at those ragged edges, and that's what makes them powerful voices for their party to reach those voters who are still at that edge. 
 
 Joanne Bamberger is the author of "Mothers of Intention: How Women and Social Media are Revolutionizing Politics in America." 
 
 Obama to speak after Clinton's forceful endorsement 
 
 Roland Martin: President Clinton gives the GOP hell for one night 
 
 In sports, every coach desires a big game player who, no matter the game or the conditions or the opponent, will show up and deliver in the clutch. 
 
 In politics, President Bill Clinton is such a player. 
 
 The Time Warner Arena was constantly on fire Wednesday, each speaker giving the next a hard act to follow. But when the 42nd president of the United States took to the stage, there was no doubt that he still has it. 
 
 Every major applause line, Clinton hit. And he didn't do so by offering up a lofty speech. It was homespun, down-home. The audience ate it up. 
 
 For the GOP, it had to be painful to see a former president back on the big stage delivering a big speech for an incumbent president facing a tough re-election campaign. 
 
 President Clinton gave the GOP hell for eight years. Wednesday night, he gave them hell for one more night. 
 
 Roland Martin is a syndicated columnist and author of "The First: President Barack Obama's Road to the White House." He is a commentator for the TV One cable network and host/managing editor of its Sunday morning news show, "Washington Watch with Roland Martin." 
 
 Follow us on Twitter @CNNOpinion. 
 
 Join us on Facebook/CNNOpinion. 
 
 The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the authors.
– A former professor who taught one Barry Obama at Harvard Law School now says his onetime student "must be defeated in the coming election." Roberto Unger—who, the Daily Mail reports, actually advised Obama during his 2008 campaign—believes Obama "has failed to advance the progressive cause," he says in a YouTube video from last month that got little notice until now. Unger at one point launches into what the Daily Caller refers to as "a series of one-liners against Obama," though he also criticizes the Republican Party. "He has spent trillions of dollars to rescue the moneyed interests and left workers and homeowners to their own devices," says Unger, who is also a well-known Brazilian politician. "He has subordinated the broadening of economic and educational opportunity to the important but secondary issue of access to health care. … His policy is financial confidence and food stamps. He has evoked a politics of hand-holding." After reiterating that Obama must be defeated, Unger concludes, "Only a political reversal can allow the voice of democratic prophecy to speak once again in American life."