IN February, the liberal Huffington Post website republished a New York Times feature from 1990 on 28-year-old Barack Obama becoming the first black president of the Harvard Law Review (HLR).

Only two black men have held that post. Obama, president of the United States, and Jamaican David Panton.

Obama, who visits Jamaica on Wednesday, retains the universal celebrity that accompanied his historic election as US president in November 2008.

Panton, a successful financier in Atlanta, is largely unknown to his countrymen. A former member of the Jamaica Labour Party’s youth affiliate, G2K, he served briefly in the Senate before migrating.

Professor Orlando Patterson, a Jamaican sociologist, is a senior member of the Arts and Sciences faculty at Harvard. He told the Jamaica Observer that it is “hardly surprising” that Panton never attained political success in Jamaica.

“Jamaica is a funny place. Whom Jamaicans choose to recognise is a mystery,” said Patterson.

According to the 74-year-old academic, being president of the HLR is a big deal at Harvard and in American legal circles. The most influential legal minds in the country often use the publication as reference in high-profile cases.

Obama is among a distinguished list of HLR presidents who went on to achieve. Others include Supreme Court justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, John G Roberts, Jr, and Antonin Scalia; former New York governor Eliot Spitzer; current Republican senator and presidential hopeful Ted Cruz; and Jeffrey Toobin, a senior legal analyst at CNN.

After flirting briefly with politics, Panton moved to Atlanta where he operates Panton Capital Holdings, a private equity business. He was recently named one of the Atlanta Business Chronicle’s ’40 Under 40′ Rising Stars.

Patterson, who was an adviser to Jamaica’s prime minister Michael Manley from 1972-79, remembers Panton’s election as HLR president. He believes it is difficult for people like him to make a mark in Jamaica.

“My sense generally is that academics are not recognised in Jamaica. People are more into persons in popular culture, sports and finance… It’s the nature of the Jamaican standard,” he said.

Rupert Lewis, professor emeritus in the University of the West Indies’ Department of Government, said Jamaica has produced academics like Rex Nettleford who are household names.

While he agrees with Patterson that sports and popular music figures are shown more respect, Lewis said in Panton’s case, he was not involved in politics long enough to grow on Jamaicans politically.

“He is certainly bright enough, had a great sense of Jamaican history and had all the attributes of a good leader. But he left too early to make an impact here,” Lewis reasoned.

Obama took a different course after Harvard. He returned to his job as a community organiser in Chicago, was elected to the illinois State Senate, then the US Senate.

Within 18 years of his HLR ascendance, he was US president.

Patterson says the issue of race has become irrelevant as it relates to the HLR. He believes in 1990 when Obama got the top job, it had little to do with ethnicity.

“There wasn’t a great deal of fuss… it (Obama’s election) reflected the nature of his personality which includes getting along with people from a broad spectrum. To be (HLR president) you have to possess extraordinary diplomatic skills,” Patterson said.

Born in Westmoreland and raised in May Pen, Orlando Patterson attended Kingston College and the University of the West Indies.

His latest book, The Cultural Matrix: Understanding Black Youth (co-authored with Ethan Fosse), was released this year. It looks at the challenges, and achievements, of African-American youth.

Patterson was among a group of mayors (of major US cities), police chiefs and academics invited by Obama to the White House in December to discuss solutions in the wake of racially charged riots in Ferguson, Missouri.