Why Won't Obama Release Any Documents?

[Anonymous]

Sick people have lengthy medical records.


Actually, people who were brutally tortured for five years as POWs tend to have medical issues over time, like skin cancer from being left out to burn in the sun, or arthritic conditions from having multiple bones being broken and never reset. But seriously, I do find it hard to believe that a 46-year-old man has so few medical records. I am close to his age, and fortunately have never been seriously ill, but I would venture my medical records are longer than 10 pages, just from keeping up with annual physicals, etc.


I am so sick of the knee-jerk liberal/Obama apologist reaction to anything even remotely critical of your candidate with some sort of over-the-top vitroil against McCain. Why can't you ever admit that there are valid questions or issues of criticism with Obama (just as their are valid issues of criticism with McCain--they're both politicians after all.....)?

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:

I am so sick of the knee-jerk liberal/Obama apologist reaction to anything even remotely critical of your candidate with some sort of over-the-top vitroil against McCain. Why can't you ever admit that there are valid questions or issues of criticism with Obama (just as their are valid issues of criticism with McCain--they're both politicians after all.....)?

I admit that there are valid issues of criticism with Obama. But, the post that started this thread did not address such issues. The original post addressed medical issues (which neither candidate has addressed fully), college transcripts (which neither candidate has addressed at all), and residency (which is not even an issue). If you want to address valid issues of criticism, this is how not to do it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Who cares if I copied and pasted it? really, why does that matter?

because it indicates that you are intentionally trying to spread negative propaganda about Obama all over DCUM.

[Anonymous]

BTW, according to his cover story in Men's Health, Obama has taken up smoking again while on the campaign trail. Is smoking going to be seen as "cool" again? My point is that neither candidate is perfect, both have issues, both sides need to admit their candidates are imperfect. What can be infuriating is Obama's supporters smugness and air of superiority!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Who cares if I copied and pasted it? really, why does that matter?

Ha, ha! Think for yourself. Write for yourself.

Everything I've posted here was something I (for better or worse) wrote and if I quoted anything, I made sure it was clear it was a quote. Of course if you prefer to cut and paste, go ahead. It only works in Obama's favor because it makes you look like the robot!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:BTW, according to his cover story in Men's Health, Obama has taken up smoking again while on the campaign trail. Is smoking going to be seen as "cool" again? My point is that neither candidate is perfect, both have issues, both sides need to admit their candidates are imperfect. What can be infuriating is Obama's supporters smugness and air of superiority!

I totally agree. Why do Obama supporters act like Obama's S*** doesn't ever stink?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I totally agree. Why do Obama supporters act like Obama's S*** doesn't ever stink?

I think it is fairly natural that the most frequent writers on both sides are those who feel most strongly. Therefore, I don't think the blogosphere gives a balanced picture of either side.

Most of all, though, I think the tendency to blame either candidate for the sins of those of us who support them is folly. Unless we can explain why the actions of the candidates themselves are at fault, reacting against them for the sins of their supporters is illogical.

Anyway, what proof do you have that Obama shits?
[Couldn't resist going off on the light side for a moment, since the first two paragraphs sound so preachy.]

[Anonymous]

OK, flame away, I know it's coming, but I think it has to be said. Obama's undergrad transcripts do not have straight A's. Anyone who has read his memoir can deduce that from his time at Occidental. People looking at those transcripts may conclude that he was admitted to Harvard Law in part because of Affirmative Action (that and legacy through his father). That news would not have been good for the Obama campaign (I am a strong supporter of AA, particularly in the 80's and 90's when it was imperative).

In addition, Obama campaign has not been forthcoming about those missing years when he was working at NYPIRG. Not sure why-- but all his unofficial MSNBC and CNN biographies have him graduating college and moving to Chicago to be a community organizer--- I refer to the 3 years prior as his lost years-- what on earth was the messiah doing then? I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but I don't think the missing records help calm those people who are conspiracy theorists.

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:In addition, Obama campaign has not been forthcoming about those missing years when he was working at NYPIRG. Not sure why-- but all his unofficial MSNBC and CNN biographies have him graduating college and moving to Chicago to be a community organizer--- I refer to the 3 years prior as his lost years-- what on earth was the messiah doing then? I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but I don't think the missing records help calm those people who are conspiracy theorists.

I believe you are mistaken and the years may not be as "lost" as you suspect. Obama graduated from Columbia in 1983 and moved to Chicago in 1985, so there are only two years rather than three. He first worked at the Business International Corporation and then at NYPIRG. I believe he was at each one for about a year. There is plenty of information available about his experience in both places.

You may be correct that he was accepted to Harvard due to affirmative action or as a legacy due to his father. In that regard, he is not much different than McCain who would never have made it into the Naval Academy were it not for his father and grandfather.

[Anonymous]

The only information I have found about his time at Business International was a blog from a former colleague who said his memoir was wholly inaccurate. As for time at NY PIRG, I have found zero. Do you have any links?

To my knowledge, no journalist has published any in depth articles investigating the discrepancy between his book and the job he actually held, nor any account of what he accomplished at NY PIRG.

[Anonymous]

I had no idea that Obama worked for PIRG. I remember being involved in trying to start a chapter at Princeton, until it became clear that they wanted to be funded through the general "student activities" fee that every student was charged, regardless of political view. You had to affirmatively check off that you did NOT want to fund PIRG through your student activities fee if you felt that way. When I learned this, I felt that PIRG was being pretty devious with unsuspecting college students. This funding mechanism was pretty common, apparently, at campuses throughout the '80s. It disturbs me to learn that Obama worked for this organization.

[Anonymous]

Great to be learning 3 weeks before the election, right? The media gave him a total pass.

[Anonymous]

But JSteele, do you deny that the Obama campaign would prefer to not have the discussion about race based affirmative action admissions before the election? Couldn't this be a reason for not releasing his transcripts?

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:To my knowledge, no journalist has published any in depth articles investigating the discrepancy between his book and the job he actually held, nor any account of what he accomplished at NY PIRG.

Well, its late so I can't provide a full bibliography right now, but here is a NYT article that covers his entire time in New York:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/30/us/politics/30obama.html?pagewanted=print

Here's another article (from Politico) about his NYPIRG experience:

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0107/Becoming_Obama_Frighteningly_Coherent_in_New_York.html

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:But JSteele, do you deny that the Obama campaign would prefer to not have the discussion about race based affirmative action admissions before the election? Couldn't this be a reason for not releasing his transcripts?

I don't think any discussion involving race would be particularly beneficial for Obama. There could be any number of reasons Obama doesn't want to release his transcripts. Obama majored in political science and specialized in international relations which is exactly what I did at the University of Illinois. He got his degree in 1983, I got mine in 1986. So, our experiences might not be that different. My best guess is that there is a class or two that deal with a controversial topic such as Marxism, liberation theology, revolutionary movements, etc. Something that probably involved reading a lot of boring books, having lots of inane discussions, and writing a particularly tedious paper. However, that could be spun by the Republicans to make him look like the second coming of Nickolai Lenin. One of my papers, for instance, was on the theory of violence in African revolutionary movements. Another was about the role of Hizbullah in South Lebanon. Either of them would probably make me unelectable.