That Obama hides his academic records either means that whatever is in them would harm him or that he is too stupid to do the things that are beneficial to him. No one I know finds the second possibility plausible.

Similarly for the whole “birther” thing. I really doubt that it holds anything damning as far as his “birthplace” goes, but am willing to bet it does have some other particularly embarrassing item — something like: “Father: Unknown” or something of that ilk.

Puts me in mind of R.A.H.’s comment on this:

– Robert A. Heinlein, “The Number of the Beast” –

Also:

– Robert A. Heinlein, “The Number of the Beast” –

Donald Trump is asking the questions that the mainstream press should have asked three years ago.

…Try *SIX*

I have no idea what Obama’s grades actually were, but I’d certainly be interested in knowing.

Racist.

The obvious one is why this took so long, and why he wasted millions of dollars (IIRC) when apparently a good rummage around would have laid the issue to rest.

But, secondarily, now that he’s provided this, why not release the transcripts too? Surely the pressure to do so will increase. I mean, after all, there was nothing untoward about the certificate of live birth, was there? And the universities doubtless have the transcripts. One letter to each, and a nominal fee, and voila! Three transcripts.

It’ll be interesting to see his argument against doing so. The “this is a distraction from important work” rubbish won’t cut it for long, for how long does it take to tell a subordinate to draft a letter requesting the transcripts for his signature?

I hope people see the real story here, which is that Obama declared himself above law, expectations, manners, and commonsense. Perhaps the whole thing was a ruse and now we are supposed to trust whatever Obama says “because remember that birth certificate thing!”

To those who say it is a distraction, perhaps; but also is much more than that and central to understanding who Obama is. And there’s some irony in that.

There was a spiritual element to the refusal to release the birth certificate. Christians call it rebellion and Obama and his crowd have shown they are in rebellion against established tradition and authority.

It is the act of a small child grown up but with his fist clenched and raised with the words “You can’t make me” ringing out.

Many have come before but they were not believers and do not qualify as true rebels. I think there is an “inner circle” which does believe in spiritual forces, and they have chosen the side against what America, with all its diversity, has traditionally identified as good.

Obama’s refusal was more than symbolic; it was symptomatic of a darkened will which is ultimately controlled and driven by someone else.

It will be interesting to see what happens now. It appears as if everything is in order and the whole thing was a political ploy (nothing being hidden).

I think that window flew months ago and it makes him look, at best, neutral and at worst trying to hold it for “perfect” timing – which leads his attempt at spin as whining.

Now if Trump starts asking the right questions about “why not earlier” then Obama can easily be painted as a purely partisan hack.

In most law schools, especially at the time Obama was in law school (more or less the same time I was), grading usually depends on a single final exam — no essays, no homework assignments, no presentations, no midterms. The student’s written response to the final exam question or questions is identified by a number rather than a name, so the professor does not know whose paper s/he is grading — and most likely would not recognize handwriting since the professor had not seen any intermediate assignments.

This system came about, in part, because the exams themselves are highly subjective. Most most law school exams are variations on “issue-spotters” where the student is presented with a complicated fact pattern and asked to write an essay identifying all the potential legal issues and how they would likely be resolved. Multiple choice questions and the like are comparatively rare, though they do appear on the Bar exam.

I don’t know if Harvard did it this way when Obama was there, but if so, it means his grades probably did reflect achievement rather than affirmative action or special consideration of some other kind.