Well… now we know.
I doubt President Obama will release the records. In May a blogger offered US$10k reward for copies of the records. It remains uncollected. (Reference) It leaves one wondering why Pres. Obama is the ONLY US President to never release his college records.
If you are not into politics… skip the rest …and don’t vote.
Huffington Post attacks Donald Trump. (Reference) Forbes asked The Donald why. (Reference)
TOP TEN THINGS OBAMA HAS NOT RELEASED
Breitbart News made a top 10 list. If you have never read it, it provides interesting reading. The sources Breitbart quotes and references range from the LA Times to the New York Times. Read the list: Obama’s Top Ten.
Emails detail unfolding Benghazi attack on Sept. 11
CBS is reporting on emails obtained this week from State Department that show the State Department knew there was no protest about a video. It is blatantly clear it was an attack. Within hours it was clear Ansar al-Sharia was claiming responsibility.
CBS provides a timeline telling who knew what when. Fourteen hours after the attack, President Obama sat down with Steve Kroft of “60 Minutes” The page has the video of the interview. Pres. Obama states probably not a mob protest. But, the CBS article shows the emails being sent from Benghazi to the White House Situation Room, the office of the Director of National Intelligence, and the FBI.
By the 13th of September all of this information was in the White House. On the 18th the following video is the story Jay Carney was putting out in the White House.
At the UN Pres Obama did not refer to Ansar al-Sharia or an act of terrorism. This was Sept. 25th.
The full transcript of the speech was published by ABC: Transcript: President Obama Talks to the U.N. about Mideast Peace, Iran. On page #3 the President is talking about the video.
That is what we saw play out the last two weeks, as a crude and disgusting video sparked outrage throughout the Muslim world. I have made it clear that the United States government had nothing to do with this video, and I believe its message must be rejected by all who respect our common humanity.
There is no mention of terror or terrorists in the speech 14 days after they had information it was a planned attack by Ansar al-Sharia deliberately staged on 9-11.
The best summary of the timeline is in the following video:
Not a transparent administration…
So this Donald Trump guy only gives to charity in exchange for peoples personal details? Yeahy America!
I think you missed his point. Charities Trump supports. Like lots of celebrities he raises far more than he donates. As to money coming out of his pocket, he is a bit of a cheapskate at $250,000+/- /year on average. But raised 4 million for just one charity in 2011.
The Romneys donated $4,020,772 to charity in 2011 (19.14% of income – returns). Reference Barack Obama and his wife Michelle gave $10,772 of the $1.2 million they earned from 2000 through 2004 to charities, or less than 1 percent, according to tax returns for 2000 to 2004. But in 2011 they gave nearly 22 percent of their income to charity in 2011, according to tax returns.
It is common practice for presidents to provide their college records as part of their disclosure.
No prior candidate has released their college transcripts. Bush’s SAT scores were leaked and Gore’s prep school transcripts were leaked, but they were not released by the candidates. It is not true that transcript release is a common occurrence. In fact, just the opposite.
See Innula’s comment.
I see from The Guardian that, when yesterday the paper contacted Donald Trump’s office and asked to see his college and passport records, “it was accused of ‘trying to be funny’ and the request was deemed to be ‘stupid'”.
There is a reason for asking for Obama’s collage records. Trump’s don’t really matter, but turn about is fair enough. Trump doesn’t work for the electorate, Obama does.
At least according to FactCheck.org, no other president has voluntarily released his college records (apparently George W Bush’s records eventually became public, but only after he’d refused to release them and they were subsequently leaked).
You’re right… I am surprised.
Gore/Bush was one of the first elections of which I was aware. Historically past Presidents records became part of history… not part of the election process. Which is why I had the impression, from reading about them, they were being released. My mistake.
Sorry this reply is in the wrong place — it’s prompted by your reference in your reply below, to Ezra, but I can’t find a reply button there.
Anyway, I’m puzzled by your reference to President Obama’s “upbringing in Kenya.” According to the Wikipedia article on his early life, he was educated in Indonesia from grades 1 through 4, returning to Hawaii to live with his maternal grandparents at the age of 10 or 11, to enter 5th grade there, and moved to Los Angeles in 1979, on completing high school.
This claim about his having been brought up in Kenya has apparently been made on TV before but is clearly completely mistaken.
You are again correct. Both Obama’s two books and the movie 2016, which explores the books, are probably better sources than Wikipedia. Kenya was his home for only a short time. By the 5th grade people are still in their formative years. One would assume that American thinking and ideals would have been absorbed by a young person growing up in Hawaii and California.
But, the books and movie show a different story. His mother and father (biological) and later mentor Frank Davis (reasonably documented but debatable – see Wikipedia Talk page on Davis) lead him to adopt his “Dreams of my Father”, which is neither communist or socialist as much as it is anti-colonialist. Americans are no longer colonists, once 5 generations ago yes. But, most Americans have no idea what that means.
The importance of spending his first 10 years in colonies with Kenya only becoming independent in 1963 and Indonesia still a first generation independent country (1949) when Obama was there shows in the books. Both countries still had strong anti-colonial feelings. The movie shows the contemporaries of Obama Sr., a Kenyan government economist, to provide an idea of what Obama Sr’s dream likely was/is.
Kenya was the country of the Mau Mau Rebellion. Winston Churchill was personally involved in attempting to control
IndonesiaKenya and keep it as a colony. That provides some insight into Pres. Obama returning the Churchill bust. We have numerous instances of Obama responding to various circumstances in ways that reveal deep seated anti-colonist beliefs rather than American beliefs and ideals.So, while you are technically correct, Obama’s behavior suggests his early years in the colonies has had significant influence on his beliefs. Also, his mother and mentors later in his life were radical and far outside the American mainstream which shaped his beliefs in his following years. There is not much else that can explain his opposition to large businesses (which exploited the colonies), wealthy people, capitalist ideas, and devotion to a fantasy of fairness most Americans can’t recognize.
Thanks for your intelligent debate.
I’m sorry, but I don’t understand. Indonesia gained independence from The Netherlands in 1950 (it was never a British colony), and I can’t see what role Churchill is supposed to have played “in attempting to control Indonesia and keep it as a colony,” since Labour, not the Conservatives, were in power in the UK from 1945 till 1951, which coincides with The Netherlands’ attempts to regain control of their former colony, The Dutch East Indies (with British support, to be sure).
In what colony, of which country, do you say Obama spent which of his formative years?
I wrote Kenya and you corrected me. And I mistyped in my comment
Kenya won independence in 1963, two years after Obama’s birth. Indonesia in 1949, 12 years or half a generation before his birth. My point is that those he was around had strong anti-colonial feelings. His actions and writings show that early exposure to those beliefs are part of his personality.
“If you are not into politics… skip the rest …and don’t vote.”
Right up until then we could agree to disagree!
I caught the president on Jay Leno, his closing remark was “vote for whom you choose, but VOTE”. I would add, if you don’t vote you forfeit your right to bitch.
I agree one does forfeit their right to bitch. But, if one is not into politics and casts an uninformed vote, they do more harm than good.
Oh, Nal — sigh. Exactly who, in your world, gets to decide what constitutes “informed”? If you drink the Rush Limbaugh/Fox New Koolaid, is that sufficient? How about putting on your Rachel Maddow/MSNBC blinders?
Voting expresses the will of WE, the People; smart and ignorant, informed and uninformed, rich and poor, liberal and conservative.
The person thinking about voting…
If one is not politically engaged they are not expressing the will of the people. They are expressing what they have been convinced to believe.
From the time of Aristotle… and before… the problem of letting the ignorant vote in some form of democracy was realized. Politicians play the ignorant.
While history shows that recession-depression one after another have been ended most quickly sound economic policy of reducing taxes, gov. regulation, and government spending (Harding, Kennedy, Reagan, Bush) people buy into the current idea that printing money, government spending, and increasing taxes and regulation is the way to go.
So, yes I would prefer that those not politically engaged recognize their limitations decide not to vote.
If you have a problem with ignorance you should have a problem with misinformation. Both things result in a lack of known truth. Meaning, maybe amend your post by getting rid of the misinformation about Obama being alone in presidents that’ve never released college records before an election or during a term.
As for your argument of who should vote and not, do note that politics is about policy. Your post is entirely about what in Obama’s personal life he hasn’t released or if and how he used the word terror. If this is politics to you then I wouldn’t be judgmental about other’s who vote or throw the word ignorant around.
See Innula’s comment and my response.
Politics is about far more than just policy. Pres. Obama did not grow up in the US and his character has been shaped differently than most Americans in general. How he sees things is in part from his upbringing in Kenya which is now part of his character. I think Obama’s 2 books do a good job of depicting that and movie 2016 explains much of the context of the books for what rather provincial Americans are not likely to understand. Since he is the one to implement policy, both foreign and domestic, What he thinks is a good change differs from it looks now like half of Americans disagree with. His use of the word terror and terrorism is from that perception of the world. It reflects his character. His impromptu speaking gives us insight into his character and thinking. That gives us insight into how he will likely execute policy and form policy.
It is interesting that you directed most of your post at me rather than the subjects of the article…