What''s Obama hiding?

[oshinbreez]

What is Obama hiding?

 

[starsapphire]

He won''t be able to hide for 4 years if elected......just look at what the Clintons went through.

 

[luckystar112]

This one seems so weird to me:

Obama’s college dissertation has simply disappeared from Columbia Universities archives. In July, in response to a flurry of requests to review Obama’s senior thesis at the Ivy League school, reportedly titled “Soviet Nuclear Disarmament,” Obama spokesman Ben LaBolt told NBC News “We do not have a copy of the course paper you requested and neither does Columbia University.”

Really? No one has it? I just find that so hard to believe. Not that I think he''s hiding anything, but he''s a presidential candidate! A woman can find a 20 year old receipt from when Obama helped her pay a luggage surcharge, but no one can find his dissertation or state senate records?

 

[Rank Amateur]

He has such a nice, genuine smile - I''m sure he''s not hiding anything.

 

[decodelighted]

I can't imagine NYU has *my* thesis on file? What kind of undergraduate school archives do you expect them to have? It wasn't a published paper or anything. The musings of a 22 year old senior? Big Whoop?

At least there's a *chance* of finding an Ivy League thesis of Obama's ... you're gonna be looking a LONG time to find anything even semi-academic re: Ms. PALIN.

Or McCain even ... Mr. Fifth from the Bottom of his class or something like that??

 

[E B]

 

[luckystar112]

Perhaps someone can explain this further then, or correct me if I''m wrong.
From what I understand, Columbia keeps archives of dissertations...yet his is missing. I''m genuinely curious here...because if Columbia does NOT keep dissertations on record, or even just some, that would make sense to me.

 

[zhuzhu]

I think it is so sad that the focus of GOP (and some of their supporters) seems to be centered around malicious attacks, rumor-spreading, and dirt-digging. If they have some GOOD and USEFUL policies for this country to sell, they would not have all these free time to spread pollutions.

(just feel the need to add that this posting came right after Lucky's by coincidence, so she does not get all paranoid again....)

 

[decodelighted]

Well I guess I''ll start a thread "What''s McCain Hiding" ... because I''d really like to see his unreleased FLIGHT RECORDS and whether he''s undergone any psychiatric treatment for PTSD, especially considering his reported suicide attempt while held captive. I''d certainly hope he''s gotten some kind of help -- as I imagine that time was horrific.

 

[luckystar112]

Date: 10/23/2008 5:29:31 PM
Author: zhuzhu
I think it is so sad that the focus of GOP (and some of their supporters) seems to be centered around malicious attacks, rumor-spreading, and dirt-digging. If they have some GOOD and USEFUL policies for this country to sell, they would not have all these free time to spread pollutions.

(just feel the need to add that this posting came right after Lucky's by coincidence, so she does not get all paranoid again....)

STOP FOLLOWING ME!!!! I know when you're directly responding to me on purpose because you quote me.

Seriously though, most of this stuff is left over from Hillary! And a lot of it should be easily settled, don't you think?

I am NOT a tin-foil hat wearing conspiracy theorist...and I don't even think any of these are big enough to sway the election, but that's what makes it so weird about the gaps.

 

[trillionaire]

Date: 10/23/2008 5:26:11 PM
Author: luckystar112
Perhaps someone can explain this further then, or correct me if I''m wrong.

From what I understand, Columbia keeps archives of dissertations...yet his is missing. I''m genuinely curious here...because if Columbia does NOT keep dissertations on record, or even just some, that would make sense to me.

My understanding is that masters and dissertation level papers are kept and archived, undergrad level works? Not so much, would depend on the school and the professors...

 

[Maria D]

Obama''s professor remembers the paper. Here''s what he had to say about it:

>>So we turned for answers to the former professor who graded the now-elusive paper. His former professor, Michael Baron, recalled in an interview with NBC News that Obama easily aced the year-long class. Baron described the paper as a “thesis” or “senior thesis” in several interviews, and said that Obama spent a year working on it. Baron recalls that the topic was nuclear negotiations with the Soviet Union.

“My recollection is that the paper was an analysis of the evolution of the arms reduction negotiations between the Soviet Union and the United States,” Baron said in an e-mail. “At that time, a hot topic in foreign policy circles was finding a way in which each country could safely reduce the large arsenal of nuclear weapons pointed at the other … For U.S. policy makers in both political parties, the aim was not disarmament, but achieving deep reductions in the Soviet nuclear arsenal and keeping a substantial and permanent American advantage. As I remember it, the paper was about those negotiations, their tactics and chances for success. Barack got an A.”

Baron said that, even if he could find a copy of the paper, it would likely disappoint Obama’s critics. “The course was not a polemical course, it was a course in decision making and how decisions got made,” he said. “None of the papers in the class were controversial.” <<

link

 

[swimmer]

Columbia does keep dissertations; a dissertation is what you write for your doctorate. What Obama wrote was a senior thesis to graduate from college; those are not generally kept on file, probably for space reasons. It varies by school, but Columbia did not keep and bind my masters thesis, but that could just be by school within Columbia (?), so I would assume that they do not keep any undergrad theses. Undergrads do not write dissertations, its a terminology mix-up.
Its not a hiding thing, but it would be interesting to read.

ETA posted same time as you two! Also, that OP article title, most secretive president ever? How about Silent Cal (Coolidge)? (remember the famous bet, "you lose.") Or FDR, no one knew he couldn't really walk. Terribly written, researched, and edited article; there has got to be harder hitting news organizations than that.

ATAA: Kudos to Obama's prof for remembering that much detail! Don't even ask me to tell you about the papers I graded for grad students last night. Whew!

 

[zhuzhu]

Date: 10/23/2008 5:33:53 PM
Author: decodelighted
Well I guess I''ll start a thread ''What''s McCain Hiding'' ... because I''d really like to see his unreleased FLIGHT RECORDS and whether he''s undergone any psychiatric treatment for PTSD, especially considering his reported suicide attempt while held captive. I''d certainly hope he''s gotten some kind of help -- as I imagine that time was horrific.

One of my studies is on PTSD, and I can tell you that it is NOT PRETTY. I feel really sorry for the individuals (I do not know if McCain has it or not, I sure hope not) suffering from it as it is something you will always be affected from for the rest of your life. The medical treatment can manage the outbreak of "unproductive behavior" at best. It is a dark, dark world where these patients live in.

 

[zhuzhu]

Date: 10/23/2008 5:42:55 PM
Author: Maria D
Obama''s professor remembers the paper. Here''s what he had to say about it:


>>So we turned for answers to the former professor who graded the now-elusive paper. His former professor, Michael Baron, recalled in an interview with NBC News that Obama easily aced the year-long class. Baron described the paper as a “thesis” or “senior thesis” in several interviews, and said that Obama spent a year working on it. Baron recalls that the topic was nuclear negotiations with the Soviet Union.


“My recollection is that the paper was an analysis of the evolution of the arms reduction negotiations between the Soviet Union and the United States,” Baron said in an e-mail. “At that time, a hot topic in foreign policy circles was finding a way in which each country could safely reduce the large arsenal of nuclear weapons pointed at the other … For U.S. policy makers in both political parties, the aim was not disarmament, but achieving deep reductions in the Soviet nuclear arsenal and keeping a substantial and permanent American advantage. As I remember it, the paper was about those negotiations, their tactics and chances for success. Barack got an A.”


Baron said that, even if he could find a copy of the paper, it would likely disappoint Obama’s critics. “The course was not a polemical course, it was a course in decision making and how decisions got made,” he said. “None of the papers in the class were controversial.” <<


link

Thank you Maria, for taking the time to clear this up. Hopefully your thoughtfulness will put rumors at rest now.

 

[swimmer]

Yes, well done Maria. Thanks!

 

[JulieN]

Date: 10/23/2008 5:47:28 PM
Author: zhuzhu

Date: 10/23/2008 5:42:55 PM
Author: Maria D
Obama''s professor remembers the paper. Here''s what he had to say about it:


>>So we turned for answers to the former professor who graded the now-elusive paper. His former professor, Michael Baron, recalled in an interview with NBC News that Obama easily aced the year-long class. Baron described the paper as a &#8220;thesis&#8221; or &#8220;senior thesis&#8221; in several interviews, and said that Obama spent a year working on it. Baron recalls that the topic was nuclear negotiations with the Soviet Union.


&#8220;My recollection is that the paper was an analysis of the evolution of the arms reduction negotiations between the Soviet Union and the United States,&#8221; Baron said in an e-mail. &#8220;At that time, a hot topic in foreign policy circles was finding a way in which each country could safely reduce the large arsenal of nuclear weapons pointed at the other &#8230; For U.S. policy makers in both political parties, the aim was not disarmament, but achieving deep reductions in the Soviet nuclear arsenal and keeping a substantial and permanent American advantage. As I remember it, the paper was about those negotiations, their tactics and chances for success. Barack got an A.&#8221;


Baron said that, even if he could find a copy of the paper, it would likely disappoint Obama&#8217;s critics. &#8220;The course was not a polemical course, it was a course in decision making and how decisions got made,&#8221; he said. &#8220;None of the papers in the class were controversial.&#8221; <<


link

Thank you Maria, for taking the time to clear this up. Hopefully your thoughtfulness will put rumors at rest now.

ditto zhuzhu. I didn''t think there was any conspiracy theory of hiding his UG senior thesis, but it was the only thing in the whole article that I would have wanted cleared up, just for academic curiosity.

 

[Rhea]

double post

 

[Rhea]

I don''t care what anybody is hiding. Why does the American public think they have a right to known everything about political figures and celebrity?

His thesis? For real? I wouldn''t blame his university if they "misplaced" his just to keep silly, completely non-revelent information out of the story. I think keeping things private is good. No one looks good when a piece of their history is taken out of context and examined under a microscope.

 

[purrfectpear]

Forget "What''s Obama Hiding"

My question is "What''s In Your Glass"

 

[E B]

Date: 10/23/2008 5:47:28 PM
Author: zhuzhu

Hopefully your thoughtfulness will put rumors at rest now.

Don''t we wish!

 

[iheartscience]

OMG, EBree! The tinfoil hat caution sign is HILARIOUS! HAHAHA!

This is a situation where I would say "Cuckoo! Cuckoo!" if it were in real life. I wish we had emoticons that made sound!

 

[E B]

Date: 10/23/2008 7:16:27 PM
Author: thing2of2
OMG, EBree! The tinfoil hat caution sign is HILARIOUS! HAHAHA!

This is a situation where I would say ''Cuckoo! Cuckoo!'' if it were in real life. I wish we had emoticons that made sound!

No kidding! Now, it''s more entertaining than anything.

 

[FrekeChild]

I''m rather impressed in the fact that he wrote an undergrad thesis in the first place. One of my soc profs keeps trying to talk me into taking her class "Sociology Honors Thesis" and there is no way in #377 you could get me to take that class OR spend the time writing a research paper that''s more than 10 pages long. Her class consists of 12 students, and I know she doesn''t keep papers, and I know that the university doesn''t even know of their existence.

Now MAs (among others), and PhDs on the other hand have to type their thesis (MA) and dissertation and get it so that the formatting is perfect, it''s printed on the right kind of paper, blah blah blah, and THOSE are stored in the basement of the library (which was completely burned about 4 years ago--no idea what happened to everything that was down there). But I''d say that MAYBE one grad student graduates a semester. Tops. That would mean 2 papers a year from one medium sized social science department.

If Obama''s school papers are still floating around Columbia, kudos to whoever kept them around! (I bet they could make some money off that on ebay!)

 

[miraclesrule]

Seriously?? Who cares about his thesis? I mean...other than admiring how a person took on such a topic in the first place (yawn). Blech....

Seriously though, what would it say about him? The spin would be nauseating. Oh, he's Anti-American!! Oh, he's a terrorist!! Oh, he's a smart thoughtful intellectual?? <-----------okay that one might be a stretch for those who don't really know what an intellectual is, but hopefully one can get the point.

We aren't judging McCain for his past. Well, his supporters sure aren't. So, what does it matter about Obama's past...which apparently is far less controversial considering the party affiliation. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the whole Republica schtick about family values and conservativism?

If you ask me, Obama and his family look awfully conservative and McCain and his family look mighty liberal.

 

[brazen_irish_hussy]

I wrote a major undergraduate thesis, but my school doesn''t keep them for more than 10 years. I can''t imagine a giant school like Columbia even keeps them that long. Even if they did keep it, they probably had one copy and when Obama either ran for the senate or this election, someone thought it would be cool to have and took it.
I wish my senior thesis had been cool enough to steal

 

[goobear78]

Where''s McCain''s thesis? Why doesn''t his college have a copy of it? Oh, that''s right he went to school over 1/2 a century ago, before computers, before typewriters. He probably wrote it with and ink and quill. LOL.

And Palin''s these? Come on, show of hands, how many of you think she even knows what a thesis is?

This is silly and has no bearing on the kind of president someone would be. I could care less about Biden, Obama, McCain and Palin''s thesis or college years. I want to know who they are now, what they wrote now, not what they wrote in college.

 

[Irishgrrrl]

Part of the article Oshinbreez linked to in her original post says:

"Obama has not released his client list as an attorney or his billing records. Obama has maintained that he only performed a few hours of legal work for a nonprofit organization with ties to Tony Rezko, the Chicago businessman convicted of fraud in June. But he has not released billing records that would prove this assertion."

And also:

"Jim Geraghty of the National Review has written extensively about Obama’s unwillingness to release records related to clients he represented while he was an attorney with the Chicago law firm of Davis, Miner, Barnhill, and Gallard. Obama was required to list his clients during his years in the Illinois senate. “Obama listed every client of the firm,” Geraghty reported, making it impossible to discern which clients he represented."

I'm not sure why this is surprising. I believe all of that information is protected under attorney-client privilege. Just because Obama no longer represents the clients in question doesn't mean his duty to protect their interests ends.

 

[oshinbreez]

I''m not too concerned about Obama''s Thesis. Michelle''s is bad enough for both of them.

What does concern me is:

"Obama also has not disclosed the names of small donors giving $200 or less to his campaign. An exception to the finance-reporting laws exempts the campaign from reporting those who donate less than $200, but that law never envisioned the more than $300 million that has been raised by Obama in small amounts. The Republican National Committee has released its small donors, as well as McCain’s, on a public database."

Here''s a link that might explain why he won''t reveal his donors.

Another thing that bothers me:

"The senator has not agreed to the release of his application to the Illinois state bar, which would clear up intermittent allegations that his application to the bar may have been inaccurate"

From what I''ve read, he "falsified" his application. I''ll see if I can find the link.

This is another concern.

"Jim Geraghty of the National Review has written extensively about Obama’s unwillingness to release records related to clients he represented while he was an attorney with the Chicago law firm of Davis, Miner, Barnhill, and Gallard. Obama was required to list his clients during his years in the Illinois senate. “Obama listed every client of the firm,” Geraghty reported, making it impossible to discern which clients he represented."

Who is he trying to protect? His clients or himself?

There is just too much that he refuses to clarify which is why I can''t trust him. Therefore, he won''t get my vote.

 

[iheartscience]

Date: 10/25/2008 9:56:56 AM
Author: oshinbreez

There is just too much that he refuses to clarify which is why I can''t trust him. Therefore, he won''t get my vote.

Something tells me Obama wouldn''t have gotten your vote no matter what he released. Report cards from elementary school, name of the person he lost his virginity to, DNA test to prove he''s not the anti-Christ...the list goes on!