Obama to Take Secrets to His Grave?

Remember Barack Obama the candidate in 2008? He was going to transform Washington in many ways, not the least of them was by presiding over the most transparent and open administration in American history. Do you remember that?

Now with 15 months left in his first term — and the re-election polls looking bad — his friends in Congress are already preparing to lock up his personal and presidential secrets from the public for the rest of his life.

This, by the way, from the guy who, in one of his first acts after assuming the White House under false pretenses, revoked an executive order by his predecessor that would have kept George W. Bush's secrets from the public.

In case you missed it, Rep. Edolphus Towns, D-N.Y., has introduced what I am calling the "Protect Obama From the Light of Day" bill.

"If the Democrats' proposed measure (Presidential Records Act Amendments) becomes law, former presidents will be allowed to assert a new 'constitutionally based privilege' against disclosing records of their liking. Here is how it would work: the archivist of the United States would be required to notify the former president, as well as the incumbent, of intentions to make records public. Anything that either the former or current president claims should be kept private won't be released," reports Judicial Watch.

The bill, H.R. 3071, officially titled the "Presidential Records Act Amendments of 2011" was introduced Sept. 29 and referred to a House subcommittee last week. It already has 16 cosponsors.

It states it is "To amend chapter 22 of title 44, United States Code, popularly known as the Presidential Records Act, to establish procedures for the consideration of claims of constitutionally based privilege against disclosure of presidential records."

It provides for the release of records "except any record (or reasonably segregable part of a record) with respect to which the archivist receives from a former president or the incumbent president notification of a claim of constitutionally based privilege against disclosure."

Only "the incumbent president" or a "final court order that is not subject to appeal" would be able to overturn the decision.

What should we expect from Barack Obama?

Many Americans believe he is not even constitutionally eligible to serve in office for failure to meet the constitutional standard of a "natural born citizen." The others haven't bothered to consider the facts or just don't care about the Constitution.

The reason for the distrust? Obama's propensity to hide documents.

Obama is no stranger to secrecy. In fact, the entire issue over his eligibility to occupy the Oval Office that has raged over the last several years, including dozens of lawsuits, petitions and campaigns, all could have been moot had he been open with his historical documents during his campaign.

But, of course, his campaign might have been moot, too.

Even today, he insists on concealing what ought to be some of the most innocuous personal records — the kind each and every modern president has disclosed to the public. They include his passport records, other travel records, kindergarten records, Punahou school records, Occidental College records, Columbia University records, Columbia thesis, Harvard Law School records, Harvard Law Review articles, University of Chicago articles, Illinois State Bar Association records, Illinois State Senate records and schedules, medical records, Obama/Dunham marriage license, Obama/Dunham divorce documents, Soetoro/Dunham marriage license and adoption records.

Then, of course, there is the matter of the birth certificate. Only when failure to release it threatened his presidency and preoccupied the nation's attention did Obama post on the White House website a representation of what he claims to be his long-form birth record from Hawaii.

Dozens of experts who have examined it say it is a clear and obvious forgery. But a Congress that failed in a bipartisan way to clear the air on this matter is now considering whether to make sure the public never learns the truth about what is likely the biggest fraud in American political history — and the worst constitutional abuse.

To find out more about Joseph Farah and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.

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