[Wayne Allyn Root is a former Libertarian vice presidential nominee. He now serves as Chairman of the Libertarian National Campaign Committee]
I am President Obama’s classmate at Columbia University, Class of ’83. I am also one of the most accurate Las Vegas oddsmakers and prognosticators. Accurate enough that I was awarded my own star on the Las Vegas Walk of Stars. And I smell something rotten in Denmark. Obama has a big skeleton in his closet. It’s his college records. Call it “gut instinct” but my gut is almost always right. Obama has a secret hidden at Columbia- and it’s a bad one that threatens to bring down his presidency. Gut instinct is how I’ve made my living for 29 years since graduating Columbia.
Obama and his infamous strategist David Axelrod understand how to play political hardball, the best it’s ever been played. Team Obama has decided to distract America’s voters by condemning Mitt Romney for not releasing enough years of his tax returns. It’s the perfect cover. Obama knows the best defense is a bold offense. Just keep attacking Mitt and blaming him for secrecy and evasion, while accusing him of having a scandal that doesn’t exist. Then ask followers like Senator Harry Reid to chase the lead. The U.S. Senate Majority Leader appears to now be making up stories out of thin air, about tax returns he knows nothing about. It’s a cynical, brilliant, and vicious strategy. Make Romney defend, so he can’t attack the real Obama scandal.
This is classic Axelrod. Obama has won several elections in his career by slandering his opponents and leaking sealed documents. Not only do these insinuations and leaks ruin the credibility and reputation of Obama’s opponents, they keep them on the defensive and off Obama’s trail of sealed documents.
By attacking Romney’s tax records, Obama’s socialist cabal creates a problem that doesn’t exist. Is the U.S. Senate Majority Leader making up stories out of thin air? You decide. But the reason for this baseless attack is clear- make Romney defend, so not only is he “off message” but it helps the media ignore the real Obama scandal.
My answer for Romney? Call Obama’s bluff.
Romney should call a press conference and issue a challenge in front of the nation. He should agree to release more of his tax returns, only if Obama unseals his college records. Simple and straight-forward. Mitt should ask “What could possibly be so embarrassing in your college records from 29 years ago that you are afraid to let America’s voters see? If it’s THAT bad, maybe it’s something the voters ought to see.” Suddenly the tables are turned. Now Obama is on the defensive.
My bet is that Obama will never unseal his records because they contain information that could destroy his chances for re-election. Once this challenge is made public, my prediction is you’ll never hear about Mitt’s tax returns ever again.
Why are the college records, of a 51-year-old President of the United States, so important to keep secret? I think I know the answer.
If anyone should have questions about Obama’s record at Columbia University, it’s me. We both graduated (according to Obama) Columbia University, Class of ’83. We were both (according to Obama) Pre-Law and Political Science majors. And I thought I knew most everyone at Columbia. I certainly thought I’d heard of all of my fellow Political Science majors. But not Obama (or as he was known then- Barry Soetoro). I never met him. Never saw him. Never even heard of him. And none of the classmates that I knew at Columbia have ever met him, saw him, or heard of him.
But don’t take my word for it. The Wall Street Journal reported in 2008 that Fox News randomly called 400 of our Columbia classmates and never found one who had ever met Obama.
Now all of this mystery could be easily and instantly dismissed if Obama released his Columbia transcripts to the media. But even after serving as President for 3 1/2 years he refuses to unseal his college records. Shouldn’t the media be as relentless in pursuit of Obama’s records as Romney’s? Shouldn’t they be digging into Obama’s past–beyond what he has written about himself–with the same boundless enthusiasm as Mitt’s?
The first question I’d ask is, if you had great grades, why would you seal your records? So let’s assume Obama got poor grades. Why not release the records? He’s president of the free world, for gosh sakes. He’s commander-in-chief of the U.S. military. Who’d care about some poor grades from three decades ago, right? So then what’s the problem? Doesn’t that make the media suspicious? Something doesn’t add up.
Secondly, if he had poor grades at Occidental, how did he get admitted to an Ivy League university in the first place? And if his grades at Columbia were awful, how’d he ever get into Harvard Law School? So again those grades must have been great, right? So why spend millions to keep them sealed?
Third, how did Obama pay for all these fancy schools without coming from a wealthy background? If he had student loans or scholarships, would he not have to maintain good grades?
I can only think of one answer that would explain this mystery.
Here’s my gut belief: Obama got a leg up by being admitted to both Occidental and Columbia as a foreign exchange student. He was raised as a young boy in Indonesia. But did his mother ever change him back to a U.S. citizen? When he returned to live with his grandparents in Hawaii or as he neared college-age preparing to apply to schools, did he ever change his citizenship back? I’m betting not.
If you could unseal Obama’s Columbia University records I believe you’d find that:
A) He rarely ever attended class.
B) His grades were not those typical of what we understand it takes to get into Harvard Law School.
C) He attended Columbia as a foreign exchange student.
D) He paid little for either undergraduate college or Harvard Law School because of foreign aid and scholarships given to a poor foreign students like this kid Barry Soetoro from Indonesia.
If you think I’m “fishing” then prove me wrong. Open up your records Mr. President. What are you afraid of?
If it’s okay for U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to go on a fishing expedition about Romney’s taxes (even though he knows absolutely nothing about them nor will release his own), then I think I can do the same thing. But as Obama’s Columbia Class of ’83 classmate, at least I have more standing to make educated guesses.
It’s time for Mitt to go on the attack and call Obama’s bluff.
NOTE: The views expressed here are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of YWN.
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20 Responses
This drives me CRAZY!!!! Why is Romney holding back????
He’s just a big pinata standing with his dignity….
Everyone attacks him and he is totally quiet when he has soooooo much on Obama!
I Can’t understand it, Explain….
“But did his mother ever change him back to a U.S. citizen? ” — If he was born in the United States, or even abroad to a mother who was a citizen (paternity is more ambiguous since his father’s marriage to his mother is questionable due to evidence of bigamy which renders a marriage void in the USA) — he was a citizen. That the writer is so ignorant of the basics of American law, suggests the author is a blathering fool.
This is one of the stupidest articles I’ve seen here – and that’s saying something. You don’t “change your citizenship” if you’re living abroad; you change your residency. There are thousands of US citizens in Israel – have they “changed” their citizenship??
I can’t say what the policies of the universities in question are re: what’s necessary for one to be admitted as a foreign exchange student, but it’s quite possible that a non-resident citizen would qualify. As such, the main point of this article is not valid – and this article only serves to make those who oppose Obama look like a bunch of nuts.
an Israeli Yid
http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/columbia.asp
Wayne Root is a lowlife.
For years he has made a living lying his head off about his ability to pick winners in sports gambling, and then selling his picks to the gullible.
Please Google “Wayne Root scamdicapper”, sans the quotes, to see for yourself.
He has absolutely zero credibility on any subject under the sun.
The problem is he’ll create the good grades just like he created his birth certificate
This isn’t even bad fiction. Its a fairy tale.
These people remembered him:
Friend and roommate Sohale Siddiqi, whom the Associated Press located and interviewed in May 2008.
Roommate Phil Boerner, who provided his recollections of sharing a New York City apartment with classmate Barack Obama to the Columbia College Today alumni publication and the New York Times in early 2009.
Michael L. Baron, who taught the year-long honors seminar in American Foreign Policy that Barack Obama took during his senior year at Columbia and recalled in an NBC interview Obama’s “easily acing” the class and receiving an A for his senior paper on the topic of nuclear negotiations with the Soviet Union.
Likewise, other external evidence documents Barack Obama’s presence at Columbia from 1981-83, including:
An article by Barack Obama published in the 10 March 1983 edition of Columbia’s Sundial school magazine.
A January 2005 Columbia College Today profile of Barack Obama as a Columbia alumnus.
A Columbia College press release from November 2008 identifying him as “the first College alumnus to be elected President of the United States.”
Read more at http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/columbia.asp#0gkbAq53dLRelLvR.99
Very far fetched. If he releases his transcripts what will be the next accusation? Can the Chairmen of the major parties also be given space on YWN?
this story has been around since last election. all the liberal web sites claim the same three people that remember him. my question is if he really was there how come only three people remember him? there are countless people who remember him from Harvard, and only three from Columbia???? also. why would he hide his record what is he afraid of? (i ask the same for Romney tax returns)
It doesn’t matter if he was a student there or not, what matters is that it appears he is hiding something. Advise to Mitt: The best defense is a good offense. This is hard ball politics. Mitt should challenge Obama “I’ll show my tax returns if you show all your school records and who paid your freight”. Then maybe they will campaign about the issues!
Not that I agree with the letter writer but the poster are not accurate. While you don’t have to renounce your citizenship if you move abroad and can be dual citizen, if you do cancel your US citizenship you NEED to reapply to be a citizen. In order to get the foreign exchange student status he could not be US citizen. Also in Indonesia you CANNOT have dual citizenship, so he would have to have renounced his US citizenship in order to enroll in the Midrasa (school). He also admitted to traveling to Pakistan during that period which you couldn’t do as a US citizen. There are other proofs as well that he was only an Indonesian citizen at that point and there is no PROOF that he reapplied.
4. The owners of Snopes are in the tank for OblameO so they have no ne’emonis in this case. If 400 people were asked about him and NO ONE knew him, its a problem. One of the “proofs” they mentioned Was that OblameO wrote about specific people in his book. Well, we now know his “girlfriend” was fictitious – made of all the girls he dated. Something aside for hos presidency really stinks and the socialist liberal media is ignoring it all.
Root was born Jewish. Now he is a “Born again” C- radio ‘personality’.
Yeshiva World News should not give him any press coverage.
#11, a minor can’t renounce his citizenship; he doesn’t have the capacity to understand what it would mean. 0bama may have been a dual citizen, and may still be one, but it makes no difference. There’s no law that a dual citizen can’t be president.
akuperma says; suggests the author is a blathering fool.
anIsraeliYid says; This is one of the stupidest articles.
I can only try says: Wayne Root is a lowlife.
Wow you guys are so intense. chill guys its just an article, and besides why arent you guys personally being a mentch. Is this the only way to present an argument?
This is by far the STUPIDEST article every written. Full of conjecture, innuendo, self aggrandizement and pure stupidity. And I’m not a supporter of Obama…
Here are some problems off the bat!
1) call Columbia – and confirm that Obama was a student — that’s what employers do.
2) What does switching citizenship mean????? That’s not a real concept!!! I’m a dual citizen what button do I push to switch? and when do I need to push it?
2b) all those who claim to know citizenship policy of foreign countries (I assume your wikipedia skills are mad, but, you need to show that this was the case 30+ years ago)
3) You can’t compare a 4 year academic transcript with years of tax returns — you are grasping at straws here!
Romney should be careful playing tit-for-tat.
What if Obama has nothing to hide but he has built up this image that he does and they Romney blow-hardedly says “i’ll show my tax returns if he shows his transcripts” and then Obama presents a relatively benign college transcript with only days left — what’s Romney’s next move? He’ll disclose his ostentatious wealth to the class sensitive American public?? During a recession? With this much unemployment??
just sayin… be careful with what you wish for.
I for one see no issue in revealing the presidents past. What’s the point in bringing up issues that don’t make the policy of the land? Romney is actually smart for not bringing up issues that are nothing more then side tracks. Let not be sidetracked by this stupidity.
After learning in Sanhdrin that why those who make a living in the gambling business aren’t fit to give ‘edut, I wondered whether today’s gamblers are shayakh. Mr. Root in this article proved that they are, or at least he is.
אסמכתה לא קניה
#19, it says nothing about those who make their living in the gambling business. It says professional gamblers; the casino owners are not gambling.