Obama’s college, passport records should not be basis for voters’ decisions, dissent
This year is the first year I’m eligible to vote for the president of the United States, and I didn’t register. While I’m sure some people think that’s plain un-American and highly predictable from my generation, I just couldn’t muster enough interest in either candidate to hope he lead our country.
It’s been difficult in the past few elections to find a true man of character like the presidents of our past. One definite contributor to the mediocre candidate selection is the 24-hour media circuit we live in. With people jumping on candidates’ pasts to reveal youthful drug indulgences, war history or birth certificates, everything they do is scrutinized and questioned.
Every campaign, for local mayor and the president alike, is surrounded by rumors. President Barack Obama has been questioned on many occasions about his birth certificate. Multiple news circuits and people in power called him out until he displayed his long-form birth certificate to the American people, leading some to call him “the least transparent president in the history of the country.” Now as he faces re-election, he’s under scrutiny again.
Last week, via his Twitter account, Donald Trump offered up a $5 million charity donation if Obama would just release his college and passport records. He said that by taking the deal, Obama would satisfy questions voters have about his past. Trump deems himself one of the people accountable for pushing Obama to release his birth certificate and in a slightly self-righteous admission said he was proud to have done so.
It’s a little unclear if this is merely a public relations ploy on Trump’s part, but he does it right by offering the big bucks to make Obama look guilty if he doesn’t respond properly. When questioned about Trump’s ultimatum, Obama’s spokesperson said it may be a better question for Mitt Romney’s people, avoiding it altogether.
While those decided on their vote won’t change their opinion over a matter this trifling, I fear for the people who become convinced Obama isn’t the right choice simply because he hasn’t submitted every document of his past to the public’s grabby hands.
Romney hasn’t been asked to submit his college and passport credentials, show his birth certificate or prove his nationality at every turn. The root of democracy is fairness. While the pie will never be perfectly cut in half, there are bigger things to worry about in an election than where the president has traveled or what grades he received in a psychology class.
Obviously Romney and his campaign team can’t control all of their supporters completely, but they would do well to make some statement against this to prove they’re worried about bigger things in America than one man’s past.