# Obama's college transcripts **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 21, 2012, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-college-transcripts/619492 "2012-04-21T12:20:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![What\_the](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f4b2a3/32.png) [@What\_the](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_the)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2012, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-college-transcripts/619492/1 "2012-04-21T12:20:08Z")
Snopes says he hasn’t made his Columbia transcripts available[here.](http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/columbia.asp) Have there been any official explanations why not? How about his Harvard transcripts? Just the facts please. ---
**Author:** ![NorthernBiker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/50afbb/32.png) [@NorthernBiker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NorthernBiker)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2012, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-college-transcripts/619492/2 "2012-04-21T12:28:34Z")
Who cares. They are his own personal grades/marks. He evidently passed high enough to get into law school and pass the bar exam. Releasing them would not benefit him, if they are great so what, and if they are poor, they give ammunition to the opposition. Why do you care about them? Are his qualifications not enough? ---
**Author:** ![What\_the](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f4b2a3/32.png) [@What\_the](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_the)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2012, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-college-transcripts/619492/3 "2012-04-21T12:57:23Z")
I do. Another fact based question … without really thinking about it I assumed they might show something other than grades. Am I wrong in that? Has Obama written about his college years in enough detail that transcripts might point out some discrepencies. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2012, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-college-transcripts/619492/4 "2012-04-21T13:03:35Z")
I don’t think so. I’m looking at my college transcripts, and they’re just basically the courses I was taking and my grades. He probably just doesn’t want people to know that he got a C in Introduction to Basketweaving or something. ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2012, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-college-transcripts/619492/5 "2012-04-21T14:04:27Z")
Why should he? Have you made your college transcripts available to the general public? Who does? ---
**Author:** ![Linden\_Arden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/53a042/32.png) [@Linden\_Arden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Linden_Arden)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2012, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-college-transcripts/619492/6 "2012-04-21T14:11:41Z")
Its been reported that Obama graduated from Harvard Magna cum laude. This would appear on a graduation ceremony schedule in some cases. ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2012, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-college-transcripts/619492/7 "2012-04-21T14:12:02Z")
I’m trying to care about his transcripts, but I’m falling way short of giving a crap here. I’d rather judge him by what he does as president than what he did in school. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2012, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-college-transcripts/619492/8 "2012-04-21T14:19:26Z")
I am at a lost as to why his transcripts would matter, or what it would prove. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2012, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-college-transcripts/619492/9 "2012-04-21T14:28:20Z")
Obama released his long form birth certificate a few days before he ordered Bin Laden killed, the juxtaposition of the two priorities (killing the mastermind of 9/11 vs placating those who thought he was secretly foreign) probably helped boost his image and clarify the priorities of the two sides of the debate. If he releases his college transcripts it will probably be a couple of days before Mullah Omar and Al Zawahiri are killed. ---
**Author:** ![What\_the](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f4b2a3/32.png) [@What\_the](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_the)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2012, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-college-transcripts/619492/10 "2012-04-21T14:30:39Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > I am at a lost as to why his transcripts would matter, or what it would prove. So am I. Is there some difficulty in doing so? I think I understand that there were some reasonable issues re the birth certificate that prevented him from putting it all out right way. ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_Door](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2012, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-college-transcripts/619492/11 "2012-04-21T14:54:04Z")
He’s probably concerned about the courses in English as a second language for Kenyan speakers. ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2012, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-college-transcripts/619492/12 "2012-04-21T15:18:07Z")
I am outraged he hasn’t released a nude photo. How are we trust him if he keeps hiding what he looks like? ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2012, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-college-transcripts/619492/13 "2012-04-21T15:24:58Z")
> [@even\_sven](#): > > I am outraged he hasn’t released a nude photo. How are we trust him if he keeps hiding what he looks like? Now we’re talking! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Twoflower](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/twoflower/32/22_2.png) [@Twoflower](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Twoflower)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2012, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-college-transcripts/619492/14 "2012-04-21T15:30:04Z")
Has Mitt Romney released his transcripts? Has any president or canditiate ever released their college transcripts? ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2012, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-college-transcripts/619492/15 "2012-04-21T15:31:27Z")
> [@ZenBeam](#): > > Why should he? I dont’ see how that answers OP’s question: “Have there been any official explanations why not?” > [@](#): > > Have you made your college transcripts available to the general public? He’s not running for president. > [@](#): > > Who does? [Kerry did.](http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8127403/ns/politics/t/kerry-got-slow-start-yale-transcript-shows/#.T5LSJWBuFXU) AFAIK, there have been no official explanation as to why Obama didn’t release his treanscripts. But I can’t say that I know this for sure. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2012, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-college-transcripts/619492/16 "2012-04-21T15:31:42Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > I am at a lost as to why his transcripts would matter, or what it would prove. But the OP _cares_. That’s all that matters. Idle curiosity should always trump irrelevance. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2012, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-college-transcripts/619492/17 "2012-04-21T15:35:46Z")
> [@What\_the](#): > > Is there some difficulty in doing so? The difficulties are political. Nobody on the left has ever called for his transcripts to be released. Only right-wing opponents, those closely tied to the Birthers, have made this a continuing public issue. So there is no possible upside for his releasing them. The downside is an another total distraction to the campaign and to the presidency, inevitable since the release of his long-form birth certificate brought nothing but a renewed campaign of accusations of forgery. I don’t know exactly what accusations would be made of the transcripts but something would occur because the underlying basis for their demands is not about the contents of the documents but to reinforce the long-standing contention that Obama is an Other, not One of Us, a Usurper of Americanism. The documents themselves have no meaning. They are only symbols in a larger campaign. As symbols, Obama will reveal them or not as he seeks to enhance his political standing. People will demand them as they seek to enhance their political standing. ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2012, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-college-transcripts/619492/18 "2012-04-21T15:37:47Z")
> [@What\_the](#): > > Is there some difficulty in doing so? The difficulty is that it’s a pain in the ass that won’t do him any good. He’s put out his birth certificate, and there are still birthers, even in Congress. So what good would putting out his transcripts do? Anybody who is so fucked up that he thinks Obama is hiding something will not believe they are real, or will switch his demands to see his high school transcripts, or financial aid applications, or something else. Nobody with any intelligence needs to see them. Just as it is absolutely inconceivable that the Bush Administration would have provided millions of dollars worth of Secret Service protection to Obama, beginning no later than when he won his party’s nomination, without satisfying themselves that he was a natural born citizen, it is absolutely inconceivable that everybody at Harvard or Columbia has forgotten that he was a poor student. ---
**Author:** ![Fubaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@Fubaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fubaya)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2012, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-college-transcripts/619492/19 "2012-04-21T15:42:44Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > [Kerry did.](http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8127403/ns/politics/t/kerry-got-slow-start-yale-transcript-shows/#.T5LSJWBuFXU) > > AFAIK, there have been no explanation as to why Obama didn’t release his treanscripts. But I can’t say that I know this for sure. Probably because he doesn’t care, it’s not normal to release them, it’s nobody’s business and this is a manufactured “scandal”. Kerry released his because Bush’s were leaked (anyone outraged over _his_ refusal to release them?). Clinton didn’t release his. Reagan didn’t release his. I’ll wager that before that you’ll find somewhere between zero and a handful of presidents who released theirs. There has been no explanation because no explanation is required. Diplomas are for the public, transcripts are for the student. If they don’t release them, they are only doing what’s normal. Could someone provide an explanation why the transcripts are so important for this president when they’ve never been before? He would have needed a high GPA to get into Harvard Law School, and must have done pretty well because he graduated with a Juris Doctor magna cum laude from Harvard. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2012, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-college-transcripts/619492/20 "2012-04-21T15:46:54Z")
> [@Fubaya](#): > > Probably because he doesn’t care, it’s not normal to release them, it’s nobody’s business and this is a manufactured “scandal”. > > Kerry released his because Bush’s were leaked (anyone outraged over _his_ refusal to release them?). Well, I was just giving a factual answer to a question posed by a poster. And the OP has not expressed any “outrage” nor has he implied that this is a “scandal”. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-college-transcripts/619492.md?page=2)