Election Day is coming ... what do you know about the candidates?

Recently I read a short piece on political awareness, and it all boiled down to one question. "Do you know who Barry Soetoro is?"  I scoffed.  Of course I know who that is! How could anyone not know who that is? Then I started asking others, even my own children, and was surprised at the number of shrugs I got.

For those who do not know, Barry Soetero is a name attributed to Barack Obama, comprised of his childhood nickname (Barry) and his adoptive father's last name. When he was a small child, President Obama's mother married an Indonesian man named Lolo Soetoro.  Indonesian school records list Barry Soetoro as a student during the time Obama lived there.  Whether or not he used this name throughout his life or during his American education is a mystery.

President Obama had most of his personal and educational records sealed years ago, we have no access to evidence of his life history ... no grade history, no college applications, no copies of his thesis, etc. There has been no explanation for this lack of transparency, and to this day his records are sealed.

In his own autobiography President Obama claimed he rarely went to class in high school and did drugs a great deal. So how did he get into Harvard? He claimed he barely passed in high school.  Did he utilize his step-father's heritage to gain an advantage? Is that why we can't access this information? Some claim he registered as a foreign student, but there is no available evidence to prove or disprove this.

Sadly, anyone who questions President Obama's life history is labeled a racist or a whacko or a conspiracy theorist. Accordingly, we know very little about his life except what he wrote in his autobiographies. Can you imagine any other Presidential candidate, much less President, sealing his personal records like this and no one being allowed to ask why?

Personally, I believe Barack Obama was elected President because he was African American and had a pithy slogan.  After the brutalizing press that President Bush received the last four years of his administration, Americans were hungry for something positive and affirming.  Obama, who was a minority, had a Harvard Law Degree, was hailed as the "Smartest Presidential Candidate Ever," and gave great speeches, filled the bill, and Americans went for the change he represented. However, if we are honest with ourselves, we recognize that no white junior senator from a midwestern state would be considered for any party's nomination for President ..... certainly not with his limited experience and sealed records, and certainly not against an experienced politician like Hillary Clinton.

Now if you want to put yourself though conspiracy whacko-land, do a Google search on Barry Soetoro. I don't recommend it, though, it's depressing and scary. But hopefully my mentioning this has tweaked your interest enough to find out about our Presidential candidates this year.  We have Mitt Romney, who has his records open and available to everyone, and we have President Obama whose records are still sealed and has only allowed us to know what he wrote about himself in his autobiographies.

That alone should make you look very hard at your vote this Novemeber.