Obama's College Transcripts

Transcripts for Obama's Mother

It is clear that President Obama will not release his college transcripts for public scrutiny anytime soon. He  demanded that his rivals release their tax returns, which was much more pertinent and embarrassing, but he won't reciprocate with his grades earned 30 years ago. See link

 Why won't he release his college grades? I have three theories:
1. He is an intensely private individual
This statement does not make sense after reviewing the man's history. Obama is perhaps the most important person in the world. He has written two books about himself. He is a politician. Those actions yell out, "Look at me!" They don't communicate, "Leave me alone."Since the president is so important, all aspects of his life deserve scrutiny, especially his understanding of the world, measured by college grades. My employer has a copy of my college and graduate school grades, and the American people are Obama's employer.

2. He wants to distract the Republicans
The controversy over Obama's long birth certificate distracted Obama's political enemies from more important and relevant issues. The "birthers" ended up looking like extremists and fools. The transcript controversy has less power to demonize the Republicans. Everyone agrees Obama has a transcript, and many of us feel we have the right to see it.

3. He has something to hide
Ironically, he doesn't really. He probably has a transcript somewhat like mine--mostly A's with a few B's and maybe a C here and there. However, he thinks he has something to hide, because the transcript will make him look like every other moderately bright professional, no better and no worse, and not an elite thinker. Richard Nixon and Hillary Clinton probably had better grades. Mitt Romney certainly did.

I think it is unlikely that his grades were less than impressive, and he was accepted to Harvard Law School because of affirmative action. It is more probable that his grades were very good but not perfect, and that is why he wants to hide them.

Update (May 28, July 8, 2012): According to David Maraniss, Obama's cumulative GPA after Columbia was 3.7, an A minus average, though no source is given. His grades at his first university, Occidental, are still unknown. There is some controversy over the time he spent at Columbia, because the records are corrupt, and few professors remember him besides the one that wrote his recommendation for law school.
Update (August 6, 2012): A Columbia classmate makes the more outlandish  and completely unsubstantiated claim that Obama really does have something to hide: he was a foreign exchange student who rarely attended classes. See that article here. I personally met an Obama Columbia classmate, a father of one of my son's teammates, so I know that Obama was a student there.
Update (October 24): Donald Trump, in what he called a "bombshell" revelation, offered to donate five million dollars to Obama's favorite charity (probably not including the Obama reelection campaign) if he released his transcripts, application paperwork, and passport application. The media was not impressed, and there was no serious reply from the White House.