What Happened To Transparency And Accountability?
What Happened To Transparency And Accountability?
By
Ken Eliasberg
The left is always making a big deal over transparency and accountability — except, of course, when it comes to their having to practice what they preach. Let’s take a peek at how this has operated in connection with providing helpful, if not essential, background information on Democratic presidential aspirants going back some 5 decades. To kick off the discussion, I want to share with you an email I received from a friend that frames the issue of transparency for us; introduced and highlighted by a picture of the always tussled detective Columbo the email opens as follows:
Ah..Sorry to bother you Mr. Obama, Sir.. .
Excuse me Mr. Obama, I mean President Obama, Sir.
Um.. I know you’re busy, and important and stuff. I mean running the country is very important and — ah — I hate to bother you Sir. I will only take a minute. Ok Sir?
See, I have these missing pieces that are holding me up, and I was wondering Sir, if you could take time out of your busy schedule and help me out. You know, no big deal, just some loose ends and things.
Well, listen, I can’t seem to get some information I need to wrap this up. These things seem to either be “Not released” or “Not available.” I’m sure it’s just an oversight or glitch or something, so if you could you [sic] tell me where these things are — I — have them written down here somewhere — oh wait. Sorry about the smears. It was raining out. I’ll just read it to you. Could you please help me find these things Sir?
Occidental College records — Not released.
Columbia College records — Not released
Columbia Thesis paper — “Not available”
Harvard College records — Not released
Selective Service Registration — Not released
Medical records — Not released
Illinois State Senate schedule — Not available
Your Illinois State Senate records — Not available
Law practice client list — Not released
Certified Copy of original Birth certificate — Not released
Embossed, signed paper Certification of Live Birth — Not released
Record of your baptism — Not available
Oh and one more thing Senator, I can’t seem to find any articles you published as editor of the Harvard Law Review, or as a Professor at the University of Chicago. Can you explain that to me Sir?
Oh but, hey — listen! I know you’re busy! If this is too much for you right now — I mean — tell you what. I’ll come back tomorrow. Give you some time to get these things together, you know? I mean, I know you’re busy. I’ll just let myself out. I’ll be back tomorrow. And the day after.
What’s that Mr. President? Who wants to know these things?
We the People of the United States of America! You know, the ones that vote.”
While, admittedly, this is both a bit too cute and unnecessarily lengthy, it does serve to set the stage for about 50 years of Democratic obfuscation. Actually, it goes all the way back to FDR, when substantial efforts were made to conceal the fact that he was crippled. The cover up was, of course, easier in those days because we did not have T.V., talk radio, the internet, etc. And, I’m not suggesting that his disability should have hurt his political chances, but, obviously, others feared that it would or they would not have gone to such great lengths to keep this fact from the public.
Thereafter, starting with Kennedy, Dems went to greater lengths to conceal important information re matters pertaining to the presidential candidate’s personal life. With JFK, we never had access to his medical records, and, as we now know, he had Addison’s disease, a debilitating illness affecting one’s immune system. As we now also know, that didn’t seem to slow down his vigorous extra-marital activities. Which brings us to a second aspect of his medical record — speculation that it was withheld not just to hide Addison’s disease from the public, but rather to hide as well the fact that he had had a a sexually transmitted disease.
Then there is Bill Clinton, whose medical records were also never released. Again, failure to do so has given rise to speculation that he too failed to release these records to cover up a sexually transmitted disease (an understandable assumption based on Clinton’s record of Olympian extra-marital activity). Indeed, in view of Clinton’s rampant promiscuity, it could reasonably be argued that he, himself, constituted a sexually transmitted disease.
In the case of John Kerry, his military records were not made fully available. And this is significant because he placed so much stress on his heroic service in Vietnam (which, of course, he soiled on his return to civilian life). You do recall his dramatic opening statement at the 2004 Democratic Convention in which he stated that he was “reporting for duty” — an effort to establish his credentials as one qualified to be Commander-in-chief.
Finally, we have the current occupant of the White House, who, as the little skit used to introduce this column indicates, has provided virtually no documentation with regard to almost any aspect of his history. And the reason, I believe, is quite simple — he’s never done anything — EXCEPT TALK (something that he does quite well). Indeed, he has gone from Chicago’s community organizer to the world’s community organizer - without having accomplished a single thing of note. He has been engaged in a 20-year talkathon, culminating in his having talked himself into the White House.
We are entitled to the records of our presidential aspirants — the public has the right to know everything about the person that is being called upon to occupy the highest office in the land - and there is absolutely no reason why these guys have been able to get away with this obfuscation. And that’s not just my opinion; that’s the way it is — check it out!