LOS ANGELES (YBH.ME) – Some media watchers have always found the absolute lock-down of President Obama’s college records as a quasi-conspiracy meant to hide something from Mr. Obama’s past. It is fair to say, as many have, that it is strange that Michele Obama’s thesis has seen the light of day, while the President’s own work remains hidden.
On August 25, 2009 a blogger named Matthew Avitabile attributed the following quotes to Barack Obama, purportedly from his senior seminar paper “Aristocracy Reborn”:
“There are many who will defend the ‘free market.’ But who will defend the single mother of four working three jobs. When a system is allowed to be free at the expense of its citizens, then it is tyranny.”
And
“… the Constitution allows for many things, but what it does not allow is the most revealing. The so-called Founders did not allow for economic freedom. While political freedom is supposedly a cornerstone of the document, the distribution of wealth is not even mentioned. While many believed that the new Constitution gave them liberty, it instead fitted them with the shackles of hypocrisy.”
The article byline lists the name Brian Lancaster, it is unclear if he or Mr. Avitabile is the author. We at YBH call on Mr. Avitabile to site his sources or retract the statements.
Please keep in mind that we do find it odd that the President refuses to release his college records. Clearly there is something “there” that Mr. Obama and staff feel would hurt the image of Barack Obama. However, if Mr. Avitabile has the goods, so to speak, he needs to source them outright.
Mr. Avitabile does claim that the quotes are part of a larger narrative from a report that Time writer Joe Klein was writing. Mr. Klein’s report, if it exists, has not been released. We ask Mr. Avitabile to please document how he came across the, if true, controversial quotes from Mr. Obama.
Rush Limbaugh mentioned the quotes today on his national radio show with caveats asking questions much like those above. Mr. Limbaugh later seemed to back down referring to the blog Mr. Avitabile writes for as a satire blog. While some of the claims on the blog can be read as satire much of the posting there is straight news commentary. For instance, a story currently running on the site is headlined “Sarah Palin endorses Doug Hoffman for Congress.” Hardly satire in our opinion.
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John Romano is the publisher and editor of Yes, But However!, a musician, a former political correspondent for BBC Radio London, and a serial web entrepreneur. Follow him on twitter: twitter.com/yesbuthowever or John Romano on Google+John Romano article archive.
