The right seems obsessed with the idea that Obama did terribly in school, and couldn't handle the workload at a place like Harvard, Princeton, or Yale. (He went to Harvard Law). It is thinly-veiled racism.
Per the recently:
I got on the phone with somebody who said they went to school with Barack Obama at Harvard. And the guy told me that Obama got the lowest grades that any Harvard graduate ever got and that a bunch of professors gave him B's and C's when he didn't even show up to class. And then he hung up...
I'm corroborating it now. I'm telling you now. So I am calling on Barack Obama to release his Harvard transcripts, based on this call. I got a call from a guy at Harvard who claimed that Obama's got the lowest grades out of anybody who went there and didn't even go to class sometimes, and the professors covered for him. It's up to Obama to prove it. The allegation's out there. It's up to Obama to prove it. I got this call from Harvard, and the guy -- he sounded smart -- said he went to Harvard. He knew enough to call a phone number that would get to me. This guy found a way to get to me...
What do you mean the burden is on me to prove it? I don't have to prove anything here. Look, the burden is on Obama. He's the one that I've alleged got the worst grades in the history of Harvard. It's up to Obama to prove this. It's up to Obama. So we need the transcripts.
These vile accusations are nauseating and disgraceful. They have no place in our politics.
However, some of Mr. Limbaugh's comments ("The allegation's out there. It's up to Obama to prove it" and "the burden is on Obama") are evocative of Harry Reid's allegations that Romney didn't pay taxes. I hope to use both these examples to demonstrate the need for a more civil dialogue in American politics and an end to making unsubstantiated accusations about those from other parties.
Reid argued, when pressed by reporters on his claim that Romney didn't pay taxes, “I don’t think the burden should be on me. The burden should be on him. He’s the one I’ve alleged has not paid any taxes. Why didn’t he release his tax returns?”
First, the similarities.
1. Use of the "burden" phrase- both use the same phrase to support their unsubstantiated accusations. Rush's words could be Reid's.
2.The type of accusation itself is similar; both are unsubstantiated and come from conjecture. Moreover, both rely on anonymous sources that lead the claim to be impossible to prove or disprove.
3. They both advocate the same solution, releasing some document related to personal behavior and personal record. Both documents are not really that important, particularly the transcripts.
4. Both create a controversy that distracts from major issues.
Republicans were outraged at Reid's comments. Democrats should be outraged at Rush's. Yet I think both examples of these unsubstantiated allegations share many similarities, similarities that are disconcerting in our American political system. We should not cavalier-ly be throwing around uncorroborated, unsupported assertions, whether it is that Romney paid 0% in taxes (from an anonymous source who cannot be tracked down) or that Obama did poorly at school (from an anonymous source who cannot be tracked down).
Let's use both of these examples to start a new political dialogue, focused on substance, policy, and specific proposals and plans for the U.S.A. I know I will be wrongly accused of being a troll for this statement, but I think it is a legitimate point that should be considered seriously.
Update 1: As of writing this, 40% voted with me in the poll. Thanks!
5:52 PM PT: Update: Thanks to everybody who liked it on Facebook.