Obama wants Romney's life to be an "open book"

President Obama was interviewed this week on WMUR TV in Manchester, NH (my former home). Here’s what Obama said: 

"What's important is if you are running for President is that the American people know who you are and what you have done and that you're an open book. And that's been true of every presidential candidate dating all the way back to Mitt Romney's father."

These comments coming from the man who three weeks ago invoked executive privilege to prevent “Fast & Furious” documents from being turned over to Congress. Where’s the transparency, Mr. President? Where is the “open book” and "transparency" on “Fast & Furious?”

If I were Mitt Romney, I would toss these comments right back in Obama's face and ask him to release his college transcripts. Decades after he completed his college course work, Obama’s academic performance is still a mystery. He has refused to release his college transcripts from his days as an undergraduate and law school student. One website has offered $20,000 to anyone who can produce these transcripts.

What would be interesting is to see (a) what classes he took and (b) with what professors.  The President cultivated friendships with many of the law school's professors and made a big show of calling them by their first names in class.  Did Obama take rigorous, larger classes with blind grading (like Antitrust with Phillip Areeda or Corporate Finance with Lucian Bebchuk) or did he take seminars with his friends like Charles Ogletree on "softer" subjects, where grading couldn't have been blind because of the class' small size?

Stephen Hess, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution said that most president’s academic records are made public by the time they reach the highest office in the land.

I’d also like to see his financial records during his time as a college student? How did he pay for college at Occidental, Columbia and Harvard? How much college debt did he really accrue? How did he pay it off and when? What type of scholarships or student aid did he receive?

I believe that Romney needs to release his tax returns, but first and foremost, let the transparency begin at the White House. President Obama, we’re waiting for you to demonstrate your “openness and transparency.”