Opaque Barack Obama

Fresh from his photo-op world tour de force, Barack Obama may have a bounce in the polls, but there are a few months left until the actual coronation. It's possible actual voters may not anoint the Great Hope when they really focus. Veteran ABC 7 investigative reporter Chuck Goudie this morning in his Daily Herald column brings us back to Earth:

As Mr. Obama jetted around the Middle East and Europe last week looking worldly and presidential, he talked about the next phase of tearing down walls between the United States and its allies, just as the Berlin Wall once tumbled.

The Rev. Wright flap, Obama's financial dealings and his relationship with Tony Rezko were all forgotten, almost as if the campaign had built a wall in the middle of the Atlantic to keep them at bay.

Even as the Obama campaign plane flew by convicted, corrupt businessman and political fundraiser Tony Rezko's birthplace in Syria, it was unlikely anyone noticed or cared.

But for someone who promotes himself as representing a new kind of politics, how about some transparency, Barack? Obama may have ushered in improvements in Washington on this score, but his effort in Illinois when he had the chance was sadly lacking. (Here is an example of model legislation.) Could that be why his Illinois records have mysteriously disappeared? No Harvard Law Review articles to his name, nor any as a law prof at U of C, no release of his legal billing records. The NextRight has picked up the ACORN story and noted Obama's close connection.

And even the center-left TNR has picked up on the less than forthcoming nature of Barack Obama and his campaign:

"They're an arrogant operation. Young and arrogant," one reporter covering the campaign says. "They don't believe in transparency with their own campaign," another says.

Reporters who have covered Obama's biography or his problems with certain voter blocs have been challenged the most aggressively. "They're terrified of people poking around Obama's life," one reporter says. "The whole Obama narrative is built around this narrative that Obama and David Axelrod built, and, like all stories, it's not entirely true. So they have to be protective of the crown jewels." Another reporter notes that, during the last year, Obama's old friends and Harvard classmates were requested not to talk to the press without permission.

Opaque Barack Obama.

Who is Barack Obama? Can we entrust our safety and our future to this elusive smooth-talker, who campaigns overseas and stonewalls at home?