Did Obama Register For Draft

President Obama smiles at supporters during a campaign rally Saturday, Sept. 8, 2012, in Seminole, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

Times-Union readers want to know:

I keep hearing that President Barack Obama'due south records take been sealed and that's why in that location are so many secrets about him. Is this true?

This viral electronic mail contains a graphic that lists various parts of Obama'southward life, which supposedly are sealed: college records, a thesis paper, Selective Service registration, Illinois land Senate records and schedule, law practice client list, nascence certificates and baptism record.

Most of these issues have come as dissever emails, but this viral message is probably appearing now because the presidential campaign is nearing an end.

As FactCheck.org points out, the discussion "sealed" usually means a estimate has ruled that records normally open to the public cannot exist released without court permission. You commonly hear about sealed documents when they pertain to juvenile arrest records, some divorce proceedings or adoption records.

In this case, some of the items on the list are open for anyone to see.

The other documents supposedly sealed are records that Obama has not released - but neither accept other presidential candidates in the course of their campaigns.

FactCheck.org, a nonpartisan fact-finding project of the Annenberg Public Policy Middle at the University of Pennsylvania, researched the list:

COLLEGE RECORDS

These aren't sealed; Obama hasn't released them, and schools aren't allowed to release whatever student records to reporters or the public. Although George Westward. Bush'southward grades at Yale were leaked to New Yorker magazine, according to various news accounts, the president himself did non give permission to release them. Other candidates for part, such as Rick Perry, have had their college transcripts leaked by someone - in this case to the Huffington Postal service - simply Perry did not release them.

THESIS Newspaper

Obama did write a paper on nuclear disarmament during his senior twelvemonth, FactCheck.org states, but information technology wasn't a thesis that a master'due south or Ph.D candidate would have to defend.

During the 2008 campaign, Columbia told reporters that it did non take a copy of the paper, Obama said he didn't either and Obama's erstwhile professor Michael Baron said he probably threw the paper out in an earlier move.

SELECTIVE SERVICE

Obama'southward registration is public. Daniel Amon, public affairs specialist with the Selective Service, confirmed to the media that he registered for the draft at a postal service part in Hawaii on Sept. 4, 1980 and was given No. 61-1125539-1, FactCheck.org reports. Even though rumors persist that he never registered for the typhoon, or his registration was falsified, there has been no factual evidence of that.

MEDICAL RECORDS

Obama has washed what other presidents have done and released results of his physical exams, every bit reported by numerous media outlets. The most recent was released on Oct. 31, 2011, and signed by his doctor, Jeffrey C. Kuhlman.

STATE SENATE RECORDS

These are all public. Y'all can read Obama's comments during debate at the Illinois General Associates's website at www.ilga.gov. FactCheck.org points out, notwithstanding, that if Obama kept a personal appointment agenda every bit an Illinois state senator, the calendar might still be private - but that'south private, not sealed.

LAW FIRM CLIENTS

Citing client confidentiality, Obama has non released a list of clients he represented while with the Illinois law firm and so known as Davis, Miner, Barnhill and Gallard, although he did disembalm the firm'south client list while he was in the state Senate. Media seeking the specific list of Obama's clients have questioned whether merely the fact of representation is confidential; indeed, district courts in Illinois have ruled but the contrary when it pertains to attorneys' billing statements or checks, which would surely show clients. Still, the list has not been released - but, again, it is not sealed.

Birth Certificate

While this remains a controversial discipline, what have been identified as Obama'south short- and long-form nativity certificates have been released and Hawaiian officials take long maintained that Obama was built-in there.

BAPTISM Record

If at that place is such a document, it hasn't surfaced yet, or Obama has not released it. Undisputed news accounts report that Obama was baptized in 1988 in Trinity United Church of Christ, where the Rev. Jeremiah Wright was minister.

ENDORSEMENT?

The graphic in the viral email likewise states that the Communist Political party of the U.S. endorses Obama. The party supports the president, just Obama did not seek that endorsement, nor has he endorsed the political party.

Carole Fader: (904) 359-4635