During a presidential contest in which the term "transparency" has been frequently bandied about, candidates have buried a number of potentially revealing documents and papers. In Hillary Rodham Clinton's case, there's been a clamoring for tax records, White House memos and other material the candidate's team has chosen to keep from release. The 96-page Princeton thesis, restricted from release by the school's Mudd Library, has also been the subject of recent scrutiny.

Earlier this week, commentator Jonah Goldberg remarked on National Review Online, "A reader in the know informs me that Michelle Obama's thesis ... is unavailable until Nov. 5, 2008, at the Princeton library. I wonder why."

"Why a restricted thesis?" asked blogger-pastor Louis Lapides on his site Thinking Outside the Blog. "Is the concern based on what's in the thesis? Will Michelle Obama appear to be too black for white America or not black enough for black America?"

--Michelle Obama thesis was on racial divide

Here, we see that Ms. LaVaughn Robinson, née Mrs. Obama, collaborated with Princeton University, an alleged institution of higher learning, to hide her radical militant blackness/conservative colorblind citizenry of the worldliness. What do you have to hide, Mrs. Obama? What did you write in this thesis that would lead us to want to see it so eagerly? What is in this thesis that is more incriminating and diabolical than Sen. Clinton's tax records and White House memoranda? And how did you keep this treasure to knowledge hidden for so long?

Something is fishy about all of this! How do we get our sticky hands on this Golden Thesis?

Attempts to retrieve the document through Princeton proved unsuccessful, with school librarians having been pestered so much for access to the thesis that they have resorted to reading from a script when callers inquire about it. Media officers at the prestigious university were similarly unhelpful, claiming it is "not unusual" for a thesis to be restricted and refusing to discuss "the academic work of alumni."

[posted by Sylvia/M, a legal skeptic of this whole TRANSPARENCY thing]

--Michelle Obama thesis was on racial divide

Damnit, Princeton! We Want The Truth! How dare you tell us we cannot handle it!

[Let's fast forward through some poorly done cat burglaries, Watergate-style flashlight searches, and abuse of our friendly neighborhood Big Brother -- Mr. Google.]

So now we know, dear friends, that this candidacy of Barack Obama has something to hide -- better yet, it has someone to hide. A race relations mastermind, a veritable scholar on the subject of race in America! Her thesis holds the key to understanding where we stand on racial issues. Her thesis will let us know just how racist we are! It will hold the mirror to America, dear friends; it will reveal our inner selves to...our outer selves!

But how will we get this thesis? How, in this farce of TRANSPARENCY that is important allegedly to the Obama campaign, will we be able to touch it, to see it, to drink from its fountain and have our true selves revealed? We've watched our comrades try and fail to get to the truth! Politico, do something!

The Obama campaign, however, quickly responded to a request for the thesis by Politico. The thesis offers several fascinating insights into the mind of Michelle Obama, who has been a passionate advocate of her husband's presidential aspirations and who has made several controvesial statements, including this week's remark, "For the first time in my adult lifetime, I am really proud of my country." That comment has fueled debate on countless blogs, radio talk shows and cable news for days on end, causing her to explain the statement in greater detail. [Emphasis added.]

--Michelle Obama thesis was on racial divide

How evasive! Do you see how the Obama campaign waffled and wavered, stubbornly refusing to furnish the thesis, adamantly ignoring Politico in all its investigative glory, and placing its foot firmly on this key to racial understanding with its oppressive iron boot?

No? Me neither! Here are all four parts of her thesis, conveniently downloadable in a portable document format (PDF): #1, #2, #3, #4.

The 1985 thesis provides a trove of Michelle Obama's thoughts as a young woman, with many of the paper's statements describing the student's world as seen through a race-based prism.

"In defining the concept of identification or the ability to identify with the black community," the Princeton student wrote, "I based my definition on the premise that there is a distinctive black culture very different from white culture." Other thesis statements specifically pointed to what was seen by the future Mrs. Obama as racially insensitive practices in a university system populated with mostly Caucasian educators and students: "Predominately white universities like Princeton are socially and academically designed to cater to the needs of the white students comprising the bulk of their enrollments."

--Michelle Obama thesis was on racial divide

"Race-based prism," eh? "Distinctive black culture very different from white culture." Considering the thoughtful meanderings of our less than bashful resident blogger through a lens of his own, maybe the contents of this thesis would prove interesting to people here. (But for the purposes of this new scandal of sociological thesis writing thrust upon us, we'll look at those glinty shades he's wearing as probing X-ray race-based prism lenses.)

Now, I'm beginning to think that this whole TRANSPARENCY thing means that if you ask a group directly about what you want to see, they'll give it to you. Odd. I haven't seen much behavior like this for the past 8 years -- maybe longer -- but something tells me it is out of place in our typical political arena.

Well played, Obama campaign, with your forthrightness and your psychedelic languages of hope and democracy! Well played.

Hat-tip to LJ Blackfolk for the article link.