Could You Pass Obama's Background Check?

[Freddie Stubbs]

Source: WRTV-TV

President-Elect Tries To Weed Out Controversial Candidates

Applicants for President-elect Barack Obama's Cabinet get ready to chronicle your life story.

Those interested in joining Obama's administration have to pass an extensive background test.

The questionnaire, the New York Times reported, includes 63 requests for personal and professional records, some covering applicants’ spouses and grown children as well, that are forcing job-seekers to rummage from basements to attics, in shoe boxes, diaries and computer archives to document both their achievements and missteps, the Times said.

Obama wants applicants to “list all aliases or ‘handles’ you have used to communicate on the Internet,” and asks people to include any e-mail that might embarrass the president-elect, along with any blog posts and links to their Facebook.com pages.

Read more: http://www.theindychannel.com/money/17972140/detail.html#-

[eleny]

1. Nope

[maseman]

23. Since I have probably smoked about 6 acres of grass in my life

I'd say no. (I don't smoke anymore.)

[eleny]

29. 6 acres, huh. you got me beat!

[JuniperLea]

34. Amatuer:)

If it were only legal...

[shadowknows69]

41. I smoked six acres last weekend

[JuniperLea]

43. Doood...

I could so use six acres right now!

:rofl:

[ramapo]

2. No way

I can think of at least a dozen things that I've done (probably more) that would probably knock me out and I've never been in any kind of trouble in my life.

[Name removed]

28. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Shoedogg]

30. Bye bye! n/t

[Quantess]

31. Where was Obama really born, you ask?

You won't make it past 2 posts, I'll bet.

[myrna minx]

35. LOL. Keep clinging onto that desperate fantasy, while we work on fixing the nation.

[cosmicone]

38. You are a freeper with a wardrobe malfunction !!! n/t

[bitchkitty]

39. I wonder....

I wonder if you're a moron. Like where were YOU born? Oh wait, you are a moron, and a moron can't learn shit.

Never mind.

[SpiralHawk]

3. "Holy Skull & Boner, Barackman, I am sooo screwn" - Commander AWOL

"I mean, when the Obamster finds out about my lurid, snarky posts on DU, and my soul-rotting occult republicon, um, ah, affiliations, I'll never get a job - guess I'll have to kick back and retire on Fatass TaxPayer Pension Payola at the Imperial Pig Farm Upon Crawford - Smirk"

- Commander AWOL

[El Supremo]

4. The real question is...

would you even want to fill out this form?

[maxsolomon]

5. oh the emails i've sent...

the websites i've visited, the flamewars i've participated in, the horrible things maxsolomon has posted. it would turn your hair white. at least i'm always maxsolomon.

& this doesn't even approach scale of the reprehensible things i've done in meat world.

[liberal N proud]

6. At one time, I probably had very similar security check

Not sure if I would pass now.

[slackmaster]

25. I went through a pretty tough one for a DoD clearance in 1982

I passed then and I was only 24 at the time, so I would probably pass the same check now.

[qanda]

7. Good for him

They'll be looking for any and everything to bring down his presidency. The last thing he needs is somebody else's past coming back to bite him in the behind.

[demnan]

8. Probably

They expect everyone to have something in their background, however the real purpose is to make sure that you don't have anything you can be blackmailed over. Even for NSA and other organizations, that is the main purpose in these things.

[slackmaster]

26. That's exactly right

Vulnerability to blackmail is a very big issue. The other big one is honesty.

[uncle ray]

50. yup, i don't think questionable stuff will disqualify a person.

they just want to know in advance. i'd bet the usual youthful indiscretions like drug use will be of no consequence. after all, Obama is an admitted past drug user, why would he hold that against anybody in his staff?

[PunkinPi]

9. No, and "Joe the Plummer" wouldn't get past #2.

:rofl:

link to pdf of Questionnaire: http://www.theindychannel.com/download/2008/1113/17972158.pdf

[kestrel91316]

10. They probably wouldn't care much for all my "strong words" here on DU

over the years. But those nude pics in college did me in decades ago, anyway, lol.

[sinkingfeeling]

11. Yes.

[Betsy Ross]

12. Not even a ghost of a chance.

But then again, if one doesn't mind the nude photos from 40 years ago taken while modelling for the San Francisco Art Institute being public then there should be no problem. LOL!

[NightHawk63]

13. Are you kidding??? Hell, I wouldn't hire me!

:evilgrin:

[amdezurik]

14. no way, no how, and wouldn't wanna

[JuniperLea]

15. Yes. I have a securities license... the FBI already knows all about me...

Including my fingerprints.

I'm golden... touch wood!

[slackmaster]

27. I think they have three full sets of my prints now

DoD security clearance, bank employment, and one other I can't recall exactly what for.

I passed the background check for a Federal Firearms License in 2005.

[JuniperLea]

32. I've thought about the firearms license...

Since I have a good rep with the Feds and all... not to mention the Freeper run on guns since the election. No sense in them having the only guns, besides the gangsters, in my hood.

I haven't shot a gun in about five years, but I used to be a great shot. One of my oldest friends is a cop and he was on a SWAT team for years... he was the only person I ever knew who could shoot as well as I could. Maybe this year's bonus should fund a new snub nose .38 revolver...

[slackmaster]

36. The collectors (type 03) license is $30 for three years

If you like curios and relics, it pays for itself in one purchase.

You also have to spend about another $40 for supplies, i.e. bound book and stuff.

[JuniperLea]

37. Thanks for the info...

I think it's time:)

[MgtPA]

16. Nope. I passed a Top Secret clearance background check by DoD without any trouble, but I couldn't...

...pass the Obama test. Guess his administration will be staffed with a bunch of 10-year-olds.

[TomInTib]

17. Maybe pre-1962.

After that, it is all pretty much a fog.

[Fire1]

18. I'd have to retrieve some 'racy' love letters from about 15 years ago, Otherwise,

yes, I'd pass.

[Bluenorthwest]

19. Never in a million years

And I'm very glad of it too.

[Dukkha]

20. you mean he's actually vetting his candidates?

wow imagine that

[Bake]

21. I wouldn't even attempt it!

It would be a forgone conclusion.

Bake

[VaYallaDawg]

22. Absolutely not. I inhaled. What's worse, I remember it.

[sofa king]

59. I inhaled and now I can't remember anything.

But I'm happy that President Clinton will be handing the reigns over to this Obama fellow.

[slackmaster]

24. Not enough information to say one way or another

All the application asks for is disclosure. Certainly lying on the application would result in a disqualification. But even TS military clearances and FBI employment are granted to people who admit to things that they did far in the past.

[DU GrovelBot]

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[MonteLukast]

40. I'm (pleasantly) surprised they don't ask...

... whether you or any member of your family has ever been diagnosed with a mental illness or received psychiatric care. (My mother is bipolar.) But I'm not sure if that comes under "have you had a physical in the past year" or, "potential embarrassment to the President-elect".

I wonder if having a lot of student loan debt qualifies as "vulnerability to blackmail"? At least it's not gambling debt.

I write fan fiction sometimes, including RPF. (real people fic, for the uninitiated) That may cook my goose.

[Thothmes]

42. Probably,

Doesnt sound much different that the backgroud check I when through to get clearance for access to nuclear weapons. That was in the 1970s.

[Posteritatis]

44. I see a list of questions; I *don't* see pass/fail criteria

Also, I find #9 interesting - the fact that they ideally want the references to be one person you worked with, one person you worked for, and one person who worked for you. And #8 would probably have some interesting answers no matter who's responding.

(ed. to add musing on specific questions)

[Libertyfirst]

45. I don't know if I'd past or fail.

But whoever read my application would not be bored. I have fought the good fight and I have had a lot of fun. And am far to busy doing both to fill out an application for anything.

[fortyfeetunder]

46. I post on DU, counts me out!!!

:rofl:

[Unvanguard]

47. Not a chance. n/t

[qwlauren35]

48. The tax questions got me...

There's not much that has happened in my life that I'm so embarrassed about that I couldn't have it come up in a Senate hearing.

Well, that I can remember!

[LeftyMom]

49. Oh fuck no.

:rofl:

[TankLV]

51. No.

next question...

[KillCapitalism]

52. His background check is ridiculous.

I would even go so far to say that it's a serious invasion of privacy.

I'm not sure if Jesus himself would even pass it. :crazy:

[Posteritatis]

53. Would you have minded if Rumsfeld or Ashcroft underwent this?

Remember, it's for Cabinet-level officials, and a large chunk of the things there are matters of public record anyway (formal business relationships, legal records, etc).

I've got no problem with officials of that sort of rank coming into the White House with as few unaddressed skeletons as possible.

And for God's sake, why are people talking about whether or not it can be "passed" or "failed" as though you know the criteria? Unless the idea is that someone has to be spotless in every regard there - which is total bullshit and a level of purity which doesn't even apply to top secret security clearances, as some in this thread note - we know nothing about this beyond the questions and an implied need for disclosure before serving on the cabinet.

With what knowledge of the thing we have, the only way, and I mean the only way, I could be totally certain someone could get in trouble through that is if they were caught lying on it.

[ShortnFiery]

54. Then don't apply.

:evilgrin:

IMNSHO the background check is NOT a pass/fail type of exercise. Obama and his advisers want to be aware of any potential problems. You can have a little "jaded past" if you own up to it. What's truly important is that you can't be blackmailed in the future for past misdeeds. If the screening people KNOW your past, then you can often move beyond it.

[yardwork]

72. It's voluntary, so it's not an invasion of privacy. Nobody is making you apply.

Jesus would definitely not pass it. Jesus wasn't interested in being a politician or a bureaucrat.

[bean fidhleir]

74. Obama himself (not to mention Biden and the rest) couldn't pass any worthwhile bg check

Because by "worthwhile" I mean politics, not peccadillos. Their backgrounds are littered with evidence that they don't give a rat's ass for the people who take the weight and pay the bills: us.

[WildEyedLiberal]

55. Haha, depends on if DU is a disqualifier

Posting here is probably the most heinous thing I've ever done.

[Buns_of_Fire]

56. Sure. I'm as pure as the driven snow (for the last ten years, anyway).

About half of the questions I could mark "N/A".

The other half, I don't give a damn if anyone knows or not. So much for being blackmailed. (My standard response would be "Yeah. What of it?")

And the third half isn't germaine to the position anyway, so I've no problem giving an honest answer.

So, I've added 1/2, 1/2, and 1/2 and gotten a total of 1. Obviously, I'm applying for the position as Secretary of the Treasury.

Oh, and I'm Practically Perfect In Every Way. Just thought I'd toss that in.

[SeattleGirl]

57. Nope.

I can't say I'm a bad person; I can say that there are things in my background that may make the Obama folks hesitate.

[meow2u3]

No way on God's green earth

I had too much from my past to qualify for a job at the White House.

[meow2u3]

58. No way on God's green earth

I was arrested for writing bad checks in 1989 (charges were dropped b/c I repaid them), plus I had a kid I gave up for adoption in 1983 (my bio son is 25 now). I had a student loan forgiven on account of a permanent disability. My credit is shot to hell, in part because of deadbeat roommates who left me holding the bag with unpaid parking tickets on a car they drove without my permission, unpaid utility bills, etc.--all because they were getting high instead of paying their share of the bills!

[ohio2007]

60. requires applicants to list -- and if possible, provide copies of -- all "posts or comments on blogs

Obama Wants Applicants' Web-Posting Past

snip
A nine-page questionnaire requires applicants to list -- and if possible, provide copies of -- all "posts or comments on blogs or other Web sites"they have ever made. Also required are "aliases" or nicknames used on those sites.

Translated into English, this means that President-elect Obama wants to know far more about you than his predecessors did.

snip
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/11/14/tech/cnettechnews/main4604813.shtml?source=RSSattr=Politics_4604813

[Gman]

61. Obama Wants Applicants' Web-Posting Past

Source: CBSNews.com

(CNET) If you want a job in an Obama administration, be prepared to disclose every blog post or comment you've ever written.

A nine-page questionnaire requires applicants to list -- and if possible, provide copies of -- all "posts or comments on blogs or other Web sites" they have ever made. Also required are "aliases" or nicknames used on those sites.

Translated into English, this means that President-elect Obama wants to know far more about you than his predecessors did. That requirement would force applicants to disclose information about Facebook and MySpace pages, profiles posted on dating Web sites, and even what was posted on Web sites like CNET and YouTube that allow readers to append comments.

Note that question doesn't only ask for potentially embarrassing or incendiary posts. It wants a list of "each" one.

Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/11/14/tech/cnettechnews/main4604813.shtml?source=RSSattr=Politics_4604813

---

Well.. that excludes, what? 99% of us here including your's truly! Oh well...

I can't say this is a bad idea as these guys are being absolutely thorough and they want no surprises. Obama can't afford any. He can't afford to be discredited even though it's a game of gotcha.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

62. I think it's excellent, know why?

That way the media is less likely to find sh*t in his administration with which to grace their newspapers and News at 11 in order to sell copies and get viewership.

[Phredicles]

63. D'oh - If I ever was in the running, I'm sure not now...

I like the fucking swear words, goddammit.

[TomClash]

64. As the Beatles sang

Dear Prudence, won't you come out to play?

[TheCowsCameHome]

65. I want squeaky-clean applicants in govt..

Too much of this crap comes to the surface later rather than sooner.

Barack is wise to weed out garden before any embarrassments arise.

[BeyondGeography]

66. Keepin' my day job

If it's still there on Monday. :scared:

[KingOfLostSouls]

67. I support this

we've had an administration that put a former horse show judge in charge of FEMA.




need we say anything more?

[JohnnyLib2]

68. Times, they ARE achangin' ...............

I hope this circulates quickly on MySpace!

[Politicalboi]

69. I think it's a little extreme

As long as your not into child porn and hate speech. How can anyone remember everything they've ever posted. I think turning your hard drive or lap top over would be enough.

[jody]

70. Makes sense to me and Obama should make certain no one has ever used illegal drugs. presidents

exempt of course so Bill Clinton and George Bush qualify.

[yardwork]

71. LOL!

No.

[zelta gaisma]

73. ROTFLMAO!!!

OMG! just my online life would disqualify me. Not even going into my real escapades. Let's just say I don't know how politicians make it through their "wild" 20's without disqualifying themselves for public life