The first thing I noticed is that when Jordan Whichard, the official White House Trip Coordinator, pulled Obama's folder from the safe, there was a white piece of paper attached to the front which was titled "Obama's Passports". Note the use of the plural noun. Maybe they're just holding his old U.S. passports. Hmmm. [Update: Whichard's family owned The Daily Reflector, a North Carolina newspaper.]
For reasons that seem completely unnecessary, the WhiteHouse.gov videographer has blurred out the Date of Issue and Date of Expiration. I suspect they hope attention will be focused on the blurred portion and not the rest of the passport. If that's the case, they are playing a fool's game. Since Obama's passport bears an amendment on page 51 stating "The bearer is the President of the United States", it seems reasonable to assume that the Date of Issue was on or about January 21, 2009. So why pretend the dates are confidential?
As a person who currently holds a U.S. passport, there are some notable differences between Obama's passport and mine. Take a close look at these two images. On my passport you clearly see my gender and place of birth above the date of issue. In contrast, Obama's gender is missing entirely, and furthermore, his place of birth is flush left with the margin. My place of birth is typed about 1/2" to the right of my gender. Since the U.S. government would never issue a genuine passport that omits the holder's gender, why is Obama's gender missing on his passport?
The only other difference I can spot is that my passport amendments page is numbered 24, while Obama's is numbered 51.
[Update: Turns out the person asking the question about Obama's passport is someone named Johnathan Talcott, who is likely a fraternity buddy of Jordan Whichard. Johnathan Talcott posted a teaser about the video on a NYDailyNews.com blog.]
[Update: White House offers glimpse of President Obama's passport; document shows birthplace as Hawaii.]
[Update: Johnathan Talcott is not just an ordinary citizen writing letters to the White House. No, indeed! Besides attending the University of North Carolina (same as Whichard), he is "a partner and head of the corporate team in the Washington, D.C. office of Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP. He counsels financial services companies, including banks, thrifts, mortgage companies, mortgage REITs, business development companies, investment banks, and financial technology companies. Mr. Talcott's practice focuses on mergers and acquisitions and securities offerings." He also serves on the Task Force on Financial Reform.]
[Update: State eases rules for changing gender on passports. "The change yields another victory for gay rights groups seeking several changes to federal policy. The timing is meant to coincide with Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Pride Month and comes one week after President Obama extended more employment benefits to the same-sex partners of gay federal employees."]
[Update: I have learned that passports issued since 2004 now have the gender well to the right of the place of birth, so much ado about nothing regarding the missing info. Had the videographer not cut off the right side of the passport, the gender would have been visible. However, it still doesn't make sense to blur the dates out. Why go to that trouble? Also, I have learned some interesting details about this entire videothat I will publish once I've finished doing a little more research.]
