Background Check for Thee, But Not for the Other Guy That We Like Better

My question yesterday was whether the Washington Post had done a series of background articles on Barack Obama back in 2008, similar to the series that they are now doing on Romney.  After all, their ombudsman said that the "Mitt's a gay-basher" article had only been prepared as part of a series to give a background on Romney.  (As a side note, Lord, what I would give for an eye-roll or sarcasm font.)

So my question yesterday was, did the Wa-Po do this back in 2008?  If so, what did it say?

So that you don't have to, I have trawled the archives of Wa-Po.  You're welcome.  I found....nada.  Nothing.  Zilch.  After searching on terms like "Obama Occidental" or "Obama Indonesia," or even "Obama Alinsky," I have found nothing that looks or smells like a series of articles intended to vet the candidate.  Oh, I found some pretty ripe stuff, like the fawning 2006 articles (link goes to one example) filled with breathless anticipation of an Obama run--and also some pathetic prognosticating from the likes of Charles Krauthammer on a certain Obama loss.

It was eye-opening to go through the archives to see what had been written, though.  Richard Cohen, back in 2006, observed that if Obama did run, it would be super-awesome because he wouldn't be able to blame Bush for fooling him into fighting the war.  Unfortunately, Cohen failed to see that Obama would complain for four years that Bush fooled him on everything else.

And I had forgotten that the "President Cool" pictures didn't actually surface until after the election, when I saw this article:  Lisa Jack, the photographer, actually says at the end of the article that she is waiting for her invitation to the White House, since she figures that the President "owes" her.  I wonder how those pictures would have played prior to the election, rather than after.

Big surprise, the Washington Post didn't offer a series of articles vetting then-candidate Obama.

I don't have a question to pose for tomorrow.  I think I'll go watch Season 2 of Downton Abbey and come up with something.  Happy Mother's Day!