Wayne Allyn Root is a former Libertarian vice presidential nominee and the author of “The Conscience of a Libertarian.” He now serves as Chairman of the Libertarian National Campaign Committee. He is a regular guest on Fox News and hundreds of radio shows across America. He is also a gun-slinging, riverboat gambling, entrepreneur and capitalist evangelist. His web site: www.ROOTforAmerica.com

Timid Mitt Romney is in trouble again. He just can’t get out of his own way. Didn’t he ever think, “If I run for President, I’ll have to release my tax return?” You’d have to be a fool not to understand this is the standard for all Presidential candidates, right? And to withhold your tax return, but sheepishly admit you pay a 15% tax rate was another terrible mistake by weak-willed Mitt.

Romney needs to boldly declare that paying taxes on capital gains and dividends is not a crime. Romney’s multi-million dollar investments in businesses, stocks and real estate create jobs for many Americans. And his real tax rate is much higher than 15%, because the corporations he helps to fund, pay taxes on their earnings before he sees a dime. Is Romney just a helpless, plastic automaton, unable to fight back? Does he have any cajones?

But let’s set all this aside for the moment. And examine a much more important question. Why do the media give Obama a free pass? Why has no one pressed Obama to release his big mystery- his college transcripts? I’ve believed all along that Obama has a big problem that he is hiding. I’ve believed all along it is not his birth certificate. It’s his college records. Why are they sealed?

If anyone should have questions about Obama’s record at Columbia University, it’s me. You see, I’m Obama’s college classmate.

We both graduated (according to Obama) Columbia University, Class of ’83. We were both (according to Obama) Pre-Law and Political Science majors. And I thought I knew most everyone at Columbia. I certainly thought I’d heard of all of my fellow Political Science majors. But not Obama. I never met him. Never saw him. Never even heard of him. And I’ve never met anyone at Columbia who ever met him, saw him, or heard of him. Worse, the Wall Street Journal reported in 2008 that Fox News randomly called 400 of our Columbia classmates and never found one who had ever met Obama. Strange set of circumstances, don’t you think?

Now all of this mystery could be easily and instantly dismissed if Obama released his Columbia transcripts to the media. But he never has. Even after serving as President for three years. Even after all the rumors and whispers that something in his college years is amiss. He still won’t unseal his records. Shouldn’t the media be as relentless in pursuit of Obama’s records as Romney’s? Shouldn’t they be digging for Obama’s dirt with the same boundless enthusiasm as Mitt’s?

The first question I’d ask is, if you had great grades, why would you seal your records? Who would hide Straight A’s? So let’s assume Obama got straight C’s and D’s. Why not release the records? He’s President of the free world, for gosh sakes. He’s commander-in-chief of the U.S. military. Who’d care about some bad grades 30 years ago, right? So then what’s the problem? Doesn’t that make the media suspicious? Something doesn’t add up. Something smells rotten about my invisible classmate at Columbia.

Secondly, if this is just about bad grades, how’d he get into Harvard Law School with bad grades? I had excellent grades, yet my Columbia guidance counselor told me I shouldn’t even bother to apply to Harvard Law. It would be a waste of time against such brutal competition. So I passed on Harvard Law. Yet my classmate got into the finest law school in the world with awful grades that he’s embarrassed about? How? Who let him in? Why?

Third, it’s been in the news that classmates at Obama’s first college, Occidental, claimed he had awful grades at Occidental. So please tell me how he got into Columbia, one of America’s Top 5 universities? Not just got in, but transferred in. My understanding is that Ivy League schools only let in a handful of transfers each year. So why would they let in a kid with poor grades from an average college like Occidental? Strange.

Fourth, I’ve heard it rumored that Obama got a leg up by being admitted to Columbia as a foreign exchange student. Is that true? Did he hold a passport from Indonesia? Did he receive easier admission by portraying himself as a foreigner? Did he receive financial aid as an foreign student- something not available to true-blue American classmates like me?

I asked one of my lawyer buddies to call Columbia U. and ask the simple question, “Can foreigners get aid to go to college at Columbia?” The answer, “Yes, we have lots of aid for foreign students. They might be able to get their entire tuition paid and go to Columbia for free.”

So did Obama portray himself as a foreigner to get easy admission and a free ride? He was raised in Indonesia. Did his mother ever change him back to a U.S. citizen? Or was this all too easy because he still had Indonesian citizenship and passport? If so, is he qualified to be President of the United States today? I don’t know. But shouldn’t someone in the media be interested in asking these questions?

And lastly, why do his classmates at Columbia not remember Obama? Was he a ghost? Did he never show up at class? Was he too busy smoking pot, attending Marxist meetings, and plotting the destruction of the U.S. economy and the overthrow of capitalism?

Don’t laugh. It’s working.

As a big sports fan and student of political history, I have an idea. Let’s create the greatest trade in political history. Romney’s tax returns for Obama’s college transcripts.

And if that doesn’t work, let’s trade them both for a politician to be named later.