In addition to having to answer a questionnaire that ran 10 or 12 pages, legal length, in pretty small print, I had to produce certified copies of my birth certificate; certified copies of all college and post-grad academic records sent directly to Uncle Sam from the relevant institutions; certificates of good standing and currency of professional licenses, sent directly to Uncle Sam from the relevant states of issuance; a bunch of other stuff; and a list of people who were not relatives, friends and about eight or ten other things, who could be interviewed to determine whether or not I could be trusted to "know stuff".
And then, "they" went off and interviewed all those people. Those people were, in turn, asked for names of other people, etc, and then those people were apparently interviewed. Or so I've been told.
And this was as a miserable, scum-sucking GI. Not even close to being POTUS. Yeah, I ultimately learned "stuff", but it wasn't nearly as exciting as one might imagine.
It is difficult for me to state just how offensive it is to me that Obama doesn't have to do any of this, even when there is some reason to suspect that his bona fides may not be in order.
I have a security clearance also. The last time the interviewer checked me out, he said I’m done in 15 mins. They all must have me on file. They need to spend time on more interesting background checks. I don’t change.