So I think I have a solution worked out with python and a mdb. My plan is to copy the datasets and feature class to a mdb database (esri personal database) and then read the metadata directly with pyodbc.
pyodbc - Python ODBC library - Google Project Hosting
This should work fine I believe. I have posted the code for just the metadata export for mdb part. Sorry I do not know what happed to the syntax highting option it is gone on my browser.
# import arcpy
import pyodbc
# set up some constants
MDB = r"C:\python_working\test.mdb"
DRV = '{Microsoft Access Driver (*.mdb)}'
PWD = 'pw'
# connect to db
con = pyodbc.connect('DRIVER={};DBQ={};PWD={}'.format(DRV,MDB,PWD))
cur = con.cursor()
# run a query and get the results
SQL = 'SELECT Documentation FROM GDB_Items;' # your query goes here
rows = cur.execute(SQL).fetchall()
for row in rows:
temp = row[0]
if temp is not None:
file = open('C:/python_working/test.xml', 'w')
file.write(temp)
file.close()
print temp
cur.close()
con.close()