Why the Birthers?
Okay, I admit it, it may be my fault, I've watched Chris Matthews for three straight nights, and each evening he's sent the same question out into querulous cablespace: why the birthers?
Matthews, like many liberals, paleo-liberals and neo-liberals, chooses to seem baffled by the phenomenon of people insisting that whatever proof Barack Obama, the state of Hawaii, and others have provided of his native-born status, this is not sufficient. And yet, it's not that hard to understand.
I'm not arguing for Obama's otherness, which seems to be the surface point of the birther movement. He seems as American as, say, any other Chicago pol.
The reason for the growth of birtherism, I'm suggesting, lies in the history of the last two presidencies. Bill Clinton was reviled by Republicans, partly because he won and partly because he won with the aid of a third-party candidate (Ross Perot), meaning that he enjoyed a plurality, but not a majority of the popular vote. George W. Bush was reviled by Democrats because he didn't win the popular vote at all, and was handed the electoral vote by a 5-4 decision of a Supreme Court so unsure of its reasoning that it insisted its decision in Bush v. Gore not be used as precedent.
The opposition, in both cases, was fueled, energized, and supercharged to a point of near mania by the whiff of illegitimacy. Both the opposition to Clinton and the opposition to Bush drew power, endurance, and bile from the feeling that the incumbent was a rank usurper.
That's heady stuff, and it goes far, I think, to explain the toxic nature of recent American politics. If a putative democracy has been hijacked, of course normal civility in opposition seems pathetic and pusillanimous.
Enter Barack Obama. One could be satisfied with opposing him on issues, as I do on the lunacy of the Afghanistan venture (al Qaeda has long since moved its leaders to Pakistan and its recruiting to Somalia) and the vacancy of his response to the continuing federal betrayal of New Orleans. But events show you can't turn out livid opponents to town hall meetings on those policy grounds. You can generate mouth-foamers, however, with the question of his nation of birth. Republicans, dependent on consultants to advise them on the exquisite variety of methods of nay-saying, gaze longingly at the emotional power of a charge of illegitimacy. The birthers are their wind turbines.
Questioning the legitimacy of a president, like questioning the legitimacy of your best friend's children, is a sure-fire way to get sparks going, to fire up the base, to turn a torpid opposition into a pitchfork brigade. We've twice tasted this heady brew, and both enjoyed and recoiled at its bitter high. In this light, it's easy to understand why some opponents to a still-popular president would be drawn to a cause that once again allows the suggestion of illegitimacy to trump disagreement with policy.
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Mock, mock, mock. The left is very good at using this weapon. To change things up some, the left will thow in some accusations of racism or stupidity on behalf of the right. People who have honest, legitimate questions of those on the left are met with these weapons over and over. It is very disrespectful. It gives the impression that those on the left don't have an answer or either do not like the answer that would have to be given.
The Republican problem with the "birthers", and other far-right fringe groups, is a repeat of the problem that the Democrats had with their not completely "queens english" factions during their '94 meltdown. In other words, it's an issue of the "fringe" running the party. Remember how many people the '94 meltdown alienated; and remember the resulting "Republican Revolution". I think that the tables have turned in the Democrats favor because most people, Dems and Repubies alike, are middle of the road, and don't take kindly to the Lunatic Fringe in either direction.
Just my humble oppinion,
Lefty
Harry, loved your performance in "This is Spinal Tap"
Harry
You left out one thing that is underlying in this whole birther non-issue and that is racism. I am not saying that all birthers are racists but a lot of them are. I think that is an underlying issue with the betrayal of New Orleans also.
Exactly. Racism is all over both.
I made an poll-tax analogy earlier, and I think the Birthers are doing something very similar. That is, they're demanding that Obama go many extra miles to prove something that would never even be brought into question if he weren't non-white.
To me, it goes way beyond the legitimacy-questioning scam that Democrats are subjected to as a matter of course, since that it's so thoroughly informed by racism. This isn't simply Republicans being Republicans.
It also helps that so few people understand how the burden of proof works, at least when it comes to something they're the least bit inclined to accept.
Er, a poll-tax analogy. Not an. Oops.
Then just produce the stupid document and put it to rest...how much simpler could it be ??
The stupid document was produced. And has been shown again and again and again.
Where having you been living? Does your rock have a street address?
As Gibbs said: "Nothing will satisfy the birthers."
Personally, I think the Birthers are afraid that there is a slim chance that Obama was INDEED an immaculate conception? Damn! Time to re-read the Bible all over again. Or maybe they're just Hawaiian Secessionists in disguise, wanting to keep all them delicious macadamia nuts all to themselves. But once again, you're far, far ahead of the curve, Marvin Monroe (tee hee). To use an old Limbaugh tactic, I'm going to make a deal with the Birthers. You forget about the birth certificate, and I'll forget that the 2000 election was stolen by George W. Bush, a man whose birth certificate is all too real, but probably redacted along with Cheney's.
I think the Birthers are really terrified that their world is disappearing.
That would scare anyone.
Can't happen fast enough if you ask me. I'm weary of people being aggressively proud of their ignorance.
They have Republican congressmen shilling for them as we speak, so I doubt they feel their world is disappearing.
Harry, I get your angst over New Orleans, but is there ever going to be a post from you that doesn't mention New Orleans? Ever? It's a complete turn-off to read in the middle of a piece about the debate surrounding Obama's place of birth.
Your "complete turn-off" complaint entirely fails to break my heart.
Try standing in the middle of a neighborhood that was once a thriving happy place and realize that it was destroyed by the utter incompetence and abject buffoonery of a singularly unaccountable Federal agency and that the President and the majority of your countrymen don't give a flying F about it.
That is a "complete turnoff."
where were ALL the celebrities and public madness about the Iowa floods ??? no one CARED , THEY tried to thwart it, wheres the call for a "vanilla city" ?.....but that was in the "bible belt"...so they dont matter !
What's amazing to me is that MSM parades an endless stream of these right-wing memes 24/7, and the wingnuts still complain about the "liberal" media. Cognitive dissonance in action, I guess.
So, what do you suggest? That the MSM ignore it, thus giving further ammo to the birthers, the GOP in general, and Fox News--not necessarily in that order?
The media didn't invent this situation nor is it aiding it with its coverage. In fact, any chance of debunking this idiocy depends on having it brought into the daylight. We should be thanking the "MSM."
We heard similar complaints during the Rev. Wright situation, even though the MSM was clearly doing damage control for Obama's campaign. You know, the MSM has to cover things at least some of the time, or it would be out of business.
I guess my point was that no matter what the MSM does, they will NEVER satisfy the wingnuts. Because the wingnuts are motivated by fear and racism, there is simply no logical way to satisfy their mania.
If its in the main stream media now can we stop calling it a fringe theory?
By the way, since this is getting main stream media attention can we stop calling it a fringe thing?
That I agree with. In fact, it stopped being mainstream once the GOP starting sponsoring it. Something even I doubted they would do, since it amounts to the party declaring, "Yes, we are racist!" Which we all knew, but who expected them to officially dignify this stuff? Secretly, through Faux News, through e-mail slander, yes. But not in front of the mic.
Obama's got the GOP so riled, it's not even pretending to be civil any more. Which, in an odd way, is kind of refreshing, I guess.
Outstanding!
Thanks for the info hershala! I didn't know about the destruction of paper records.
Why aren't we hearing more from Republican leadership cautioning against the spread of a distracting and demoralizing delusion? Because this is going to come back to haunt them. The last thing Republicans need is to peel off more of their party in a divisive and rabid goose-chase that can only end in bitter dissatisfaction.
Many of us native-born Americans have lived here and there abroad, but there is clearly a fearfully shallow (and false) perception of Obama's family history has a murky epic of international mystery. But in the US today, Obama's kind of family tree is common, if not typical. Any rational person can see problems not only with a publication in Hawaii having conspired to falsify a birth certificate 48 years before the fact, but the idea that Obama's mother would have secretly flown to Kenya to give birth in between times when she's documented to have been in Hawaii. Then she's believed to have deviously covered her tracks in anticipation of....what? Of course, this all has an awkward defensive tone, as is often the case when one tries to prove a negative.
Clinton wasn't reviled because he didn't get a majority; he was reviled because his plan was to reverse practically everything Reagan did, and the Republicans knew it. And Bush was reviled not just for having stolen 2 elections or even because he was such a disaster as president, but because he pushed the US closer to fascism than it has ever been. We almost lost our freedom, people.
The birthers are morons, of course, but that the Republicans use them to energize its shrinking base is a sign of both desperation and crass disregard for the good of the country.
"... crass disregard for the good of the country."
That seems like the definition of Republican today.
Let's call it what it is. Racism.
The Grand Old Party of the Civil War South and the Right Wing Religious Wackos just refuses to believe and comprehend that an intelligent black person is President of the United States. Wow. They are just spinning in their underwear aren't they?
Racism has nothing to do with it. There are plenty of other things to dislike about the man, like he's a socialist for example.
This is about the Constitution. Does it matter? This is the U.S. and it does matter.
The man has been spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to keep his records out of the public view. Why?
What he has produced as a birth certificate could easily have been obtained with an affidavit of one parent.
Besides, his father was Kenyan. Kenya was under british rule at the time. According to British law citizenship confers through the father regardless of where the birth takes place. Obama would be a British subject if he was born in Hawaii, Moscow or Iceland.
At the very least he would be a dual citizen at the time of his birth.
I didn't know British law applied in the U.S. Learn something new every day.
So, racism has nothing to do with it, eh? You see, right there I suspect your honesty. Call me cynical, but....
Please bone up on history and come to grips with the GOP's role in eliminating slavery.
Please bone up on history and review the total about-face the party made less than a hundred years later.
I wholeheartedly agree. But of course, it's not enough just to call Obama all the names they call him in private. No, they must cling to anything even remotely resembling a wedge issue. Well, now they know how us normal folks felt with eight years of Dubya. Can you believe it's over? EIGHT YEARS! Biden's still trying to get the sulfur smell out of the Vice President's office!
The birthers should be overjoyed that Obama is President. After Bush, the chances of a Republican getting elected were pretty nil. With Obama they get someone who looks like a liberal, who arguably is part of an actual minorority group, yet who eagerly slips billions of dollars to Wall Street and astoundinly mis-managed companies like GM, and who is now backing a health care bill that couldn't be more useless if it had been written directly by lobbyists for big pharma and the health insurance companies. Really, if the birthers weren't the complete meltdowns that they need to show themselves to be regularly, they'd go find that Hawaiian birth certificates themselves.
What you mean to say is "shut up about it already, he's a centrist and has all proof beyond reasonable doubt that he is indeed a citizen of America. What more could you possibly want, crazy neocons?"
Next time, try to project the opinions with your written "voice" instead of allowing tone to overrule content. This would probably be an A+ tirade if your hadn't divided your attention so. A man who chases two hares...
You know what. I had mixed feelings when Obama got elected. I knew he would get elected a year ago June when I saw how hypnotized people were to his speaking. People would get this glazed over look in their eyes when they talked about him. He had a way of saying what people wanted to hear and they would believe him. That's putting it lightly. He was the sheeps messiah.
With the choice of McCain or Obama. Both were heading down the road into socialism, just one was faster than the other.
When Obama got into office I saw him turning the country into a socialist state with the four barrel kicked in, full afterburners and a full head of steam. I said to myself, maybe, just maybe, this tick people off enough to want to do something about it.
Now, we have the birth certificate issue, government run healthcare on the table, bailouts, stimulus packages and cap-and-trade. We have TEA parties and people are getting very angry.
Thanks Barry!
See? I wasn't crazy, just ahead of my time.
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