Afterbirtherism

Weirdly enough Free Republic posted an analysis of the released birth certificate to show it was indeed the real McCoy. Stunning but that lucity didn't last among conservatives.

I received an e-mail from a conservative from Infowars that claimed they did a forensic investigation and that it was photo-shopped.

The Daily Mail in the UK did a hit piece on Barack Obama's father citing his polygamy and womanizing and suggested that he got Barack Obama's mother pregnant so he could stay in the United States. But for conservatives, the piece had one disturbing piece of information that even I never knew. While born a Muslim, apparently Barack Obama's father converted to Roman Catholicism. We better alert Newt and Calista.

Karl Rove continues to try and spin the release of the birth certificate and raising the question why Barack Obama waited so long.

Of course, you have to think back to the 2008 campaign when Gov. Lingle of Hawaii was pulled off the campaign trail with John McCain to fly home and examine the birth certificate, which she immediately proclaimed as authentic. And the whole episode when candidate Obama posted his birth certificate--which is the accepted official version on line. There was never a serious person--Republican or Democrat-- who doubted Barack Obama's birth as an American in Hawaii.

If we walk back birtherism, you find such characters as Andy Martin, a ravving anti-semitie, Jerome Corsi, a Christian nationalist, and Joseph Farah, the same. Then enter Orly Taitz,a Moldovan--Israeli--naturalized American, friend of Bibi Netanyahu, who became the drama queen of the whole thing. And of course Allan Keyes, who was crushed in an election by Barack Obama, has made this his new form of employment.

Alot of the assumptions of birtherism come from the Christian White Nationalist Movement and its very peculiar interpretation of the Constitution. Remember seven American Presidents were foreign born and another eight had at least foreign parents. The idea with these people is that , according to the original intent of the Constitution, only someone like me is a natural born citizen--white, man, and protestant--and only someone like me can become president. All others have derived status--either from the 14th amendment, which so many Republicans want to repeal, or from the Amendment on the woman vote.

This crew goes even further saying that both parents must be Americans--historically that isn't true--and the person must have been born in the United States. That isn't historically true either. And what's even more disturbing for these people is that our President is the product of a white woman and a black man, which was illegal in many parts of the country through the 1960s.

And if you want to go further, then they must insist that he is a Muslim. Now we know he is the product of a Unitarian and a Roman Catholic. That's not got enough because now Jersome Corsi wants to say that he was adopted by his mother's second husband and raised a Muslim. And for full measure, this would in his warped view mean that somehow Barack Obama forfeited his American citizenship. Again this wouldn't be true either.

For African-Americans, the controversy is an old return to the Show Us Your Papers mentality of white America. African American males must constantly prove their identity. African Americans have handled this whole controversy with remarkable cool. The exception I have seen is among young ,college educated males who are furious.

Donald Trump has resurrected the old saw about Barack Obama's education. Today Valerie Jarrett told the press that since President Obama is nearly 50 years old and everyone knows about his intelligence he was not releasing his college transcripts. Laurence Tribe once described President Obama of having an " iridescent brilliance". But no matter, how does such a guy get into college without being a legacy person?

His memoir must have been written by a white man--and one with leftist credentials, Bill Ayers.

While he has been known to the country at large for his eloquence since the 2004 Democratic Convention, his eloquence, a refreshing change after his inarticulate predecessor, must be a product of the teleprompter and his writers. The fact he owned the Republicans in the roundable on healthcare without a single note in front of him isn't mentioned when his critics say he is programmed by others.

Here, old Republican techniques of delegitmizing Democratic Presidents and contenders merges with racism. Barack Obama could never had obtained the Presidency of the United States without afffirmative action, ACORN, the Black Panthers and voter fraud.

The campaign to de-legitimize the first African-American President will not cease. Today Rush Limbaugh said that all of Barack Obama's policies were illegitimate when compared to those of the founding of the country. What ever that means? The statement morphs into Bryan Fisher's statements that Social Security, Medicare,Medicaid, unemployment insurance must be abolished to get the nation back to God and the intent of its founders.

Since the night of the election have you heard any commentators--Democrat or Republican--ever say again that President Obama was elected with more popular votes than anyone in our history? Have you ever heard a single commentator actually talk about his being descended from the Pilgrims? You only hear about his white side of his family when there are the usual fun stories about Irish descent or his grandfather's role in World War II.

The real problem with trying to make Barack Obama the "Other" is that the political language now is twisting to make all of us "The Other", everyone who believes there is a common good or a consensus about our social contract with each other as a country. We have gone beyond demonizing simply Barack Obama to the demonizing of everyone who retains some residual belief in our democratic system and our society.

We are being conditioned to think that there should be a wealthy overclass, that the private sector is the most effective way to deliver social goods, and that people who are educators and involved in social services and the government are parasites.

The President can defend himself as he does very ably but one should not observe attacks on his legitimacy with bemused disinterest. We are being attacked and delegitimized as well.