An American Disgrace

Yes, folks, President Barack Obama is still an American and he still is black. And he also received the largest number of popular votes of any President in history. Yesterday's release of the President long form live birth certificate was a dark day in our Republic. Jesse Jackson was absolutely correct when he said that all these questions about the President's birth, his parents, his religion were all aimed at de-legitimizing the first black President of this country. But the African-American community have known this all along and likened yesterday to the days when all black males were asked for their papers as a matter of course.

Only the naive can believe these efforts will stop. Joseph Farah on World Nut Daily continued his attack yesterday in anticipation of Jerome Corsi's book on the Birth Certificate, saying that the matter still doesn't deal with the President's parents (?), his adoption (?) and the status of his citizenship during the years when he was abroad. What people have missed with the birther nonsense is that it is derived from the White Christian Nationalist movement and the splinter sovereign nation folks, who bring you the militias and the murder of abortion providers. The idea is that a natural born American is a white protestant male; all others received their rights either through the 14th Amendment, which Republicans now want to revoke, or later amendments on women's rights. So, every one is the "other" and not truly American. In today's world, they gussy their position up with pseudo-constitutional reasoning to make their position seem plausible.

The President did the deed with as much style and humor as one could ever expect. But I saw Youtube comments of young African American males who were in a total rage over the incident. If we work hard,study well and even get elected the President of the United States, we still must prove our identity. That's right. And now an American President is under pressure to release all his college transcripts for the first time ever. Apparently graduating magnum com laude from Harvard Law isn't not good enough. And he could not have written his own books--some white man must have done it and that person has to be a former member of the radical Weatherman Underground.

The blogosphere had the predictable responses to yesterday's events ranging from the FreeRepublic total denial on the birth certificate,the progressives' initial disappointment that Obama caved into bullies followed by sharp attacks on the Right, and the very weird remarks of people of diverse political opinions about why it took so long. But the responses that I felt were unsettling and are portends for a dark future came from immigrants and naturalized citizens, who expressed dismay that they would never, ever be accepted as true Americans. This comments were written with an air of depression that this event brought this message dramatically home. If Barack Obama is not the personification of the American Dream, then who is? And if he can't be accepted as a person when he's the President of the United States, who can?

Republicans like David Frum expressed dismay over how deep this racism has penetrated the Republican Party, where nearly 65% either believe Obama is not an American or have doubts. The susceptibility of Republicans to this belief is an example of how Nixon's Southern Strategy has been thoroughly assimilated into the Republican mind and how dangerous that Party has become to the future of the country. Leave birtherism aside, the Republican party agreed one month prior to President Obama taking office not to cooperate with the elected head of state of our nation. That is just mind-boogling considering the Depression left by the last Administration and two wars. All this has been played out in a series of coded behavior and dog whistles to the nation. And our media have amplified this and the Republican leadership has more than tolerated this nonsense. That has never been done in my life-time and I hope never again.

Just yesterday,an amazing attack on the President of the United States was uttered by the lobbyists for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on the President's intentions to issue an executive order that all companies receiving or competing for government contracts must openly disclose their political contributions. The lobbyist said the Chamber had all options ready for this and that they would do to Obama what he's trying to do to Qaddafi. And they even got Torture Man Johnny Yoo, an advocate of the unitary theory of the executive, to say that President Obama's actions would be unconstitutional. Virtually no one in the print media has commented on this attempt by the Chamber to blackmail the President of the United States. The reason is the same why there is no public outcry with the Republicans literally playing with the economic viability of the United States by threatening not to raise the debt ceiling. You have to teach this Boy a lesson.

All of this is a direct attack on everything I believe. Make no mistake. This is an attack on the idea of America and anyone who believes in that idea. What the young are supposed to learn is that you must be a rich, white, evangelical male to be anything in this country or to be seen as legitimate. If you're my age, you are conditioned to see these attacks on President Obama as racist--because they are. But they are more systematic with an even more sinister intent. If you happen to be a community organizer, a worker for a non-profit or a teacher, you are considered worthless and not part of the worship of the diminishing dollar. If you are a union member, then you are an obstacle to progress. If you are Hispanic,you are not an American. If you are a single mother, you are a drain on society. If you are gay, God help you.

Because President Obama is the personification of the American Dream, he is the problem, not the example. He must be brought down so that anyone who actually believes in the Dream should give up hope and accept their lot in life. You have to become demoralized and understand democratic elections will not change anything and you have to be made to accept the authority of the billionaire overlords.

These attacks on President Obama are being carried out with parallel actions in the states to restrict voting rights of minorities,the young and single women as well as the political influence of unions. The 2012 elections are meant by the corporate financiers to ratify that President Obama's election was a mistake and you should learn your lesson. We're in for one of the nastiest campaigns in history.

(P.S. The demands to produce a long form birth certificate would have meant that Gerald Ford could not have been President. As an adopted child, Ford would not have the legal right to access his borth certificate in many states.)