Posted on 07/29/2009 5:19:16 PM PDT by SirJohnBarleycorn
Republicans and conservatives opposed to a rapid increase in the size and scope of government should be heartened by the American public’s gradual turn away from Obamaism.
But when we need Republican and conservative leadership the most, when we need our leaders and thinkers to clearly differentiate their vision for the country from Barack Obama’s vision, many of our leaders have failed us. Instead of taking the opportunity presented to proclaim the conservative vision to the American people, some Republican leaders have opted to latch on to wild conspiracy theories promoted by the fringes of the Republican Party. Or, at the very least, some of our leaders have allowed such wild theories to fester by not proactively combating and denouncing them.
Just last month, for instance, Frank Gaffney, a former Reagan Administration Defense Department official and conservative intellectual, wrote in The Washington Times that Barack Obama might very well be a secret Muslim. “[T]here is mounting evidence that the president not only identifies with Muslims, but actually may still be one himself,” Gaffney wrote. Among Gaffney’s “mounting evidence” was the fact that President Obama referred to the Koran as the “holy Koran” during his June speech in Cairo, Egypt.
But of course this was merely pandering on Obama’s part. It no more helps prove that President Obama is a secret Muslim than President Bush speaking in Spanish to a Latino audience proves he is a “secret Hispanic,” or President Obama wearing a yarmulke at a gathering of American Jews (as he has) proves he is “secretly Jewish.”
How much resonance such conspiracy theories have within the Republican Party is unclear, but a YouTube video put up last week of a town hall meeting held by Republican Congressman Mike Castle is worrisome. A lady pressed the Delaware Republican about why Obama has not produced his birth certificate and then loudly declared that Obama was in fact a citizen of Kenya, not the United States. “I want my country back,” she shouted in her rant at the befuddled congressman, who could only respond, responsibly, that President Obama was in fact an American citizen. It’s impossible to tell how many people in the audience agreed with the woman, but there were certainly enough of them to make some noise.
These “birthers,” as they have come to be known, allege that Obama is ineligible to be president because he was not born in the United States. Despite overwhelming proof that Obama is in fact native born – including an official birth certificate from the state of Hawaii – the birthers movement persists in claiming otherwise.
Why stop there? With equal plausibility, one might suggest that 48 years ago, a group of Islamists conspired to take over America by making Barack Obama president. Having the incredible foresight in the 1960s too see that a black man would be the obvious choice for president of the United States in 2008, their strategy would be to hide his foreign and Muslim identity by having his parents name him Barack Hussein Obama. Somehow, they knew this child would be smart and talented enough to get into elite colleges and become the first black editor of the Harvard Law Review. The men behind this clever movement to take over America wisely encouraged a young Barack to take drugs in his youth and then to later write about his drug-taking days in a memoir because, presciently, they understood that writing about one’s drug-taking past is usually a successful presidential strategy.
That’s not all. Instead of having Obama be born in America, his mother’s native country, as most people trying to conduct a successful take over plot of America would do, they had Obama be born in Kenya. But in order to deceive the American people that Obama was an actual American citizen 47 years later, the men behind this plot made sure local Hawaiian newspapers published notices of Obama’s birth. The secret cabal behind Obama was also able to fool, evidently, the state of Hawaii.
One might go on and ask why someone who supposedly is a secret radical Islamist, determined to create a Sharia state in America, would add troops to Afghanistan to fight radical Islamists there; launch predator drone attacks against Islamist terrorists in Pakistan; and keep the Guantanamo Bay terrorist detention facilities open despite his campaign pledge to shut down the facility?
Yet another problem with the conspiracy theories is that they distract from more serious criticisms of the administration. I have written articles in opposition to Barack Obama’s policies and I will continue to do so as long as he pushes policies that I think are harmful. However, we have to have responsible leadership in the Republican Party that opposes Obama on the basis of principle and uses reasoned discourse, not idiotic falsities, to make its case.
Conservative commentators, leaders and thinkers have a responsibility to denounce idiocy put forward under the conservative banner. Republicans and conservatives have a real opportunity to take back the country in 2010 and 2012. But they aren’t going to do it by promoting outlandish conspiracies.
Why does he conceal his own records?
Where is the original 1961 birth certificate? Why are we not allowed to know if he was born in a hospital or if a relative signed a piece of paper saying he was born at home?
The birth announcements do not shed light on this - once the birth was registered, the information was simply forwarded to the two newspapers.
What we want to know is, what was the basis for the birth registration?
Where are his school records? Why has his public school record in the state of Hawaii been conveniently lost?
Where are his Punahou records?
How did he pay for the costs of Occidental, Columbia and Harvard Law School?
Where are his financial aid and scholarship records? Did he accept aid intended for foreign exchange students as an Indonesian citizen?
Where are his transcripts? Where are his SAT and LSAT records?
Where are his Illinois state senate records?
OPEN THE KIMONO, OBAMA!!
http://hawaii.gov/health/about/pr/2009/09-063.pdf
“I, Dr. Chiyome Fukino, Director of the Hawai‘i State Department of Health, have seen the original vital records maintained on file by the Hawai‘i State Department of Health verifying Barack Hussein Obama was born in Hawai‘i and is a natural-born American citizen. I have nothing further to add to this statement or my original statement issued in October 2008 over eight months ago.”
The liberals overreached here. They pressured Fukino into declaring something which she had no authority to say. We just need to follow up and ask Fukino about what the 'original vital records' say about Obama's mum and dad, and watch the climbdown begin.
BzzzzzzT! That's the incorrect answer!
"Birthers" contend that Barrack Obama is not a Natural Born Citizen (having produced no documentation to prove he is), and thus is Constitutionally unqualified for the Office of President!
Thanks for playing!
Ping
Why are so many ignorant people writing on this subject? An hour or so reading the files on FR would reveal to them that all is not as presented by the Main Scheme Media.
Many would like to know how much that child weighed at birth.
“(having produced no documentation to prove he is)”
Nobody (with the authority to demand this) has ever said that he has to. There is no process established to verify eligibility in this matter, that is a function of Congress or the courts.
Why does she not have the authority to say ?
OK. We now have FrontPage, Coulter, O'Reilly, NRO and I'm sure many others agreeing with MoveOn.org, Daily Kos and 99% of the Liberal MSM.
All I can say to FrontPage et al is that maybe it's time to reassess your position and your assumptions. You could start by actually understanding the facts of the case and retracting the statement above that is NOT TRUE. There has never been an official BIRTH CERTIFICATE released by the State of Hawaii. They may have released a Certification of Live Birth. That's a different deal all together it is not a signed and dated Birth Certificate. Obama is in court fighting the release of his Birth Certificate. I wonder why. The world will soon wonder why.
‘Why are so many ignorant people writing on this subject? An hour or so reading the files on FR would reveal to them that all is not as presented by the Main Scheme Media.’
David Horowitz of FPM voiced his extreme opposition to the birthers months ago. It’s been a dead issue for him since the election. Perhaps the rest of the staff simply picked up on David’s stance and decided to run with it. Front Page Magazine is usually an excellent site, they go more in-depth on issues than most other conservative forums. It’s sad that they printed such a seemingly ‘lazy’ article on the BC topic.
“Instead he continues to defy the Constitution”
One has to prove that he is in fact defying the Constitution. There is no way to do that unless there is a federal law laying out a requirement for him to release his records for this purpose, or if a court can be convinced to order it.
“The world will soon wonder why.”
I don’t think so. This will before long turn into something like the Kennedy assassination theories.
My God, disbelievers, if you hired this guy based on his college degree, then some doubt came up about it, would you not ask for the official transcripts???
If you hired someone to add an addition to your home and you asked for Bond papers and he showed you only a receipt that he paid for it, would you not ask for the bond papers???
Again, he works for us and we have questions and concerns...answer or be fired.
What is missing from the Big O's info? "Certificate of Live Birth" is a birth certificate.
Obama has not produced anything.
I am all in favor of remedying the problem by having individual states require that citizenship status be proven to the Secy of State of the respective state prior to permitting the name to be on the ballot. That would solve this problem once and for all.
As it stands, though the SCOTUS has refused standing to citizens, standing has been refused in other courts even to competing candidates, and the orders of a military officer were changed to avoid his deployment (and his clearance yanked, costing him is job) so he did not have standing.
Well, maybe he has not had a demand from anyone with the authority to do so, but the list is getting shorter, and the shenanigans used to avoid it more extensive.
Pray tell, why would that be if there is nothing to hide?
My great grandchild will have to produce a birth certificate to get into kindergarden, but he skates into the White House?
By now it shoud’ve become evident that there is more hidden about Obama’s life than just a BC. We are in a time of war and America’s national security is at stake. It is incomprehensible why Congressmen are not more interested in knowing about Obama’s origin — it only shows their disregard for the country’s safety.
Or do they perhaps know the truth but prefer to keep it from the public, domestic and foreign?
I want the transparency we were promised.
My theory is BHO keeps a copy of the long form in his coat pocket for when he visits selected people (like the Supremes). Maybe it has some embarassing material on it or maybe not.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.