Posted on 02/22/2010 12:37:24 PM PST by Kaslin
As President Obama's approval numbers continue to spiral downward, the left has purposefully tried to tie the increasingly popular small government conservative movement to the largely fringe "birthers". In the spirit of full disclosure, I am not a birther. I happen to believe that President Obama was born in Hawaii and was therefore eligible to be sworn in as President of the United States on inauguration day. That being said, I can't help but feel a little bit of sympathy for the birthers. Ultimately, the rise of the birther movement is the fault of a deficit of curiosity about Barack Obama on the part of the media.
As a result of his lack of experience in both the private and public sectors, coupled with his relative youth, President Obama's personal records are extremely thin. There are huge gaps in what we know about Barack Obama, whereas previous presidents have been open books. The media normally seems to revel in uncovering the seedy and controversial side of every political figure, but they have never exhibited the same interest in President Obama. Every president has had embarrassing issues arise from their past, but President Obama's level of secrecy, meant to maintain his squeaky clean veneer, only serves to fuel speculation.
Since day one Barack Obama has maintained an extreme amount of control over his image. One of the most important elements of that image has been the narrative of his past. To this end Mr. Obama has written two book that serve as the primary basis for this narrative. The media, whose very purpose is to be inquisitive, seems all too willing to accept it without question. Both Dreams from My Father and The Audacity of hope received scant scrutiny or fact checking. For comparison, the Associated Press devoted 11 reporters to pore over every word of Sarah Palin's Going Rogue.
Another example of the difference in inquisitiveness that the media has shown for this president as opposed to previous ones can be seen by the 2004 investigation of President George W. Bush's military records. The search for dirt on President Bush was so fevered that some seemed willing to throw journalistic standards to the wind in pursuit of something that would stick. Distinguished careers were destroyed in the attempt to uncover details about President Bush’s past.
At the time Bush began his stint in the Air National Guard, he was 22 years old. When Obama was 22, he was still a student at Columbia University. An investigation along the same lines as the Bush Air National Guard investigation would be impossible because Obama has not allowed the release of his college records. Unfortunately, the media seems to be perfectly content with this lack of access to key events in our presidents past and for all intents and purposes considers the matter to be a non-issue.
The birthers are naturally being drawn to and are fueled by the alternative media because nearly all of the negative press Barack Obama has received, including his controversial associations from his past, has originated with these sources. While most of the media treated us to puff pieces during the 2008 election, investigations into Obama associates like Reverend Wright and Bill Ayers percolated and exploded almost exclusively out of traditionally conservative outlets and the blogosphere. Mainstream sources on the other hand fiercely fought to discredit these stories, even when these controversies deserved scrutiny and provided a rare insight into candidate Obama.
President Obama's secrecy about his past and the media's apparent lack of interest in it does not assume that they are colluding to cover something up, but it does leave plenty of room for people who are conspiratorially inclined to fill in the blanks. Seeing as the left increasingly sees the birther movement as an albatross to tie around the neck of their enemies on the right, we can most likely chalk up the media’s lack of curiosity to good old-fashioned left wing bias. But even if bias is to blame, it's only natural that some would confuse their lack of investigation to be evidence of malfeasance.
Presuming the media’s love affair with President Obama continues, we can assume that their lack of curiosity will as well. For those who profess such admiration for the President but don’t seem to care much about whom he was prior to his emergence on the public stage though the question remains: Are you scared of what you'll find?
He also posts nothing but opinion and talking points.
I came across a quote from James Madison, who is called the "father of the Constitution."
It is an established maxim that birth is a criterion of allegiance. Birth however derives its force sometimes from place and sometimes from parentage, but in general place is the most certain criterion; it is what applies in the United States; it will therefore be unnecessary to investigate any other..."http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/documents/a1_2_2s6.html
I blame Yoko.
I think the merit of the question is now to be decided, whether the gentleman is eligible to a seat in this house or not, but it will depend on the decision of a previous question, whether he has been seven years a citizen of the United-States or not.
It were to be wished, that we had some law adduced more precisely defining the qualities of a citizen or an alien; particular laws of this kind, have obtained in some of the states; if such a law existed in South-Carolina,
It wouldn't apply here as the office of President and VP are the ONLY ones that list as criteria "Natural born citizen".
Yeah! Yeah! ( eyeroll)
What were you saying about sanity? ( Sitting here laughing!) :-)
The point is that James Madison considered place of birth as “the most certain” criterion of allegiance, and that he said that is what applied in the United States. That statement sure sounds to me like James Madison did not feel foreign citizenship of a parent was an issue of divided allegiance.
Capain Quest sayeth thee nay! Knoweth thee not that thy leader hath been chased off to the United Nations? Even now, she quivers there, shaking in her Space Cadet boots before the mighty Sanity Squad.
Captain Quest, who says “Kid’s, don’t forget to brush your teeth twice a day, and gargle!”
The point is that he was NOT addressing the office of the Presidency. Again, President and Vice President are the ONLY offices that demand a natural born citizen. It is required nowhere else.
Well?...Lou Dobbs had a window shot out of his house, and lost his job. The contractor Lt. Harris was shot to death the day before a court date Major Cook was **immediately** stripped of his security clearance.
Hm? What on earth could be chasing Beck, Coulter, and OReilly that would cause them to jump off a cliff? Hm?
As of yet, no one has shot out the windows of my house and other birthers haven't mentioned any problems with windows, until then I and other birthers are not likely to follow Beck, Coulter, and OReilly as they jump off the cliff.
The Task?
Compile a biography of Barak Obama INDEPENDANT of any information provided by Barak Obama.
90+ percent of everything we know about Barak Obama, he gave us the info.
My guess is that an independant, unauthorized biography would be about 10 pages total.
Given the above, what were **you** saying about **SANITY**??? Huh?
(That was superhero talk!)
Did you know your Queen has applied to the United Nations for protection????
parsy, who is holding in a huge BWAAAHHHAAAAAA!
On another thread, the statement of one Orly Taitz to the United Nations about threats to her person is being used generally to shut down birthers. Simply she has "lost it" and that makes her cause worthless. Curious how people use all sorts of arguments to try to discredit what after all must be the right of the public to know.
He who laugh lasts laughs the longest.
Well...It isn't just conservatives that have a problem with Obama’s eligibility. Independents are concerned as well to a level that should concern Obama, and Dems do too, but naturally a considerably lesser extent.
As they say, “ “ A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you're talking real money ( votes and elections) “?
(That was superhero talk!)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Really?...And what were **you** saying about **SANITY**?
They are using the Alinsky "ridicule " to achieve that end.
Let us imagine that a team is assembled to enquire into the life and times and relationships of a man. Well, a team was assembled to enquire into every aspect of the life of Howard Hughes Jr. He of Hollywood and Spruce Goose fame. It was the Dinkins Associates who were paid two million dollars. The book on it is "Heir Not Apparent" by Suzanne Finstad.
Now if a professional genealogist was employed to determine the birth of Barack Obama and was offered a 100,000 dollars..... I submit if he came up with the COLB and a few newspaper entries, with a few hazy memories, he would not even get paid.
I addressed your request, “Post a treatise that uses statements from the Founding Fathers that dual citizenship was not a concern.”
I gave you a statement from a founding father on the relative importance of parentage vs. place. James Madison obviously felt that dual citizenship based on the citizenship of a parent did not trump place of birth as the most important criterion of allegiance. That is my point, as a response to your request.
There are several problems with your analysis, however I'm going to address just one - Obama is not a citizen of Kenya. He had the right, through his father, to be a Kenyan citizen but rejected it.
Preach it brother!
You should see what the criteria is for joining the DAR or Mayflower families. And you're right, it's easier to be elected President!
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