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?
Unless, Stanely Ann Dunham was only posing as his mother. I think the jury is out on both his parents until he produces his birth certificate.
Just being born in Hawaii does not make one eligible to be President.
One can be born with both parents U.S. citizens and in the heart of the Midwest, and still not be a "Natural Born Citizen" under Article II of the U.S. Constitution.
How is this possible? It is possible if one denounces his/her U.S. Citizenship via words and deeds. Once you denounce your "Natural Born" citizenship, you cannot get it back on a whim.
Proper interpretation of the U.S. Constitution requires knowledge of Our Founding Fathers' intent when writing various sections of the Constitution.
To quote one of Our Founding Fathers, Charles Pickney:
"They [the framers] well knew, that to give to the members of Congress a right to give votes [as presidential electors] in this election, or to decide upon them when given, was to destroy the independence of the Executive, and make him the creature of the Legislature. This therefore they have guarded against, and to insure experience and attachment to the country, they have determined that no man who is not a natural born citizen, or citizen at the adoption of the Constitution, of fourteen years residence, and thirty-five years of age, shall be eligible." --- CCLXXXVIII.: Charles Pinckney in the United States Senate. 1 – Max Farrand, The Records of the Federal Convention of 1787, vol. 3 [1911]
Obama said he was, "a citizen of the world." I believe him...
Obama's father worked for the Kenyan government...
Obama went to Kenya, which is the home of his other citizenship, and actively campaigned for Odinga who is now the Prime Minister of Kenya. That shows "an attachment" to the government of his other citizenship and is plenty enough to put into question Obama's loyalties.
Obama's brothers, sisters, and many of his blood relatives live in Kenya (and Indonesia, too, of course).
Because of Obama's many attachments to Kenya, We the People cannot trust Obama to disengage his emotions and attachments in order to push that metaphorical big, red button---which would probably kill his brothers, sisters, and other close relatives living in Kenya---should the Kenyan government decide to launch a nuclear attack against the United States.
Therefore, in my opinion, since Obama has demonstrated "an attachment" to a foreign country in which he also possesses citizenship, Obama does NOT conform to Our Founder's intent when they included the Natural Born Citizen requirement and is therefore NOT a Natural Born Citizen under Article II of the U.S. Constitution and is an illegitimate resident of the Office.
I suspect that Obama is also concealing his college records because, as others have alluded to, he claimed to be Kenyan or Indonesian in order to get grants and scholarships...
Of course, we have no solid proof of this. However, should this come out in public, and with a bit of effective litigation, it is pretty much a slam dunk that Obama can be shown to have embraced his foreign citizenship. Which would mean that he has lost his claim to being a "Natural Born" citizen, no matter what the circumstances of his birth turn out to be.
Just my thoughts on the subject.
Cheers
Doesn’t mean it won’t be used to marginalize the site.
Voice of experience?
(chuckle)
Sorry, I don’t buy this line of argument any more than I did the ‘clinton/arkancide’ crap, or the ‘Bush Knew’ crap, or the ‘October Suprise’ crap...or the FDR knew pearl harbor was going to be attacked crap.
This bizzaro world stuff has been ‘out there’ in politics since the first election cycle I suppose.
Amen. On economics, the GOP is already brain dead from sleeping with the libertarians. Add the birthers to the mix and you come up with some sort of foul mutant GOP moron, who doesn’t know anything about economics and is too paranoid for input of fresh ideas.
parsy, who says its the Perfect Storm of Stupidness
But but but, the liberals never made fun of us before the birther thing!
So, you are saying that the idea that 0bummer’s BC is being hidden is bizzaro world nuttiness. OK. Because that is the only thing in question here.
Run! Hide! Somebody said something BAD about conservatives! Again! Repeatedly! For years! On end! Run!
Unless you believe Hawaii is a US State, which I don't.
We need a super hero name, you know like The Sanity Squad. How about, “The Men in White Coats” We could have like little butterfly nets on our costumes. Oh wait, it would have to be “Persons in White Coats”
parsy, who’s thinking, “The Thorazine Titans” (Would DC comics argue we’re ripping off the Teen Titans?)
Btw, great hit on a talking point! Do you do this for free?
I saw a guy at a lefty-rally in Portland, OR back in the fall of 2008.
He was running for a US House seat in the 2008 elections on an “Impeach Bush” platform.
Needless to say, he didn’t win...
LOL! It never stopped.
But it can stop. Just repeat after me; “0bama is a patriotic citizen and we have nothing to fear from him.”
I like The Sanity Squad. :)
No birth certificate for Trig has been released. Nor should it.
I’m thinking “no”. Smacks of the Stepford wives etc.
"We as republicans..."?!? You think this is a republican website? Last time I checked with Jim Robinson this was still a site for Conservatives and upholding the Constitution. You seem more concerned with Chrissy Mathews calling you names than standing up for the Constitution and the rule of law.
So?....the 58% of Republicans that question Obama’s eligibility are something out of “The Night of the Living Dead”? Really?
In some states it is now up to 50% of the general population doubt Obama’s natural born status. I could probably find the link that stated that even in Marxist California 30% of the population question Obama’s eligibility.
That many people in the U.S. are zoombies?
Wintertime: Who's asking who is crazy around here?
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