Posted on 07/28/2009 10:22:30 PM PDT by GOP_Lady
In 2005, when I was working as a speechwriter in the South African parliament, a far-left faction of the ruling African National Congress spun a yarn that accused the leader of the opposition, the intelligence minister, and the Mossad of colluding to frame Jacob Zuma, the faction's chosen presidential candidate.
Intelligence agents loyal to Zuma bugged the opposition's parliamentary offices and produced a bogus document that they claimed was a transcript of Internet chats between Zuma's supposed opponents.
It was all nonsense, but the conspiracy theory galvanized Zuma's supporters, who soon pushed him to the top of the ruling party and the country, trampling the rule of law in the process.
Here in the United States, the conspiracy theory that alleges that President Barack Obama faked his American birth is likewise troubling. Rather than propelling Republicans to power, however, the "Birther" theory is being used by Democrats and their media allies to isolate and undermine the opposition.
Though some of the wonderful "facts" people have been led to believe about Obama are demonstrably untrue (he is still often referred to, for example, as a former "law professor"), the fact of his American birth is not one of them.
The test is not simply whether there are doubts, but whether those doubts are reasonable. That is a test the Birther theory failed long ago. Perhaps its proponents ought to have had their day in court, but that probably would not have helped their cause, nor convinced the most determined among them to abandon it.
The media has cast Birtherism as a conservative phenomenon -- and it is fast spreading among conservative activists -- but it was originally a Democrat obsession. The most prominent Birther, Philip J. Berg, is a Democrat who backed Hillary Clinton in the 2008 primary. Other rumors, such as the infamous and non-existent Michelle Obama "‘whitey' tape," were also weapons in the Democrats' internal struggle.
In the same vein, left-wing pundits claim the Birther thesis reveals latent racism in the Republican Party. But it was the Democrats, not the Republicans, who made race an issue in the 2008 campaign. From the Obama campaign's charges that Hillary Clinton was the Senator from Punjab, to the Clinton campaign's leaking of a photo of Obama in Somali garb, right up through Bill Clinton's "fairy tale" comment and the whole Jeremiah Wright affair, it was the left that remained obsessed with race and identity politics.
The Birther theory is likewise an artifact of left-wing squabbles. Conservatives who are tempted by the Birther theory should ask themselves why the mainstream media is now so interested in the story when they were so reluctant to give any attention to the allegations during the 2008 campaign (when, if true, they might have made a difference).
It's not because there is any fresh evidence to support the Birther thesis, but because the Birther thesis has again become politically useful to the left.
Since Obama took office in January, his supporters have sought to entrench his power by creating controversy around one conservative after another. The first target was Rush Limbaugh, whom Obama himself singled out. Then they revived the smear campaign against Sarah Palin. The Birther controversy is the latest incarnation of this strategy, which aims to taint all Republicans by association with a discredited libel.
And too many conservatives have been eager to take the bait.
There are two reasons why so many find the Birther theory compelling. One is the opaqueness of Obama himself. There is much about our president we still do not know.
For example, throughout 2008 the media showed little interest in Obama's connections to the underworld of Chicago politics, regarding Hillary Clinton's references to fraudster "slumlord" Tony Rezko as mere fear-mongering. When the Blagojevich scandal exploded in December 2008, many journalists were quick to accept Obama's assurances of innocent naïveté.
Other details about the president's past remain hidden or suppressed. Obama has never, for example, provided a convincing explanation of why he disposed of his papers from the Illinois State Senate, or how he managed to lose the thesis he wrote at Columbia. He sometimes fibs about essential details of his personal life -- such as where he met his wife -- and offers inauthentic projections of empathy with ordinary folk, such as references to arugula or memories of "Cominskey Field."
The Obama team also has a habit of releasing information in cryptic drips and drabs, and Friday-afternoon document drops. During the campaign, he suddenly revealed that he had taken a trip to Pakistan in 1981 -- a voyage he had not alluded to in either of his two memoirs -- and his staff only belatedly acknowledged his authorship of an unsigned Harvard Law Review article on abortion.
The candidate who promised transparency has been anything but transparent, feeding the suspicion that drives the Birther theory.
The other reason the Birther theory has caught on -- particularly among conservatives -- is the weakness of the Republican opposition.
Despite the GOP's success in slowing down ObamaCare, Democrats still have a huge majority in the House, a filibuster-proof margin in the Senate, and a White House that is aggressively expanding its executive power. One Republican leader after another has stepped down or been tarnished by scandal.
Many Americans -- including some who had convinced themselves that Obama was a moderate -- are eager for a way to stop the runaway left-wing agenda of Obama and Nancy Pelosi's Congress. In the absence of strong Republican leadership, some find the Birther theory a compelling, if desperate, solution.
Yet it is ultimately a self-destructive one -- not just because it is almost certainly false, but because it contradicts the essential spirit of the conservative movement.
The philosopher Robert Nozick distinguished between two approaches to political thought: the "invisible hand" and the "hidden hand." Those who embrace the "invisible hand" believe that people, given the freedom to make their own choices, tend to achieve social goals without being forced to do so.
Sometimes the invisible hand fails, and strong central leadership is needed. But as a general rule, free markets and civil liberties have worked well in promoting human progress. They have certainly proved better than the alternative, in the form of state control, which has produced only poverty, war, and misery.
"Hidden hand" thinkers, by contrast, believe that everything is controlled by unseen forces -- not spiritual but human in nature. Socialism thrives on such ideas, including the notion that big business is constantly manipulating all of us to feed its insatiable greed -- an idea that Obama and much of his left-wing base subscribes to quite openly. In fact, socialism depends on conspiracy theories to justify its war against personal liberty, to blame for its inevitable failures, and to cover up its own very real machinations.
The real "conspiracy" in American politics is the way in which special interest groups loyal to Obama now have unfettered access to power and public money. The unions that ran themselves to the brink of insolvency by giving millions of dollars to Obama and the Democrats, for instance, are being handed taxpayer bailouts and huge shares in companies newly acquired by our rapidly-expanding government, the better to begin the cycle anew.
The answer is to expose this corruption, to fight for policies consistent with American values of freedom, and to win elections again -- not to waste time and resources on political alchemy.
The Birther theory is, in effect if not in intent, a gift to the Obama administration, bequeathed by the indignant rump of the Clinton effort and now deployed against the Republican opposition. It is also deeply corrosive of the spirit of liberty that conservatives bring to American politics.
That is why conservatives and Republicans should reject it -- and dismiss with contempt the media's effort to hang it around our collective necks. There is enough in this administration to oppose on the merits -- or lack thereof.
I suppose it might. Chicago politics and so forth.
Better to die as a “wild-eyed” patriot, than to live as a soul dead government slave.
You see, a name, “birther,” has been coined, to typecast anyone with a little curiousity as crazy.
I suppose that he is a lot smarter than all those people in Kenya who claim Obama was born there.
You see, if Hillary and her minions were not capable of making that case, how can sober Republicans expect to make it?
Hillary was shouted down for even hinting at the release of an Obama picture in Native dress.
This type of argument is the equivalent on the Republican side. I will not be shouted down or insulted for being curious. Show the long form BC, debunk those in the family who claim Kenyan Birth, and this goes away.
And the choir said AMEN!
And the congregation said AMEN!
And then took their firearms in hand.
Click the link. Let the video load. Break out the bore cleaning equipment - and the Kleenex.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOGHCzuinBw
Just as he wants them to, I suspect.
He is intentionally provoking a crisis in order to take advantage of it.
"The test is not simply whether there are doubts, but whether those doubts are reasonable. That is a test the Birther theory failed long ago."
How so? Has Obama finally released the long form, original vault copy of his birth certificate? Or is he continuing to spend slabs of cash to keep it under lock and key?
The major point brought forth by those of us brash enough to expect the US Constitution to be respected and enforced, is never mentioned in this article. That point is not whether or not Obama is a US citizen, but whether or not he is a natural born US citizen. After Democrat Party and Democrat media pressure had been brought to bear, and to much media fanfare, McCain conclusively proved he was. Your turn, Obama.
If Mr. Pollak is so certain that Obama does indeed meet full, Constitutional requirements to hold the Office of the Presidency, let him post irrefutable proof to that end, and put the matter to rest for good. Enough of these polemical pieces with no hard facts presented in support of their theses. The "birther" issue is a matter of cold, hard facts -- polemics have little place in resolving it.
Of course, Obama could have ended the controversy a long time ago simply by releasing his original long form, vault copy birth certificate. But instead, he has spent upwards of $1,000,000 to prevent that, and many other documents pertinent to his background, from being released. He continues doing so.
Do not tell me that Obama and his handlers are deliberately keeping this issue alive to destroy the conservative wing of the Republican Party, since publicizing this issue will trigger reflexive curiousity and foment doubt of his legitimacy in the minds of many Americans who may not have heard of the issue before. In other words, pushing this issue to destroy his political opponents has great potential to blow up in Obama's face. Does anyone seriously think that Obama or his handlers would take such a gamble with his image; one that has been, and continues to be, meticulously crafted and tightly controlled?
How about those Selective Service records, Mr. Messiah? How about those Occidental College records? What did you do on your 1980s trip to Pakistan? Who paid for that trip? How did you pay for the expensive Harvard miseducation you received?
The questions concerning who this guy is, who has backed him, who maneuvered him into the White House, who's been paying his bills, go on and on and on. We, the American people, are entitled to answers. Obama works for us, and not the other way around.
In terms of how conspiracy theories can destroy a political entity's viability, I offer this rebuttal: The left-generated conspiracy theories that Bush and Cheney directed the 911 attacks, that both were intent on creating a fascist state in America, that "Bush lied," that Bush was a torturer, that there were no WMDs in Iraq, that Bush caused the Katrina disaster, that Bush hated Blacks, that Bush was destroying civil liberties, that Bush was a congenital idiot, that Bush was the worst President ever, clearly demonstrate that the delegitimizing of one's political opponents based on falsehoods can certainly translate into big power gains. Look who's in the White House, Mr. Pollak. Look who has a majority in both Houses of Congress, and then tell me I am wrong.
Release the long form, vault copy of your birth certificate, Obama. Release your Occidental College records, your Illinois state Senate records, your Indonesian passport, your Harvard records, your Columbia thesis, to name a few. Then all doubts concerning who you are, where you came from and what your true intentions are, will be ended.
In time they will embrace it because it will give them a way out as Zero is a lame duck in 6 months. He is an immature narcissist, amateur, with no experience, dangerously naive and underqualified. An unmitigated disaster. A reverse King Midas. Energy, healthcare, the economy. Everything he touches turns to shit. 6 more months of his incompetence and the libtards will want his head on a pike and his natural born status will be the pike that lets them do it. Unfortunately Lindsey Graham will probably throw him a line and save his drowning ass.
How bad do you want it? I heard a phrase somewhere long ago. "The Spirit of the Bayonet!" That is how you win against liars and cheats.
Yes me too. But, I fear it will become (dare I say it aloud), a necessary endeavor. "A rifle behind every blade of grass."
LyMAO
ROCCO great rebutal to Joel Pollak @ AT article. I haven’t read his big book, but I don’t think he is a Krauhammer thinker! Anyone know if Joel Pollak has written much that would refute his theory on COLB?
My impression from a little research on Joel, 1999 Harvard Grad, Jewish, published book on Jewish minority politics in SA. Definitely a young bright guy who may think he is a gift to rational thinking but is more a ‘go with the flow’ lefty thinking type? I guess he has been immersed in this leftist world of thought since birth...JMHO.
“The “meme” is being set and it hurts Zero”
With all my heart, soul and hope, I pray that you are right.
If it comes to that tragic pass, I pray that God be with us.
The same GOPers who claim that “Birthers” hurt the GOP....are the same ones who blame Sarah Palin for the 2008 Presidential loss....who claim that supporting illegal alien amnesty wins Hispanic votes (McCain lost Hispanics 2-1 to Obama).
This anti-Birther stuff is just another attempt to push away conservatives from the GOP.
I guess the GOPers want to lose 2010 and 2012 as well....
You make the mistake of assuming he has normal emotions. As a pathological narcissist, he's incapable of truly caring about anyone besides himself. He's more concerned about people mocking his ears than about anyone smearing his mother's reputation.
May be a bit behind on this issue...but,
Do we have a Hospital where he was delivered and the name of the Doctor?
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