The GOP and the Birther Trap

Opinion Journal ^ | April 14, 2011 | Peter Wehner

[Jim Noble]

Thanks to Donald Trump—real-estate mogul, reality-TV star, and possible candidate for the Republican presidential nomination—a fringe conspiracy theory is now front and center in American politics: the claim that President Barack Obama might not be a natural-born American citizen.

By focusing on Mr. Obama's birth certificate, Mr. Trump has garnered a lot of attention and some support. According to the latest CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey, among Republicans he is now tied with Mike Huckabee as the most popular prospective GOP presidential nominee. If responsible Republicans don't speak out immediately against Mr. Trump's gambit, it will do substantial damage both to their party and to American politics...

[Matchett-PI]

You’re welcome!

PS: I’ve never been disappointed in him, myself.

[tsowellfan]

Yes!

And this election year is going to be different.

Inflation - Americans know how much money they have in their wallets and how fast it goes and they know who the President is. We should run on this issue but ultimately Americans know what they have in their own wallets no matter how well off their President tries to tell them how much better off they are. We do have to make sure they do not try to blame the Republican controlled Congress. Nancy Pelosi has already started doing that today.

Gas prices - Americans see how much gas prices are. No reminder needed. But we will use it as an issue and we will remind them.

Libya - We will have to keep harping on this.

There’s a lot going on that Americans see with their own eyes on a daily basis and they are not happy at all.

We must try to win the Senate and win more seats in Congress.

On the issues we can win as long as we can avoid letting them blame these problems on the new Congress.

[Cboldt]

-- the question should be why did Boehner and the Republican controlled Congress drop the ball and allow for Trump to pick it up? --

I'm thinking that ALL candidates to Congress, incumbent and challenger alike, need to be asked to go on the record with their criteria/definition for Natural Born Citizen, as part of their election campaigns. These are the people who are obliged to enforce the constitutional requirement in the first place, if an unqualified person receives a majority of the electoral votes.

3. If, at the time fixed for the beginning of the term of the President, the President elect shall have died, the Vice President elect shall become President. If a President shall not have been chosen before the time fixed for the beginning of his term, or if the President elect shall have failed to qualify, then the Vice President elect shall act as President until a President shall have qualified; and the Congress may by law provide for the case wherein neither a President elect nor a Vice President elect shall have qualified, declaring who shall then act as President, or the manner in which one who is to act shall be selected, and such person shall act accordingly until a President or Vice President shall have qualified.

20th Amendment to the US Constitution

[Cboldt]

-- Trying to fight this on a national level is pointless and will only help Obama. --

Trying to fight what, the Constitution?

See my post above, the thought occurs to me that candidates for Congress can reasonably be asked to divulge the specific criteria they will apply relating to eligibility, when the electoral ballots are counted. It is up to Congress to "find," one way or the other. What do the constitutional words, "natural born citizen" mean? Does a dual citizen qualify?

[tsowellfan]

It appears that the birth certificate is only one of the problems for Obama. There's talk of using another person's SS#, name change without legal process all that points to fraud.

I hope Donald Trump will come out in public with a warning to all of those in government. That is he becomes President there will be an investigation and any democrats or republicans that failed the American people or had anything to do with aiding Obama will go to jail.

[tsowellfan]

The investigators have found more than just a problem with the BC and his birth/eligibility. There’s no indication that Barry legally changed his name to Barack, there is alledged ss fraud...etc.

There’s things just coming out that’s so bizzarre and bad about this man I had to read it twice to see if it were a parody. This is stuff I hope is wrong.

Bottom line, Obama has to release his records to stop the doubt.