Posted on 04/19/2011 8:44:20 PM PDT by technonerd
Suddenly the birthers are back in the spotlight.
A surprising remark from Donald Trump has reinvigorated the claim that Barack Obama was not born in the U.S.
Birthers demand to see a birth certificate. Would it help? I don't think so. I have a professional interest in this bit of racist politics. My life as a historian revolves around looking for documents, checking their authenticity, deciphering their many meanings, and explaining to others how I interpret them. So I have given the public words of birthers unusual attention.
Many birthers are just like Trump. He had never indicated any doubt about President Obama's birth in Hawaii until last month, as he leaped into the Republican race to be President. These opportunist birthers don't believe in anything, except that they can promote conservative causes and their own public profile by doubting the facts. The most prominent political figure to ride the birther train thus far has been Orly Taitz, a wacky sue-everyone lawyer who got on the ballot for California Secretary of State and received one quarter of the votes in the Republican primary.
Another segment of the birther lobby, the true believers, is unlikely to be satisfied with a birth certificate. Obama has already produced his Certification of Live Birth, which had no effect on the birther movement. Mere pieces of paper mean nothing to those who have gleefully incorporated the "fact" that Obama was born in Africa into their world-view and daily life. There is no body of evidence, no official pronouncement or newspaper story that could dislodge their certainty. As with Holocaust deniers and creationists, about very different subjects but with the same mindset, evidence makes no difference. The goals that are achieved by promoting these ideas, in this case the illegitimacy of Democratic politics and of the first black President, are too important to be sacrificed to evidence or logic. As in Holocaust denial, racism plays a large role, but not the only role, in the minds of the true birther believers.
Is there a significant third group among those who publicly question Obama's birth, the skeptics, who will be convinced when the state of Hawaii produces a document? I might think so, if any birther would talk about another document in this case, the report of Obama's birth in the two Honolulu newspapers in August 1961. How did it get there? Really doubting Obama's birth, rather than jumping on a circus wagon to share in the attention, means explaining how and why that document was created.
No birther has done that. The true believers have their theory, involving wide and broad conspiracies across the decades. But they don't talk about it much, because they know the rest of us would think they are even crazier. The worldwide conspiracy that could insert a false birth notice in the "Honolulu Advertiser" years ago and then make that African boy the President of the United States would have no trouble creating an authentic looking birth certificate.
So I don't believe that new evidence will make a difference to many birthers. Those opportunists who simply use any handy weapon to gain something for themselves, without regard for truth or consequences, will find another and another, seamlessly moving on without ever addressing their hypocrisy. Many, like Trump, have been enormously successful in attracting constant public attention that way. Trump said, "People love this issue, especially in the Republican Party". And he's right: in February, a Public Policy Polling survey found that more than half of likely GOP primary voters believe that Obama was not born in the U.S. More recently, in another PPP poll, one quarter of Republicans said they would only vote for a birther candidate.
In an age where people devote their lives to proving that the moon landing was faked, and that the Bush administration attacked the Twin Towers pretending to be Arabs, the birthers might even seem rational.
So I don't think producing a birth certificate will make any difference to birthers. But I hope Obama allows Hawaiian officials to release his birth certificate. I'd like to see it. I love to see how important documents affect people's understanding of the past. That's why I'm a historian.
Stopped reading right there.
The whole "racist" thing is nuts. I don't think there'd be a birth certificate discussion if Jesse Jackson were President. Well maybe, but it would revolve around the BC's of his illegitimate children. That would be racist too, I guess.
Yes it matters because the constitution requires the president to be natural born. So unless one does not give a dammmm about the constitution the birth certificate is the ONLY PROOF if one is constitutionally eligible.
If "stupid" was a race I'd be a racist.
I think this guy wrote a few pro-Amnesty articles as well. He’s part of the anti-Minuteman crowd. Probably hates Tea Parties too
Technically the second if you count Bill Clinton.
He is right about that. I have a whole list of documents all public officials should show and do show Barry hasn’t shown any of them.
Yup. This is what passes for an historian. You can see the fine classical training in BS liberal artistry.
>>>The worldwide conspiracy that could insert a false birth notice in the “Honolulu Advertiser” years ago and then make that African boy the President of the United States would have no trouble creating an authentic looking birth certificate.<<<
Hyperbole. I’ve never heard anyone claim this. However, a line or two announcing a birth in the paper isn’t the same as documentation telling me where he was physically born.
I’m going along with Bill Cunningham on this one. It’s a hell of a lot more troubling that the entire paper trail following the man has been sealed or cleansed. That’s downright spooky. I can guarantee that some of my college roommates remembered me, and not for positive reasons. Why not Barack? Old girlfriends? Professors? You’d think the editor of the Harvard Law Review would have been published. I want to see his grades. I’d like to see his medical record.
Sadly, we’ve been Alinskied into a corner as freaks and nutjobs for simply asking for basic documentation about the man’s past.
He blew it when he called it racist politics in the third line, and thus indicated that as far as he is concerned, anyone who is concerned about the issue is a racist.
The rest of the column is equally lame. Certification vs. Certificate, etc.
The whole issue could have been put to bed three years ago if Obama had produced the genuine long-form birth certificate. He hasn’t and apparently won’t.
If this guy’s a historian, it’s probably in some weird off-shoot field like “Post-modernist African American Studies” or some rot.
So, tell me which of Obama's missing documents you have dug up and analyzed and interpreted? None??? I sense you really suck at your job. Maybe you should drop the whole "historian" thing and become a pychoanalyst...
So I have given the public words of birthers unusual attention.
Oh, I see you have...
The next post of yours that cites "racism" as a motivation to enforce the Constitution will probably be your last, but, in the meantime, enjoy your time here.
Welcome to FR. Enjoy your short? stay.
There is nothing interesting or new about what you posted.
Have Obambie release his REAL birth certificate and all will be cool, provided that it shows his father to be who Obama claims, and was a citizen.
Now, if Obama is REALLY on the up and up, tell me why that would be so hard to do? If he really was born in a hospital in Hawaii, THERE IS A BIRTH CERTIFICATE.
What can he be hiding?
How is it interesting? zero’s speeches are all strawman arguments as is this article. I don’t have enough time of FR to say go away mad, just go away.
Only if you care about maintaining and upholding the rule of law and protecting the Constitution of the United States from all enemies foreign AND DOMESTIC. Otherwise... no, what birth certificat?, obama don't need no stinking birth certificate!
Notice how quickly the race card is played.
Anything following is null and void.
Nope, can't bring myself to reply.
Hey Mr. Historian:
First off, Obama is almost as white as you are. He just looks black and has used it to his (historic?) political advantage. If it was more advantageous politically for him to be white he would be screaming about how white he is. Or, are you one of these Obamabots that thinks that he would have still been elected if he looked white? Those guys are really funny! This racist stuff is absolute crap. Most of us here love Rep Allan West! I wonder why that is.
Mr. Historian, maybe you could ask your messiah for us why he spent millions of dollars in legal fees, and used attorneys from the US Justice Department, to fight all these law suits against him when he could have just produced his LFBC. Why is that? Oh and ask him why he allowed Ltc. Terry Lakin to go to jail and ruin a stellar military career when he could have just produced his LFBC. Why is that? Some Commander-in-Chief you have their Mr. Historian. Some freaking patriot!!
Idiots. Every single one of them.
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.