I’ve been following the “birthers” saga through headlines only. It’s old news, frankly. What’s fascinates me is the timing of the MSM’s interest in the story. Why are questions about Obama’s birthplace gaining traction in the MSM now? Is it just another distraction while they do God-knows-what in D.C.? Is the MSM genuinely interested in answering the questions about Obama’s birthplace, or do they sense another opportunity to ridicule and marginalize the Right?
Before continuing, I want to mention an observation made by David Freddoso about the 9/11 “truthers” and the MSM. During the Bush era (and still going strong), the left had their “truthers”. As recently as 2007, 61% of Dems believe, or are not sure, that Bush knew about 9/11 in advance. Compare that to 58% of Republicans who question Obama’s legitimacy. The MSM never showed the same interest in the “truthers”. What they neglect to mention, even now, is the number of “truthers” equivalent to the number “birthers”.
Back to the “birthers.” During the campaign, I looked at evidence on both sides of the issue, and decided I fit under the “not sure” category. Although I think it’s unlikely, it wouldn’t suprise me to learn that Obama was not born in the U.S.. There are so many unanswered questions regarding his background, and he lies about everything. Why not this? It would be easy to end the controversy by producing a legitimate birth certificate.* Why doesn’t he do it, and end the discussion? What’s Obama hiding?
Andrew McCarthy discusses the underlying issue of trust in a a lengthy article at the National Review Online. It’s worth reading in its entirety, but my favorite ”ah-ha!” moment for was this:
…even if you were of a mind to indulge the Kenyan-birth fantasy, stop, count to ten, and think: Hillary Clinton. Is there any chance on God’s green earth that, if Obama were not qualified to be president, the Clinton machine would have failed to get that information out?
Good point.
In addition to the birth certificate mystery, McCarthy discusses prove discrepancies between Obama’s tales of his earlier life from his two memoirs, and the known facts of his earlier life. In short, Obama embellishes his past to serve a purpose: ”he sought to frame his life as a morality play.” [He might as well be writing fiction, but it also brings to mind several published essays that discuss Obama as a pathalogical narcissist.]
More from McCarthy:
Obama lies about the small things, the inconsequential things, just as he does about the important ones — depending on what he is trying to accomplish at any given time.
Obama’s little, inconsequential lies add up to one big lie. How can anyone believe anything this guy says? Why would anyone trust him, especially as POTUS? I don’t.
Obama’s dishonesty continues from the White House. Consider his rhetoric leading up to the Stimulus vote. The country was teetering on the brink of another Great Depression — worse than the 1930′s, if Congress & Senate didn’t act immediately and pass the Stimulus. The effect of the Stimulus would be felt immediately. It would “save or create” millions of jobs. At the time, calmer voices said the financial crisis wasn’t as bad as Obama claimed. When it became clear that the Stimulus had little to no immediate impact, Obama claimed that it wasn’t intended to. The talk of jobs quietly dissappeared.
Health care rhetoric has been as bad, if not worse, and could be the topic of another, long post.
McCarty sums it up:
“The issue is: What is the true personal history of the man who has been sold to us based on nothing but his personal history? On that issue, Obama has demonstrated himself to be an unreliable source and, sadly, we can’t trust the media to get to the bottom of it. What’s wrong with saying, to a president who promised unprecedented “transparency”: Give us all the raw data and we’ll figure it out for ourselves?”
*McCarthy goes into some detail about the distinction between a Hawaiian birth certificate and birth certification. Bottom line: a birth certification, such as the one released by the Obama campaign, does not include all of the information found on the more official birth certificate.
