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When the White House presented President Obama’s — birth certificate to the public this morning, it — hopefully — put an end to a three-year “cirque du pundit.” For half his term and most of his campaign, Obama and the public have tolerated absurd charges from the schizophrenic pundits and commentators, alleging the president was not born in the United States and is thus legally barred from office. The long-form birth certificate, which provides additional details, should finally silence the likes of Donald Trump and his followers.
For most of us, because this rumor-turned-conspiracy theory evolved into something the White House felt compelled to address is depressing at best. The stringent requirements and scrutiny candidates and president-elects undergo would not allow for such an obvious breach. But even without this, any sense of rationality should have kept these accusations from being news.
Either way, the White House’s decision shows a level of maturity that has been missing on the other side of this battle. President Obama’s conversational style in his press conference was a refreshing change from “the Donald’s” blustering dictates on the matter. Politics aside, the president should be commended for being very — well — presidential in addressing the country’s most schizophrenic voices.
This rumor contributed nothing to either political party, and while the throngs of skeptical citizens will more than likely remain unappeased by the disclosed birth certificate and accompanying affidavits, the debate has been closed. The Obama administration’s decision to disclose the documents uneducated skeptics called for puts an end to the doubting citizens that prescribe to the birher and tea party aesthetic.
Admittedly, it is too early to tell how the release of the president’s birth certificate will affect the political stance of these citizens. Their lack of faith in the government’s enforcement of standards for prospective presidential candidates reveals political radicals will bite at any weak bait.
Primarily, the matter falls to the general public with a warning of awareness. While accusations such as these are not uncommon, we are again reminded to keep in mind who is being accused and how realistic the general accusation is. There was most definitely a bandwagon when it came to the issue of President Obama’s birth — albeit a small, poorly made wagon — and the shared belief caused more problems and brought zero results.
Though Democrats will more than likely use this move to publish the president’s birth certificate against the Republican Party, no one really gained anything. The initial proposition that a presidential candidate would have been capable of passing so many logistical hurdles to enter the presidential race without adequate evidence of being born a United States citizen was so ludicrous it should have never gained attention. Combined with the growing Tea Party and citizens who share uncommon stupidity in the realm of politics, the issue escalated to become a shining example of pointless political accusations.
-the editorial board is composed of gabi seltzer, scott masselli and sean simons
A version of this article appeared in the Apr 28 issue of the Collegiate Times.
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Maybe now people will talk about important stuff, like the fact that Obama is slaughtering people in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen and Libya. This guy is a stooge for Wallstreet and the military and I hope that somebody real unseats him next year.
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You hope that somebody real unseats him next year... do you mean someone Republican? For all his flaws, and there are many, if you support the middle class and not Wall Street and want the United States to be a responsible global citizen and not a reactionary imperialist bully, then Obama is better by miles than any serious Republican challenger. As the Ryan-Obama budget fight demonstrates, Democrats may care little about the middle and working classes, but Republicans are actively waging war on them.
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Heya Matty, How is he a stooge for Wall St. and the military? He did not work in either sector.
Your comment is damned foolish.
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Still in denial eh? Turn of MTV and sports and do some reading and thinking for yourself.
Obama is bought and paid for by Wall ST. More banksters donated to him than McCain.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/charles-gasparino/barack-obama-wall-street_b_755845.html#s153049&title=Jamie_Dimon
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The Obama Deception:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAaQNACwaLw
Fall of the Republic, the Presidency of B.H.Obama:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VebOTc-7shU
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Ummm I think bush should be tried for treason too.
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I'm a fan of the military complex. It sure pays my bills. Viva la democracy project!
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Seriously, I can't believe this even has to be news. Just goes to show one significant person spouting off about a conspiracy theory can stand in the face of facts and other, more pressing, world events.
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Seriously, I can't believe this even has to be news. Just goes to show one significant person spouting off about a conspiracy theory can stand in the face of facts and other, more pressing, world events.
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Seriously, I can't believe this even has to be news. Just goes to show one significant person spouting off about a conspiracy theory can stand in the face of facts and other, more pressing, world events.
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This issue was brought up in the Democratic primaries and was "resolved" back then. However, it kept resurfacing because some people just can't accept the fact that a black man legitimately won the Presidency. It's shameful and quite sad that all this time and effort has gone into ridiculous attempts to discredit Obama despite facts stating otherwise. More time should be spent countering politics, not ridiculously contrived conspiracies.
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Give me a break. Nobody gives a crap that Obama is half-black and half-white. Turn of the MSNBC commentary and get a life.
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Preface: I don't read any of the liberal media sites
There was a time not too long ago when I thought this was true. Unfortunately, it is not - take a trip to the deep south. You'll find plenty of folks willing to openly discuss their resentment of the president being even partially black.
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And blacks hated Bush in part because he was white, we're not going to have a president that everyone from every group likes 100% racially. Frankly I'd like to see him go, not because he's black but because he's a lousy president. His inexperience has been a detrimental hindrance these last couple years when this nation has needed decisive leadership.
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Living in an imaginary world are we? Saying that no one "gives a crap that Obama is half-black and half-white" is one of the more ignorant comments I've seen on this article. I'm assuming you didn't bother to watch the hundreds of news segments during the election where many registered voters were more than happy to share their racist grounds for voting against Barack Obama.
At least the first commenter noted that only "some people" couldn't accept Obama's presidency based on racial issues. Seriously? Did you actually write that "Blacks hated Bush" because he was white? I don't even know how to respond to that stupid comment.
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@C, then what about the people who voted for obama b/c he was black (therefore not voting for mccain b/c he is white) ... racist? Either way, it makes no difference whether or not someone votes on racist grounds b/c unless they don't have voting rights in America you can vote for whoever you want for whatever reason you want and that should never change ... even for racists.
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The issue was brought up by the Clinton campaign and never resolved. I can only guess that the reason was that the Obama camp wanted to keep it as a weapon to use against any serious (in the Obama camp's view) contender that was making it an issue. I also wonder if Obama himself considers himself above everyone and doesn't need to respond to anything.
"We do not have time for this kind of silliness" he said. To paraphrase a well known commercial: "Mr. President, now that you have shown your birth certificate, what are you going to do next?" "I'm going to Chicago to be on Oprah!" Silliness indeed. All of this could have easily been resolved 3 years ago.
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It was resolved 3 years ago. He showed his short form certificate then. The Dem side shut up about it. John McCain went through a similar issue, provided paperwork, and nothing was ever heard about it. Yet for some reason, Obama's paperwork wasn't good enough for a small, yet obnoxiously loud group of mostly conservative people. And despite showing the long form, some are still not convinced. Why? Well, there's many reasons but mainly
1) They're idiots who don't believe factual evidence.
2) They can't accept Obama as president because he looks different from them (not white) and has a funny name
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Is the Collegiate Times printed in blue ink?
All hale the great and perfect Savour Obama and his loyal and 100% brilliant cohorts!
"The Obama administration’s decision to disclose the documents uneducated skeptics called for puts an end to the doubting citizens that prescribe to the birher<sic> and tea party aesthetic."
How many loaded adjectives can one (three?) reporter use? Also, you do realize there is more to the tea party (right) than idiots who can't spell. But for every bumbling idiot in the crowds at a tea party rally there is another bumbling idiot (possibly a teacher) in WI fighting for the union (left) who can't spell (seriously google this its hilarious ex: http://althouse.blogspot.com/2011/02/more-signs-at-protest-today.html). Birthers are merely a subset of the Tea Party. Sure the birthers are idiots, but the tea party is not necessarily stupid.
Fiscal responsibility, yah that's dumb, real dumb. What idiot would want that? Take care of yourself and tell the government you don't want their help or their rules.
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It was John McCain that was not a "natural born" citizen having been born in the Panama Canal Zone in 1936. To his credit he never made an issue of Obama's citizenship, but I doubt there would have been this much scrutiny of McCain three years into his presidency. There's just something about Obama.....what could it be...
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Gotta be the ears.
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Bingo, who wants their commander and chief to have those things sticking out the side of his head. It sets a bad image for the nation as a whole. We must find a new loophole to get those ears out of office.
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probably his hatred for america that is usually expressed by people from other countries
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Nah, I still think it's the ears.
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I'm not in America and haven't been following this great birth certificate debate, but how is the economy doing these days? Obama should be happy the masses are distracted with this nonsense. If I was working for his campaign, I'd be talking about birth certificates for a while since highlighting his great policies resulting in a great economic comeback isn't very viable. Don't get me wrong, he could still talk about how great it is and everyone will repeat what he says, but somebody might just realize how they aren't doing much better now compared to when he first came into office.
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Ah, so you're one of those people who think the recession is something we should be past now... This recession was borderline Great Depression 2. This "I want it now" mentality is a direct result of the internet and our constant societal information stream.
It took decades to put us where we are today. If you think we should be out of it overnight (and yes, 2 years is "overnight"), you'll be unhappy with whomever is in office.
If I'm Obama, I'm NOT happy with this ridiculous birth certificate thing because I'm using taxpayer money to address a non-issue. And it's taking time away from real problems in the world - like the economy.
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You think he is concerned about spending taxpayer money on a non issue? That's what he does best. Don't shy away from the truth, you know he uses taxpayer money all the time for plane trips to fundraisers as an example. Do you deny this? Will you you rationalize it in your mind? Everyone knows this and so do you but you feel the need to justify it. And getting a birth certificate does not cost that much money so don't use that as an excuse. His time isn't apparently that short either since he has plenty of time to do other things besides his so-called problem fixing.
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Ah, Bueno. No evidence, just another conservative who can read bumper stickers. Good for you!
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His trip to Cali on his jet cost over 100k in fuel alone so he could raise money for his campaign. That's taxpayer money. Not sure what evidence you need to hear, but I am sure it wouldn't matter. I understand that you think he is a swell guy, but you know it's true.
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Wrong - that's his campaign fund paying for the jet. And he's taking HIS jet rather than the government's plane because it is for a campaign event. This has nothing to do with whether he's a swell guy or not, and frankly I don't care if he is. I only care if he's doing his job. Check your facts before you write an ignorant post.
The modern day political campaign climate is something we have created for ourselves. I'd personally like to see it change (i.e. cap contributions), but all candidates play by the same rules.
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No, you're both wrong. His trip was taxpayer funded. It's ok though, he planned an "official speech" on the side so it could be taxpayer funded. So his fundraising was really just something else he was doing while his taxpayer funded trip to deliver the speech was technically legit. It is a clever plan by a clever guy. Don't hate on Obama because he figured out how to work the system.
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You people are retarded as they come. He is the president, get over it. Shut your stupid mouths and go about your business.
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I see the plan is working. While the country is quickly moving into financial ruin, the college minions are discussing his blackiness or how his name sounds. Kids are so easily distracted.
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