Is Racism the Driving Force behind all of the Birther/Obama Talk?

I don't dwell on National Politics that often, but I have to give my two cents on this Obama Birther debate

By now, everyone has heard of the birthers, that rabid crop of self-appointed patriots who insist that Barack Hussein Obama is not a legitimate president because he is not really an American citizen. What was once a nasty little rumor in the early days of the presidential race has since evolved into a full-blown conspiracy theory whose proponents, though "viewed as irrelevant by the White House, and as embarrassing by much of the Republican Party,

I would give birthers, those folks behind the oft-debunked claim President Obama was not born in the U.S., credit for being as persistent as they are ignorant. But folks with common sense, a trait birthers not only lack but seem unable to imitate, are helping to make their job easier.

Because really all the Birther movement seeks to do is continue spreading smoke where there was never fire. The longer good folks debunk the claims the further the political winds will spread this smoke.


The movement reminds me of the 9/11 Truthers who sought to not just blame President George W. Bush politically for the September 11 attacks but also convince the world that he was involved in the planning of them. The big difference is Truthers weren’t getting elected to state houses.

The comments made by some of these people are ignorant, cruel and vicious, going so far as to even attack the Obama children. Only a &$@#!%&*())EW@!(* would attack a child out of stupidity and hatred making it uncalled for, not to mention unacceptable.

Yesterday President Obama released his birth certificate, which I hope will end this nonsense that started back during the 2008 campaign by a democrat who was supporting Hillary Clinton. But let's be real, if you expect this to end, you wrong. Now expect these same people like Donald Trump for instance to veer in another direction (asking for Obama's college transcripts), while some will think that its a fake certificate.

We've had the likes of State Rep Mark Hatfield (R-Waycross) sponser a bill that would have required the president to show his birth certificate in order to appear on the ballot here in Georgia in 2012, even gov-elect Nathan Deal was in the birther camp while a member of Congress. Is he satisfied with the certificate released by the W.H. yesterday?

The fact remains that Obama is an American citizen by birth. Those who insist on disputing this fact are hiding behind it in order to camouflage their own bigotry and/or hatred. Shameful behavior such as this only goes to prove that the agendas of the Birthers, Teabaggers and other so called Conservatives are not about policy but about individuals that are not white and/or straight and how those who are different are not acceptable to what they deem a perfect world.

Perhaps it is too obvious to say that the birthers’ insistence on Obama’s illegitimacy is based on racism. Even so, why isn’t this collective racism at the heart of the debate?

After all, Americans have seen what happens when people of color dare to suggest that the country is anything but perfect: they are ruthlessly attacked. Take the rage over Michelle Obama’s remark during the presidential campaign that "for the first time in my adult lifetime, I am really proud of my country," which was treated as unpatriotic hate speech. Or the controversy prompted by Eric Holder’s remark that we are a "nation of cowards" when it comes to race.

From "Barack the Magic Negro" to e-mails depicting watermelons in front of the White House, to a image of Obama as a witch doctor, incidents like these were common during the '08 campaign. as well as people yelling terrorist at Sarah Palin rallies during the presidential campaign. Mainstream Republicans who wish to look respectable may want (some have) distance themselves from this lunatic fringe.

By now it seems everyone has put in their two cents (and then some) about the birthers. But while most media coverage has treated them as incurable wackjobs, hacks, pushing a conspiracy theory and the larger group of Americans who believed 9/11 was an inside job, the truth of Obama’s birth seems to fall into a slightly different category. Like all conspiracy theories, it springs from the fertile soil of collective denial.

A reader of Peanut Politics mentioned in a email i got that unlike all conspiracy theories, it thrives on a deep-rooted, racist belief that a black man with a foreign name could never have won the presidency in the United States through anything other than trickery, deception, or fraud.

The facts are this" PRESDIENT OBAMA IS A US CITIZEN! HE WAS BORN IN HAWAII, NOT KENYA, INDONESIA OR ANY OTHER FOREIGN COUNTRY! HAWAII BECAME PART OF THE US IN 1959, OBAMA WAS BORN IN HONOLULU IN 1961! CASE CLOSED!!!!!!!!!

For those who don't believe it, well, I'll just say a prayer for you when I'm in church on sunday.

Obama's Citizenship Status makes it way to the Georgia Legislature

Time to tell it like it is.............

Once again, the President’s citizenship are up for debate, this time by State Rep Mark Hatfield (R-Waycross) who filed a bill yesterday to require the president & vice -president to show proof of their US Citizenship before being placed on the ballot here in Georgia in 2012. And what makes it so sad is that 94 Georgia State GOP Reps signed onto this non-sense! This so-called issue has really worn out its welcome, yet it persists, a tumor that continues to eat away at the President’s legitimacy in the eyes of his detractors. One thing I don’t think anyone would call it is an example of people having a right to their own opinion.

It has been said, many times, that everyone is entitled to his or her own opinion but not his or her own facts. The President’s citizenship AND his religious beliefs are what they are. There is no debate here, you may have a right to your own opinion, but to cling to a mistaken notion is to willingly believe something that is not true. In spite of this simple concept, House Speaker David Ralston, said he would not stop committee-level debate of a bill to require President Barack Obama to provide proof of his American birth in order to get on the ballot next year. I should hope that an honest republican elected public official would do his best to set the record straight.

I consider telling the truth and the ability to educate the public to be valuable assets in a public official.

Again, this is not an objectionable claim (though one could debate whether Republicans have effectively listened to their constituents over the years). But when many loud, obnoxious public figures and angry citizens falsely accuse the President of being a secret Muslim outsider who illegally obtained his position and plans to transform the country into some socialist utopia, one has to wonder when politicians on the right will finally stand up and keep the discourse sensible.

Of course, there is a very real political motive at work here, as such false notions eat away at the President’s clout and motivate an angry hive of potential Republican voters eager to oust the so-called "Manchurian candidate" in 2012. By allowing this false information to persist, Republicans implicitly suggest that the President is lying. The 94 Republican politicians are allowing themselves to go on record as not being part of the insanity of the so-called “birther” movement while still acting as if it is a legitimate alternative viewpoint.

Ignorance should be confronted, and the truth should come first. Only then can meaningful debate occur. But if the goal is to win cheap political victories and to keep real issues out of the spotlight, then the logical thing to do is encourage and advance this ignorance.

Now despite my disapproval with the president on some things he has done as president, President Obama made a big deal out of trying to be post-partisan and uniting the country. Rather than demonize him by using the very same partisan tricks that he made every effort to rise above, perhaps the 94 Republicans that signed on to this bill can try being responsible for once and not even consider such a vote. Keep such miniscule, non-issues out of the public discourse.

By allowing these rumors and misconceptions to thrive, Georgia Republicans are not contributing to a stronger, more united country that stands with its President and can have mature discussions about the issues that really matter. These emotional, instinctive and unsupported arguments distract and divide in a time when the country, as well as the state desperately needs to move forward

This is not the kind of leadership that Hatfield & the 94 republican co-sponsors should be displaying when so many citizens have decided to give his party a chance to turn things around.

Hatfield calls himself a "CONSTITUTIONALIST", NOT A Birther. Mr Hatfield by filing such ridiculous piece of legislation such as requiring proof of citizenship by the president & vice-president (let's keep it real here, this is all about the president & nothing else), you officially make yourself a BIRTHER! Plain & Simple. Bobby Franklin, you are in the same boat.

This man has been president for 3 years 7 we are still talking about whether or not he is a citizen of the US. Obama was born in 1962 in Honolulu, Hawaii. Hawaii became a state (59th) in 1959. So case closed! But for some reason those on the lunatic fringe of the right continue to say that he was born in Kenya, hell some have said that he was born in Indonesia. Enough Already! And you can well expect Hatfield to appear on a few national shows such as Fox News, PBS, CNN, etc.