You’re on your own, Trump. Now get lost and stop embarrassing the right.
According to a recent survey [8] by the Associated Press, none of the major potential 2012 Republican presidential candidates or Congressional leaders put any stock in the antiquated, Democrat-devised [9] conspiracy theory known as birtherism, besides Donald Trump.
As quoted in the article, “John Boehner and Majority Leader Eric Cantor… say they are satisfied that Obama was born in Hawaii… Mitt Romney and former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania have been the most direct in rejecting the birthers’ claims… Haley Barbour accepts the president’s word… Tim Pawlenty told an Iowa audience, ‘I’m not one to question the authenticity of Barack Obama’s birth certificate…’ Michele Bachmann… said: ‘I take the president at his word…’ Sarah Palin… [said], ‘I think that he was born in Hawaii…’ Mike Huckabee has dismissed claims that Obama is foreign-born…”
Other than that, GOP luminaries are unanimous: Obama was born in Kenya!
In addition, we’ve had the following adamant denunciations of the Obama-is-foreign-born theory from prominent right-wingers:
Senator Lindsey Graham: Birthers are “crazy.”
Glenn Beck: The birther theory is “the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.”
Senator Ron Paul: “From my viewpoint, obviously [there's nothing to it], because I never bring it up.”
Bill O’Reilly: “I don’t think that’s the case [that Obama was born abroad].”
Ann Coulter: “It’s just a few cranks out there.”
Mark Levin: “It’s a non-issue.”
As reported ad nauseam, different states issue different forms of birth confirmation. Obama has supplied the media with the one Hawaii supplies to the public. The Hawaii Department of Health does not issue proof of birth in any form other than the one they’ve already supplied. The original long-form birth certificate is a confidential document that may be viewed in person only by Obama or Department of Health officials, the latter of whom have volunteered that they have seen the document and that it confirms Obama’s birth in Hawaii.
Several conservative publications investigated the birth certificate issue and found nothing to the claims. Most everyday conservatives are sick to death of the birther meme and want to move on.
Trump is about several years late on the matter, but he’s so far behind he thinks he’s first.
In fact, it’s leftist broadcasters and bloggers who keep bringing the issue up, because it lets a few nuts make the right look crazy and keeps liberals from having to defend Obama’s record.
Democrats felt a thrill up their legs when Trump inexplicably resurrected the issue several weeks ago. As AP noted, “Democrats are watching. They hope the debate will fire up their liberal base and perhaps tie the eventual GOP nominee to fringe beliefs that swing voters will reject.”
The left, who would love to keep birther talk alive right on up through November 6, 2012, proudly cite polls showing that a plurality of self-identified Republican voters are open to the possibility that Obama was born abroad.
It’s true: The right is more willing than the left to admit to a pollster that they have faint suspicions about Obama’s origins (but note: AP reports that half of all independents and 20% of all Democrats also think he was foreign-born or are not sure). This may have something to do with the fact that Obama doesn’t seem to like America very much, doesn’t seem to have any friends who like America very much, doesn’t seem to have much affinity for America’s traditions, and spends a good deal of his time traveling the world giving speeches in which he denigrates America as nothing special.
But birtherism is not something that keeps Republican voters awake at night. There are about 8,000 things Obama has been doing to this country that have the right more concerned than where he was born.
Perhaps if someone slipped truth serum to, say, House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan, he would be revealed to have slightly more skepticism about Obama’s birth setting than Sheila Jackson Lee. But one reason Ryan isn’t pursuing the birther chimera—in addition to the fact that he’s sane and levelheaded—is that he’s been too busy coming up with a brave, detailed, clearheaded budget resolution (which Trump opposes) to address entitlement reform and keep the country from going over a cliff.
Some on the right insist Trump would be a great candidate because he “tells it like it is” and isn’t afraid to stand up to his opponents. But I notice New Jersey Governor Chris Christie also “tells it like it is” and isn’t afraid to stand up to his opponents, only in his case he tells it like it is about fixing his state’s budget crisis, and isn’t afraid to stand up to opponents like teachers’ unions that have a chokehold on the state’s Democratic Party. Somehow the birther issue hasn’t made it onto the list of the top tasks the busy governor is dealing with.
If Trump took 1/10 of the time he wastes blathering about researching Obama’s birth certificate and spent it proposing useful ideas to help the economy recover, reasonable people might consider him a serious candidate.
And no, words of wisdom from cheeseball bestsellers like “How to Get Rich” and “Think Big and Kick Ass in Business and Life” don’t constitute grounds for an earnest budget proposal.
