Birther Smirther

     Barack Hussein Obama, II, the President of the United States of America, was born in Honolulu, HI on 4 August, 1961.  On August 21, 1959, Hawaii became the 50th state to be admitted into the Union. His parents were married February 2, 1961, at the time his mother was three months pregnant. His father was from Kenya, not America.  This is why he is listed as African and not as a ‘Negro’ or ‘Black’.  He is listed as African on both the long and short birth certificate forms, which makes it difficult to grasp why this is an issue. Ok, so, Hawaii was a state of the Union.  His father was African, his mom was Caucasian and he is biracial. They were legally married at the time of his birth. So far, so good.  

   I haven’t understood the issue from the start.  How is there a question about whether he really is an American? Is it because he had a very un-American childhood? John McCain was born in the Panama Canal Zone.  In McCain’s case, there was a question, it was answered and the issue was dropped. 

    I almost fell off my chair when I read statements calling this a racist attempt to make the President illegitimate.  There is no reason for this to be an issue.  There is nothing to be learned from the long-form of his Birth Certificate. This is all just a way to relegate him to being “other,” or “not one of us.” 

   These are not new tricks.  Marginalizing and devaluing the object of one’s ire is of utmost importance.  How can we get anything done if everyone is arguing about the most elementary issues?  So now, with the long form, even the President’s mother is not safe from disrespect.  He wasn’t hiding anything.  Who would want to allow their detractors to have a hay day with their mother’s reputation?  He has even been said to have not been deserving of his Ivy League education. 

  You hear very little about his accomplishments during his presidency. The hard-won successes are not mentioned.  People cannot seem to get past race.  I’m surprised they haven’t asked him how the Little President measures up. It’s too much.

Enough is enough.