No matter what you think of Donald Trump, if you follow politics you've got to love him for his latest stand on President Obama's birth certificate, or lack there of. By raising this controversial issue to such a level that every network is commenting on it and taking the usual sides, Trump is accomplishing in two weeks what some lawyers and pundits have been unable to do in two plus years. He is forcing the political establishment to be held accountable and to come clean as to what this business is really all about.
First off let me say that I do not believe that President Obama is ineligible to be President but that statement is just as crazy as someone saying he is. Since he has refused to release his original birth certificate there is just no way to know which statement is true. On the left there is a frenzy of vitriole alleging that anyone who asks the question is either stupid or racist. There are irrational thoughts such as the one expressed by Whoopi Golderg in which she says "...if he's the President he is is a citizen, period." What? By that logic, if a foriegn born national is somehow elected President of the US then that person is automatically eligible. That is just plain dumb.
On the right some of the language is just as bad. Whenever I hear a right wing pundit swear that the only reason the birth certificate isn't being released is because Obama is absolutely not a citizen, I cringe. That type of rhetoric helps to cloud the issue, which to my mind is the release of the original birth certificate. I can think of several other reasons why the President would not want it released such as personal information or who his parents really are. I'm not saying I believe these things but the questions are out there.
So why should it be released? I thought it would be fun to first list just a few of the things that require a certified copy of an original birth certificate. This list is off the top of my head as I sit here writing this so here goes:
To play Little League baseball you need a certified birth certificate.
To get a driver's license you need a certified birth certificate.
To join the military you need a certified birth certificate.
To play Pop Warner football you need a certified birth certificate.
To get government benefits you need a certified birth certificate.
To get a social security card you need a certified birth certificate.
To run for many state offices, including state senate in Illinois, you need a certified birth certificate.
etc. etc.etc.
The one thing all of those things have in common? None of them legally require that you be a natural born citizen of the US! That requirement is reserved for being elected to the highest office of the land. Our forefathers were not stupid men. They simply wanted to ensure that the president was not susceptible to foreign influence. Pretty straightforward stuff. So why has this issue lingered? It is very simple. President Obama has not only refused to release his original birth certificate, he has spent over a million dollars to keep it hidden. It's not just his birth certificate either. Where are the college transcripts? Where are the high school documents? We know less about our president than we do about little league coaches who must pass a background check prior to coaching. Do any of you think you can get hired to any job without disclosing a ton of personal information about yourself ? Yet we blindly accept this man as the leader of the free world on his word and the word of loyalists around him that he is a absolutely eligible for the job and a good guy. But how do we really know that? These are some of the questions now being asked by Trump. Is he stupid? Uh, no! Is he racist? There is nothing in the record to indicate that but I guess it's possible. That wouldn't change the questions though, would it?
I know this blog will bring out the usual criticism about how he has released his original birth certificate, or how it's racist to ask questions about it, or it doesn't really matter because he got elected, etc. etc. To each of those there are very rational detailed answers. Unfortunately the so called mainstream media on both the left and the right refuse to properly investigate this story because it would expose their utter incompetence as news gatherers. Up until now they have been able to characterize anyone who asked the questions as being part of the fringe and not relevant. With Trump now asking the same questions, that is not going to work.
On one point the critics are correct. In the end none of this matter for the 2008 election. Even if he was not eligible, noone is going to impeach him over it. 2012 will be a different matter. Just because someone is already President, the rules for being elected do not change. He will have to once again prove that he is eligible to hold the office. If he refuses to produce a valid, original signed certified birth certificate this time around he may find himself left off many state ballots where the Tea Party has the power to demand it. That is the law of our land. If he doesn't release the original he will also have to rely on all the other candidates ignoring the issue and just letting it drop. With Trump as a candidate, that won't happen this time around either. So thank you Donald Trump for at least ensuring the upcoming election will be as interesting and entertaining as ever. Either Obama won't be able to produce the necessary proof or he will bring it forward in a dramatic event that will slam his critics and make them look like the crazies they are being made out to be.
One more thing. To those of you who think the pursuit of this story is crazy because a scandal like this could never happen, I would remind you the same things were said to Bernstien and Woodward about the Watergate story.
