April 29, 2011
It's about time: Obama releases the damn document
I got into a long back-and-forth exchange with a guy who blogs for the local fishwrap about Obama's long-overdue release of the long-form birth certificate.
He posted:
The local people that pushed conspiracies about Barack Obama and his Mom should be embarrassed. Not just because they were wrong. Not because they pushed a hoax that was easily disproven. Not because of what it revealed about them. But because they mislead people and distracted us from serious problems. Now, can we debate Libya, the budget, and education reform?
Me: If you believe that the nation was misled, that serious issues have languished -- a proposition that is risible inasmuch as very few people have spent much time obsessing on this issue and debate has been raging all across the land on many serious subjects -- why do you so easily overlook the fact that Obama could have ended this more than three years ago by doing what he did today?
But then again, nothing really demonstrates Obama's seriousness of purpose like his appearing on Oprah today to discuss the birth certificate and yuck it up with the host.
Him: Mike, your premise is that he ended it. Yet birthers haven't given up after this latest release. No document will stop them from pushing this stuff. He released a government issued birth certificate before and birth announcements were in two papers. Are you saying it was logical to think all of that was faked?
Me: I notice you haven't answered my question. Inasmuch as you started off by asking, "Now, can we debate Libya, the budget, and education reform?", it's obvious that you believe the debate can now turn to those subjects because Obama released the document. If you believe that Obama has finally provided definitive proof that the so-called Birthers were wrong, then why didn't he release the document years ago?
If there's nothing there, what was to be gained from withholding it for so long? To the extent (if any) that the issue's been a distraction, it's only because it suited Obama to have it serve as such, or else he'd have released it long ago.
Him: Mike, do you believe this was a settled issue before Hawaii released the original? Is it a settled issue now?
Me: You're answering a question with a question. You're the one who posted that people have a reason to be ashamed for allowing this issue to mislead and distract everyone from important issues; that we can now turn to things that really matter. I've asked you twice whether or not this issue could have been dealt with years ago if only Obama had been transparent and open and simply released the damn document.
I can only conclude that you don't want to admit that this has become the issue it is in large measure because Obama acted like someone with something to hide. Political candidates for office routinely release all manner of information that the rest of us wouldn't want out there, including transcripts and tax information.
Obama has not done this, which led many Americans to wonder. It doesn't take an advanced degree in political science -- or life -- to know that one who appears to be hiding something, who appears to be evasive, doesn't allay suspicions; he increases them.
Journalists are like hounds after a fox when they sense that a politician being evasive -- or they used to be.
So, once again, I'd argue that this issue has grown in importance to some portion of the American electorate because Obama has so strenuously resisted releasing a document that appears to contain nothing controversial, the release of which years ago would have served to quiet -- but not satisfy all -- doubts.
Him: Mike, I did answer. He released a government issued document proving his birth before. His birth was in two newspapers published at the time. It was an obvious fact he was born here but that didn't stop people like Donald Trump and Tea Party activists. As proof this latest release has not stopped many of them. if he had it in his power this latest release would have stopped them but it did not.
Was he allowing right wingers to embarrass other conservatives on purpose? Maybe.
That said could you answer my questions from earlier? Was it obviously a settled issue before? Is it clearly settled now?...
Me: You're dissembling; the issue has always been his refusal to release the long-form birth certificate. He's kept the issue alive. Not those questioning his reluctance to release the information -- him.
As to your question, I've no idea what it all means. As I've said, if Obama wanted to allay suspicions, he'd have released the document years ago. I tend to subscribe to Occam's Razor; those who act as if they have something to hide generally are, in fact, hiding something.
So, I suppose my answer is that I'd prefer to consider the matter closed, but Obama has done everything in his power to make this prosecutor extremely suspicious of his actions -- or inactions.
That's on him, bub, not me. He's the politician; it's up to him to act in a way that inspires trust and confidence. What I'm left with is Obama's supporters simply telling the American people that they should just shut the hell up and stop pestering him for more information, that the first birth notice was good enough.
Hell, that's what you just did. But, as I've pointed out time and again, the long form contained nothing embarrassing or controversial, making his refusal to release simply mystifying. And if, as you concede, he delayed to allow his political opponents to "embarrass other conservatives on purpose," that strikes me as shameful behavior too, far beneath what we expect of a president.
Him: Occam's razor is defined as the simplest explanation being the most likely. He released a government issued birth certificate and his birth announcement was published in two papers. The other side was claiming an 18 year old girl flew from Hawaii to give birth in a Kenyan hospital without explanation of why she would want to do that. Their explanation was much more complicated.
The facts were obvious to most rational people he was born in America. But a celebrity tv star was using his power to grab media attention to distract us from other issues. That's why he had Hawaii waive the law and release the original birth certificate. The document Donald Trump's political advisor is now claiming is forged.
Me: Applying Occam's Razor, how then do you explain Obama spending by some estimates $1 million fighting in court to prevent the release of this innocuous document?
Him: He didn't have it, the state of Hawaii did. Being that it is now released do you see anything at all suspicious on it?
Me: The State of Hawaii may have been the official custodian of records, but they could not be released without Obama's permission. Given your unwillingness to engage on the substantive points I've raised, it's hard to believe you're actually interested in anything other than keeping the Birthers-Are-Nuts meme going.
If we'd been in court, I'd have leapt to my feet and said, "Objection! Non-responsive! Please direct the witness to answer my question!" It seemed that the only thing my debate partner truly wanted to know is whether I thought the elusive paperwork was bona fide or bogus.
While my avid Obama-supporting correspondent didn't see much merit in my perspective, it turns out I have a rather unlikely ally: Lefty blogger Andrew Sullivan.
As it turns out, Sullivan agrees with my take on Obama's part in this "distraction."
Money quotes:
[Obama] had the power to get this into the public eye and yet resisted until the country's polity was almost paralyzed with distraction.
[A] president has to put his public responsibilities before his pride and his privacy. That's the price of the job - to defuse or debunk conspiracy theorists or just skeptics with all the relevant information you have.
It's also the job of the media always to press for more information, not less. But so many spent their energy arguing that Obama need do no more and piling on the Birthers. They still seem to think they are gatekeepers, possessors of the power to decide what is or is not legitimate for citizens to ask of their public officials.
Get over yourselves, MSM. And do your job - not defending the right of people in power to protect themselves, but scrutinizing them relentlessly, with every fact and document you can get.
I couldn't have said it better -- even if I said it first.
Posted by Mike Lief at April 29, 2011 12:13 AM
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Comments
The left wing national media secretly loves this issue. It gives them an irrelevant point to zero in on and distract the public from the massive failures of their anointed left-wing candidate.
I have passing doubts that Obama is telling the complete truth here - but I don't care. I care about the massive debt that he and his administration are piling up for our children and grandchildren. I care about the fact that he is having the Federal Reserve print money to the point that the rest of the world is going to dump the dollar.
Whether you are liberal, conservative, socialist, libertarian, or anything in between - the consequences of having this man in the White House are something that you will realize very soon and that you and your children will pay for.
The standing of the United States as the economic super power of the world has benefited every American. Most "poor" people in our country have cars and can eat day in and day out. Poor children are educated and have better access to medical attention than anywhere else in the world.
If the massive debt isn't handled in a mature and unflinching way, we are all about to learn a new economic reality. We will learn what it is like to deal with poverty and economic hardship - our own poverty and economic hardship.
We need to wake up as a country, remove the children from the White House and get serious about saving the Republic.
Posted by: Focus at May 1, 2011 10:32 AM