When I saw the headline this morning, my first thought was “well that took you long enough.” That’s not because I thought President Obama should have to release his “long form” birth certificate. It’s because by doing so now, his action is a day late and a dollar short, as my mother used to say.
Then I thought I’d see how the story is playing out.
Across the pond, TheEconomist has bumped the royal wedding on its home page to feature its op-ed, If only proof were needed. The outsider observation rings true to me (emphasis added):
… while there now may be enough easily-accessible and widely-reported evidence to put this theory to bed, the dynamic that allowed it to flourish will ensure that something similarly irrational takes it place. A large number of Americans simply believe, at a gut level, that Barack Obama is so far outside of the mainstream to be un-American.
In fact, Michelle Malkin said as much when she recycled a post written in 2008 (and pointed fingers at both sides):
The plain truth will never mollify a Truther. There’s always a convoluted excuse – some inconsequential discrepancy to seize on, some photographic “evidence” to magnify into a blur of meaningless pixels – that will rationalize irrationality. (emphasis added)
Why, two years after election, did Obama release the long-form birth certificate? Because there is something about the story that resonates with the leadership of a political faction and at least some in the mainstream media, evidenced by these numbers from a New York Times/CBS survey earlier this month (+/- 3%):
- A little more than half — 57% — said Obama was born in the U.S.
- Only 33% of Republicans surveyed said Obama was born in the U.S.
- Almost half — 45% — of Republicans surveyed said Obama born outside the U.S.
- About half — 48% — of the independents believed that Obama born outside the U.S. or were unsure where he was born
- Even almost one-in-five Democrats — 19% — believed that Obama born outside the U.S. or were unsure where he was born
Here’s Republican spokesperson (deemed a leader by fellow Congressmen if not by Americans at large) House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) on FOX News:
I have criticized members of my own party for making this some kind of an issue and so I am really surprised that the White House is doing the same.
One of those other “members of my own party” is Donald Trump, who took credit (“I am very proud of myself“) for Obama’s action, credit then echoed by FOXNews (emphasis added):
The new document doesn’t seem to reveal anything to contradict Obama’s claims, but the very fact that the president will have to answer Trump must be very galling. Remember, the longtime argument offered by the administration against releasing the document was that it would still not satisfy conspiracy theorists and doing so would only encourage them to make further demands.
And no, it won’t “satisfy” the birthers: Politico has a soundbite from one of the original birthers, Phil Berg, who is singularly unconvinced.
The headlines (predictable) tell the story:
- ABC: Decrying “Sideshows and Carnival Barkers,” President Obama Presents Original Birth Certificate, Hoping to End Conspiracy Nonsense
- The Atlantic: On The Birth Certificate Idiocracy
- Christian Science Monitor: Obama birth certificate released – Donald Trump claims credit
- The Guardian: Should Donald Trump apologise for backing the birthers?
- The Lonely Conservative: The Longest Running Clinton Scam Ends with Obama Releasing His Long-Form Birth Certificate
- Slate: WorldNet Daily Is Not Convinced
- USA Today: Palin: Media should give Donald Trump credit
- U.S. News & World Report: Will Obama’s Birth Certificate Release End the Birther Movement?
- Wake Up America: Trump Did What No One Else Has Done: Forced Obama To Produce COLB
- Weigel: Birther Legislator in Texas Not Convinced by Long-Form Certificate
As James Fallows writes, the story Just Won’t Die (emphasis added):
Yesterday, about half of all Republicans thought Obama was foreign born, and therefore an illegal occupant of the White House. How many Republicans will think the same thing one week from now? My guess is: about half. We’ve reached that stage on just about everything. It’s probably been true of human beings throughout time, but is more obviously significant in politics now, that generally people don’t act like scientific investigators, or judges in moot-court competitions, when parsing the logic and evidence behind competing arguments to come up with political views. They go on loyalty, and tradition, and hope, and fear, and self-interest, and generosity…
And that, my friends, is why I fear for the future of this country.
Be sure to see our earlier post with an extensive early roundup of media and blog reaction HERE.
Known for gnawing at complex questions like a terrier with a bone. Digital evangelist, writer, teacher. Transplanted Southerner; teach newbies to ride motorcycles. @kegill (Twitter and Mastodon.social); wiredpen.com