Truthers and the Fringe
I wasn’t there and I don’t know all the facts, but I will say this, President Obama acted . . . stupidly. He questioned the integrity of a police officer he knew nothing about and impugned the good name and reputations of that officer and an entire police department. And for what? So Obama could once again grandstand about race and class in America?
The President opened his mouth about race, believing himself infallible on the issue, only to find that 911 tapes of a belligerent man berating an honest cop do not make for a sympathetic victim. Obama then made it about the way the arrest was made: “[Y]ou probably don’t need to handcuff a guy, a middle-aged man who uses a cane, who’s in his own home.” For an allegedly educated lawyer, that’s a fairly naive thing to say. Firstly, many arrests happen in the perpetrator’s home, and police handcuff nearly everyone they arrest. (It gives them deep concern when a criminal goes for their gun.) Secondly, Osama bin Laden is a middle aged man who walks with a cane, should we not use handcuffs on him either?
So now the President finds himself in a quagmire. He had hoped to use his political capital destroying the American economy either through an enormous energy tax boondoggle or by rationing healthcare and drying up medical innovation. The Gates arrest and Obama’s pompous handling have taken all of the overpriced oxygen out of the healthcare debate room. Not only has the debate turned against healthcare, but Obama’s poll numbers are foundering, hitting negative territory for the first time.
Ever the one to know a distraction when he sees one, Obama and his press secretary are suddenly addressing the question of Obama’s birth. Funny how this seemed to be a good time. It’s not as though anything significant happened. A few weeks ago a Major refused orders to deploy (and those orders were oddly revoked) and then a few days ago, a woman known as (no joke) “Crazy Ellen” make a fuss at a local town hall. Not exactly national material.
So now the Democrats are in a tizzy, trying to make the “birther” movement a part of the Republican party platform. As Geraghty points out, this is nonsense. Every Republican in office (both of them) have denounced the Obama is Kenyan/Indonesian argument as bullocks. To blame the Republican party for every lunatic idea on the fringe is nonsense, but let’s follow that road just for kicks. Let’s agree that the Republican party will take on the mantle that Obama is not a natural born citizen. Democrats will then be responsible for believing that
- Trig Palin was born from his sister Bristol and, despite all that is known of human biology, she was able to give birth to two babies from separate fathers, months apart.
- 9/11 was an inside job. (Mr. Obama, please explain this to the widows an orphans next time your on a date night in NYC).
- Republicans intentionally caused Tim Johnson’s stroke.
- The government can insure more people for less money.
That last one is a real whopper.