There's a Birther Born Every Minute...
I lived in Texas when Clinton was in office. You could throw a horseshoe and hit someone who completely believed that the President had had Vince Foster killed. I also heard people explain why he was the AntiChrist, and then, when he left office, that Hillary was. He was supposed to destroy America. If we had had a vibrant internet then, the record of these statements would be astounding, and look as silly as McCarthy does today, or the old Segregationists.
In this way though, the Birther movement is not new. And I think it's important to note this because it does feel different this time around. One, we have short memories, and two, there are constant references to race made within the Birther movement that are pretty shocking in thier boldfacedness. The recipe is the same otherwise, only with a touch of xenophobia. The goal (the actual Birther's are unwitting players in this grander scheme) , and that is to set the parameters of the public debate so that it spans left-center to far, far right. This way any compromise ends up looking like many of Bill Clinton's did. Dead solid center, if not center right.
But why the Birther movement? Why this over any of the other Obama conspiracy theories out there to latch on to? Why can't Obama simply be the AntiChrist as many claim, or a smoker, or a Socialist, or a Communist. Yes, race plays a role, but I think the bigger reason is that the game has changed slightly since Clinton in that these angry players have now spent 8 years elevating the Executive Branch into something akin to a monarchy, 8 years of calling those who would criticize or question the office traitors (I was called this many times in Texas for saying such awful things as "I don't think they're going to find any WMD's"), 8 years of questioning the patriotism of anyone who would disagree with the Holy Father (remember Hebrews 13:17?), I think even these folks (folks who are not adverse to bouts of hypocrisy normally) find it difficult to square the horrible things they want to say about the President with a decade of vile they spilled against anyone who would besmirch the sanctity of the Executive Branch. And in Wartime at that!
In other words, these folks need this conspiracy. They have to have it. This conspiracy will not end. God could come down with vidoe of Obama's birth in Hawaii and they would find a way to believe that it wasn't really God. Because they are not content to criticize or complain, no, they want to say profoundly disturbing and dangerous things that, remember, you aren't supposed to say about the President (and many of the things they're saying, you really aren't supposed to say, legally), things you can only say about someone who is illegitimate.
This issue is the fort that defends their imbalanced psyches. And it will not come down. We can only hope that Obama and company are not as cowed by the vitriol, but realize that it's nothing new, only par for the rancid course. Should these people manage to teach their children this level of political discourse, we will see this again (some violent strain or another) with the next "liberal" President.
If we argue with these people or if we allow the media to participate in this mess as they did with Whitewater, we only allow the parameters of our debate to be redefined.
In this way though, the Birther movement is not new. And I think it's important to note this because it does feel different this time around. One, we have short memories, and two, there are constant references to race made within the Birther movement that are pretty shocking in thier boldfacedness. The recipe is the same otherwise, only with a touch of xenophobia. The goal (the actual Birther's are unwitting players in this grander scheme) , and that is to set the parameters of the public debate so that it spans left-center to far, far right. This way any compromise ends up looking like many of Bill Clinton's did. Dead solid center, if not center right.
But why the Birther movement? Why this over any of the other Obama conspiracy theories out there to latch on to? Why can't Obama simply be the AntiChrist as many claim, or a smoker, or a Socialist, or a Communist. Yes, race plays a role, but I think the bigger reason is that the game has changed slightly since Clinton in that these angry players have now spent 8 years elevating the Executive Branch into something akin to a monarchy, 8 years of calling those who would criticize or question the office traitors (I was called this many times in Texas for saying such awful things as "I don't think they're going to find any WMD's"), 8 years of questioning the patriotism of anyone who would disagree with the Holy Father (remember Hebrews 13:17?), I think even these folks (folks who are not adverse to bouts of hypocrisy normally) find it difficult to square the horrible things they want to say about the President with a decade of vile they spilled against anyone who would besmirch the sanctity of the Executive Branch. And in Wartime at that!
In other words, these folks need this conspiracy. They have to have it. This conspiracy will not end. God could come down with vidoe of Obama's birth in Hawaii and they would find a way to believe that it wasn't really God. Because they are not content to criticize or complain, no, they want to say profoundly disturbing and dangerous things that, remember, you aren't supposed to say about the President (and many of the things they're saying, you really aren't supposed to say, legally), things you can only say about someone who is illegitimate.
This issue is the fort that defends their imbalanced psyches. And it will not come down. We can only hope that Obama and company are not as cowed by the vitriol, but realize that it's nothing new, only par for the rancid course. Should these people manage to teach their children this level of political discourse, we will see this again (some violent strain or another) with the next "liberal" President.
If we argue with these people or if we allow the media to participate in this mess as they did with Whitewater, we only allow the parameters of our debate to be redefined.
