Donald Trump doesn’t want to talk about whether or not President Barack Obama was born in the United States. He’d rather talk about jobs, about China, about the Middle East. He understands that there are more pressing issues that need to be debated. He says he has had “very smart people say, ‘Donald … get off the birth certificate issue.’”
For someone who doesn’t want to talk about it, he sure is spending a lot of time doing so.
Many will no doubt remember how this issue was raised back in 2008, when Obama was initially running for election. The “birthers” led the demand that Obama prove he was in fact born on U.S. soil. If there was ever a time for the question to be debated, it would seem that before his actual inauguration would have been a good time.
Then, poof, the question was gone, almost as if it had been disproved. Normal political discourse could resume.
That is, actually, what occurred.
Obama, his political team and the state of Hawaii released a certification of live birth. It shows that Barack Hussein Obama was born Aug. 4, 1961, in Honolulu. A certification of live birth is a sort of summary of an actual birth certificate. Hawaii, like many other states, does not release original birth certificates, mainly because a certification of live birth, like the birth certificate, is a certified government document that provides indisputable proof of the information it contains. It is used so the birth certificate is not lost. There is no real legal difference between the two documents.
The “birthers” tried to further the conspiracy by claiming that a certification of live birth was not the same as a birth certificate. In the eyes of the law, there is no fundamental difference. Distraught, they claimed there was no raised seal on the certification of live birth. That was disproved. They also claimed there was no signature. That, too, was disproved.
Finally, just to make sure the issue (which would have had significant ramifications, similar to if UFO abductions are true) was put to rest, the former governor of Hawaii, a Republican, Linda Lingle, had her health director personally view the actual birth certificate. It showed that Obama was born in Kapi’olani Medical Center in Honolulu.
The conspiracy, thoroughly disproved three years ago, was dead. That is, until the Donald resuscitated it.
Why Trump is even being given a platform to discuss the issue is a head-scratcher to begin with. I have to believe he is aware that his words are ultimately hollow and that it is simply a political maneuver to excite the Republican base. The issue of Obama’s birth has been so thoroughly examined and substantiated that no one in their right minds actually believes the claims made by the “birthers.” Does Mr. Trump believe that any of the U.S. intelligence and investigation agencies, much less the Republican Party itself, would have failed to uncover any discrepancies in Obama’s birth history?
Of course not. It’s shameless and would be a questionable political maneuver if people discounted it.
But it seems to be working.
Granted it’s early to be talking about the 2012 election, and a lot can still change in the months to come. Trump hasn’t even made his decision to run yet. But in a recent CNN poll, he was tied with Mike Huckabee for first place among the 2012 Republican nominees.
To give Trump credit, he has discussed other issues than Obama’s place of birth. He has been easily the most vocal of the potential candidates, surmounting even Sarah Palin¸ whose brazenness once appeared untouchable. To start, Trump has labeled Obama the “worst president ever.”
Alright. That’s an opinion, and he’s certainly allowed to have his. So just what has Obama done that’s so bad?
Clearly fuming over the President’s soft approach with Libya, Trump claimed to CNN’s Candy Crowley that, “I’d do one thing. Either I’d go in and take the oil or I don’t go in at all … in the old days, when you have a war and you win, that nation is yours.”
The spreading of misinformation and a return to the golden age of imperialism are clearly Trump’s strongest points of emphasis so far.
I used to believe Palin was the worst possible choice for a Republican nominee. However blinded by partisanship our citizens may be though, I still believe that they will not elect a psychopath into the White House. Those who reside on the fringes of their party ultimately have no shot at the presidency, because their views are way too extreme for middle America. Yes, they might garner some initial publicity because of their rhetoric, bumping up their poll numbers. But when push comes to shove, they have no chance.
Palin is looking like a cowardly pit bull compared to Trump. If this man even gets a sniff of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. in 2012, it will be a travesty.
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