On Wednesday April 27, 2011 the White House released President Obama’s long form Hawaiian birth certificate, which immediately aroused a chorus of right-winged pundits debunking its authenticity. Amid these theories, a far more disturbing portrait is emerging that supersedes the silliness of the argument prescribed by the president. These birthers are not only manufacturing falsehoods and perpetuating lies but also depicting the president as a divisive character, dangerous to the nation.
The Birther’s Certificate
When President Obama issued his long form birth certificate, after years of speculation about its existence by fringe elements of the Republican and Libertarian parties, he hoped the issue would be put to rest; however, that was not the case. Immediately, the neocons on the right changed their position from "Why not present a long from birth certificate?", to "This is a fake long form document". These conservatives completely ignored the record, concentrated on the genuineness and described it as a forgery within minutes of its presentation.
In an apparent preplanned attack, these birthers focused their condemnation on the minutia of the document. Billionaire Donald Trump, credited for rekindling the birth issue, said in a press conference in New Hampshire on April 27, 2011, “I want to look at it….Is it real? Is it proper?” Fox Business' “Follow the Money,” host Eric Bolling answered Trump’s question on the same day. “You see this fold,” Bolling queried. “...there's a green border around it that had to be photoshopped in,” he insisted.
However, some birther ideologues understood the need to provide legitimacy to these unsubstantiated assertions. Harvard professor Jerome R. Corsi attempted to deliver this credibility in his WorldNetDaily article on April 28, 2011. His sophomoric repudiation, which he wants the public to believe is unequivocal proof of the document’s falsification, comes from minute typing variations between the Obama certificate and that of a set of twins. Without rudimentary examination of the differences in other documents, differences between document preparers or variations made by the same and other bureaucrats, the professors wants the public to accept his childish thesis as authentic.
The Dangerous Image
The significance of the birth certificate subject, described by the president as “silliness” during his press conference, may be underestimated by the administration. Certainly most people feel it is a non-issue and should be relegated to the poor loser category of topics; but the constant right-winged media attention maintains its newsworthiness at the expense of other pressing national concerns.
More importantly, some protagonists feel there is a deeper, insidious message being subliminally presented. These attacks, orchestrated by Trump and other billionaire oligarchs, are not simple political assaults but a systematic and coordinated manipulation of a vociferous minority against the man who happens to be President of the United States. Investigative reporter Jane Mayer, wrote in her August 30, 2010 New Yorker article, "Covert Operations, The billionaire brothers who are waging a war against Obama," In Washington, "Koch is best known as part of a family that has repeatedly funded stealth attacks on…Obama.”
Birthers are criticizing the very legitimacy of the president thus simultaneously casting him as foreign and un-American. Jim Kennedy wrote in the Huffington Post on April 27, 2011, “The intent…is merely a gateway to a larger, misleading construct about President Obama - that he is not ‘one of us.’ His values are alien to ours. He's not fully American.”
Repeat A Big Lie Oft Enough and Make It the Truth
Joseph Goebbels, Adolph Hitler’s propaganda minister, argued in a section of his diary entitled, Aus Churchills Lügenfabrik, (published January 12, 1941), “...follow the principle that when one lies, one should lie big, and stick to it….keep [it] up, even at the risk of looking ridiculous.” This appears to be the tactic employed against President Obama. Kennedy contends, “The birthers don't have to prove their point to make a point. In their scheme, the mere repetition of the question…serves to raise questions about…the President….”
The discussion over President Obama’s birth has become controversial only because opposition forces continue to raise questions about the president’s legitimacy. In a calculated effort, right-winged entities repeatedly hurl unsubstantiated information against the Obama Wall hoping the public makes something stick. Governor Deval Patrick of Massachusetts put it best during a WTKK radio interview on April 28, 2011, “Whatever is motivating it, it feels like…an attempt to marginalize our president.”
Frank W. Hardy - Frank has 36 years of airline experience navigating every ocean & continent. Flying 25,000 hours in 42 years presents a rare historical ...
Join the Conversation