Birthers....

Donald Trump is making noises like he wants to run for president, (of the United States, not Hair Club for Men). The ‘Donald’ has chosen to, not so subtly, attack Obama on the issue of where he was born.

This birther nonsense was somewhat amusing when it first came up. Something that the conspiracy theorists could spend a couple of days or even weeks discussing. Unfortunately, it didn’t stop at the level of conspiracy theorists. It went mainstream through an increasingly large number of venues. Until, now, it has almost become the ‘in’ thing to do for republicans who are/might/don’t have a hope of running for president.

So, we need to really look at what is being said and why it makes no sense…

Obama isn’t a 'Natural Born Citizen' of the United States of America

If Obama isn’t a natural born citizen of the US, then he isn’t a citizen, at all. No one out there is saying, after being born in Kenya or wherever spot they’ve picked this week, Obama came to the United States and became a naturalized American citizen.

So, if he isn’t a ‘natural born citizen,’ then he isn’t a citizen at all. Unless someone has a ‘long form’ naturalization document that shows Obama was naturalized. It’s probably in Hawaii with his long from birth certificate.

The democrats picked Obama for some nefarious reason

In the 2008 presidential election, one candidate was sure to win the presidency. The candidate that wasn’t George Bush. 

McCain was ‘Bush, only older.’ Abandoning his record of being a maverick and hewing to the straight and narrow of hard line republicanism, McCain become an older Bush. Who was 100% un-electable. Even after he played the sex card by appointing an entirely unqualified, (not under-qualified, entirely unqualified), Sarah Palin as his vice presidential running mate.

This left the democrats with a golden opportunity. They could have run Mr. Ed the Talking Horse and won. The field was wide open and victory all but assured.

So, they pick a guy who isn’t a citizen to run? I mean, did they think the Internet had been turned off? That they didn’t know his lack of citizenship wouldn’t be found out? Is anyone really that dumb?

Putting logic aside, supposing the dems had looked around for their surefire winner in 2008 and the man most likely to lead the country out of mess left by the previous eight years of republican administration. And they couldn't find someone who was as qualified as Obama and a 'natural born citizen' of the US? 

Obama brought nothing to the table the dems couldn’t have found elsewhere. Obama’s political history is incredibly lite. He, basically, had done nothing important or controversial before 2008.[1] He wasn’t brilliant. It doesn’t even look like he has that good a grasp of politics in Washington, D.C. So, why did the dems chose him, rather than someone else with the same, or better qualifications, about whom there was no question they were a ‘natural born citizen’ of the US. 

Knowingly electing a person who isn’t a citizen, in an election where the dems were almost guaranteed to prevail makes less sense than anything I can think of. And I can think of some pretty nonsensical stuff.

Getting Rid of Obama

Assuming for the moment that Obama is not a ‘natural born’ citizen of the United States. Just for the sake of argument.

What do we do now?

There is no vetting process to determine whether a person is qualified to be president. You don’t have to go down to the county courthouse, your notarized long form birth certificate in hand, to get the blessing of the county clerk’s office before you can run.[2]

In fact, giving someone the power to accept or reject anyone’s candidacy on any grounds would bring our electorial system to it’s knees. The voters are the ones that make the decision whether someone is qualified or unqualified for office. (and, as we’ve seen, sometimes we voters don’t make really good choices).

Once you’ve armed yourself with incontrovertible evidence that Obama is not a natural born citizen of the United States, what do you do with it?

The only way to remove a sitting president, other than through the elective process, is to impeach them.

But, Obama can’t be president, because he is not a ‘natural born citizen’ of the US. [In fact, taking the rhetoric to its illogical conclusion, you would have to argue that Obama isn’t even a citizen.]

So, articles of impeachment are issued in the House. The alleged crime? Obama not being a 'natural born citizen' of the US. Which means he can’t be president. Which means you can’t impeach him. If articles of impeachment issue from the House of Representatives against Obama, the HOR is admitting that he is president. Since the issue is whether or not Obama is really president, the impeachment would settle the issue. He must be the president, or they couldn’t impeach him.

So, what is the outcome of all the controversy among the birthers? What are they actually going to do, if they find proof that Obama is not a ‘naturally born’ citizen of the US, but of Kenya or Indonesia? 

Absolutely nothing. 

Because, constitutionally, the only way to unseat a sitting president is to impeach them or to have them lose an election.

And the ‘birther’ nonsense, like the muslim nonsense, is much better used as a weapon to turn bigoted people against the dems than it would be used to remove Obama from office. [Which they can’t do, anyway.]

Not to be cynical, but I am beginning to find this whole nonsense kind of amusing… in a boring sort of way.

  

[1] I’d never heard of Obama before he started his run for president. And I am hard core news junkie. I read 4 newspapers a day on the web. I follow political websites on both sides of the political spectrum. If there had been anything controversial about Obama before he was nominated for president, I would have known about it.

[2] Which is interesting, since you do have to bring a legal 'presence' document, (usually a certified birth certificate), when you apply for a driver's license...