The Cranky Voter

What if Obama was born overseas and the Birthers are right?

So I just heard that the Governor of Hawaii has finally said that he is going to clean up the whole Obama birth certificate thing. You know what thing I am talking about. There is a whole group called the Birthers that believe that Barack Obama was born outside of the United States and therefore is not an American Citizen. Why the Governor of Hawaii decided to do something about this birth certificate thing now after things seemed to be quieting down. Why didn’t he do something 2 years ago when it would have meant something. Now he even sounds like that character from SNL where he claims to know Obama when he was a child and his wife is Morgan Fairchild. Most Democrats seem not to want to bring it up again, they seem to think that it will cause more harm than good talking about the subject again. Even Republicans seem to not want to talk about it again because it seems like an extreme position filled with controversy and conspiracy. So it seems that nobody wants to address the birth certificate of Barack Obama other than the Governor of Hawaii. What are you thinking man?

You have to admit that the whole topic is a little wacky. How can anyone run for president without presenting their unaltered birth certificate? Why wouldn’t a candidate do everything he could to clear up the controversy and present his full birth Certificate? Why would any state government withhold any such documents to cause the controversy in the first place? Why would any candidate hide behind privacy reasons for not immediately releasing their birth certificate? You want to see my birth certificate, yeah I don’t care, go for it.  It sort of makes you wonder. How did the controversy get created in the first place and why was it allowed to fester? Why not address the issue strong and clearly in the very beginning? I mean if I, the cranky voter wanted to become the cranky candidate, wouldn’t I have to present proof of citizenship and present my birth certificate? So wouldn’t Barack Obama have had to present that same proof to someone?

Another thing I don’t really understand is the actual question of citizenship. If his mother is a United States citizen, doesn’t that automatically make him a United States Citizen? Even though his father was from Kenya, his mother was an American Citizen. Nobody disputes that fact. So doesn’t that make him an American regardless of where he was born. If my parents are American citizens and I was born in Kenya, or London, or Russia, I am still an American citizen. As a matter of fact, there are no rules like exist in the United States about having citizenship bestowed by birthright. If I was born in London to two American citizens that were not citizens of the United Kingdom, not only am I an American citizen, but I am not a citizen of the United Kingdom. You can’t get citizenship in other countries by just being born there, that is a very American characteristic that makes us very unique. So again I ask the question, if we know that his mother was an American citizen, why does it matter where he was born? If he was born in Hawaii or Kenya, why does it matter? If his mother is American, then so is he. Am I missing something? Everyone is so focused on where he was born, and yet everyone knows that his mother grew up in the United States and was a citizen. Is there some doubt as to who his mother is? No one has ever said anything like that before that I have heard. So what if he was born in Kenya? What if he was born on the moon? If his mother is American, then so is he.

So that leads my next question, why does anyone care so much? I admit it is a very strange situation that the full birth certificate wasn’t immediately released way back when. It makes it seem as if someone is trying to hide something. But does the something that someone is trying to hide really all that important? Maybe you can start making up other conspiracies like maybe his mother is not his mother. Maybe he really was born in Kenya. Maybe the religion on the birth certificate says that he is a Muslim or worse maybe it says he is Jewish. Why should we care if it says his religion is an anarchist atheist? It doesn’t say anything about what he is today and what his beliefs are today.

Let’s for just for one minute entertain the thought that he was born in Kenya and not in Hawaii. Let us also entertain the thought that maybe his mother isn’t a citizen or that because he wasn’t born on American soil that he is not American. So what do you want to do about it? I understand that it is against the constitution for a non-citizen or a naturalized citizen from becoming president. That is what I call the Schwarzenegger clause to protect us from Arnold, the Governator. However, that clause was put into the constitution to prevent this country from making a foreign leader the leader of our country. The clause was intended to protect America from foreign forces or any type of occupation. You might think that Barack Obama is not doing a good job, but you can not argue that his intention is to subjugate us to a foreign power. But let’s say he wasn’t a citizen, then what do you do? Do you impeach him? Do you remove him from office? He is the elected President of the United States who has proven to someone that he was a citizen, and if it turns out he is not a citizen, then what do you do? Does President Biden really offer a better alternative to Obama and who is going to impeach him? There are not the numbers in the congress to remove him from office even if it can be proved he is not a citizen.

So does furthering the conversation really add any value? If you don’t like his policies or the job he is doing as president then argue about that. If you don’t like Obama Healthcare than argue on the merits of the alternative. If you don’t like partisan politics, then find a way to bring everyone together. If you don’t like stimulus plans and spending money and budget deficits and government control then fight against the Liberal policies, don’t argue about whether or not he is a citizen. The argument sounds wacky and takes so much energy out of any other argument. It is not only a no-win argument but it makes the debater seem irrational and quite unbalanced. It is actually worse then the whining about Bush stealing the election from Gore. It is worse than all of the arguments and character assassinations. The issue is a red herring. The impact of his citizenship or his birth place is irrelevant to whether Barack Obama is a good president or a bad president. You need to agree or disagree with his policies on the merits of the policies, not whether or not he was born in Hawaii. You need to take a man at his word. You either trust Obama or you don’t and if you don’t you trust him then it shouldn’t be a result of whether or not you have seen his birth certificate. Is there something weird about his birth certificate or his disclosure of the certificate to the world? Yeah the whole situation is a little weird, but let it go. No one is going to be satisfied with any disclosure at this point and the conversation will not add any value to our nation. We have a president who proved to someone that he is an American Citizen and you know what, who cares if he isn’t, what are you going to do about it? So my advice to the governor of Hawaii, Just keep quiet and stop stirring the pot. It is just another case of too little, too late!

Well maybe that sound a little cranky, and maybe it is, but that is because I Am the cranky voter!