I have dealt numerous times with the malicious accusations across the mainstream media, entertainment industry, left-blogosphere, and even in the right-blogosphere that questions regarding Obama’s birth certificate and/or birthplace were motivated by racism.
Among other things, I documented numerous white presidential candidates who have had their citizenship and/or birthplace questioned in attempts to challenge eligibility for the presidency.
The accusations of racism left no possibility that people who doubted Obama’s birthplace or citizenship were motivated by an honest desire to see the best evidence, and an honest bewilderment as to why a presidential candidate or president would not release a document which we all have had to release at one time or another in our lives.
After all, if racism were the motivation and Obama were being singled out because of his skin color, then the evidence would not matter.
Now The Washington Post reports that after the release of Obama’s original birth certificate, the number of people who believe Obama definitely was born abroad has plummeted to 1% of the population. That’s right, almost every one of the 20% of people who thought he was born abroad and the additional 28% of people who were unsure now believe Obama was born in Hawaii.
In interviews following the public release the president’s “long-form” birth certificate last week, fully 70 percent of Americans say Obama was born in Hawaii, a big bump-up from the 48 percent who said so a year ago. Even more say he was U.S.-born, or call that their best guess, for a total of 86 percent.
Overall, 10 percent of Americans say Obama was likely born abroad, down from 20 percent in an April 2010 Post-ABC poll. Almost all those who now say Obama was born in a foreign country say that it’s only their “suspicion;” just 1 percent claim “solid evidence” that the president was born elsewhere (9 percent said so last year).
The remaining skeptics are not that far apart by party affiliation (Democratic 7%, Independents 12, Republicans 14%), although WaPo does not break down how many of those are in the definite category as opposed to merely suspicious.
Doubts linger even among Democrats, perhaps because of the way in which Obama handled the delay, and two years of doubts may take more than a few days to dissipate.
But what is clear is that the evidence mattered, much more so than skin color.
Updates: Aaron Worthing at Patterico, About the Impossibility of Convincing Conspiracy Theorists…
And Daniel Foster at NRO:
I can’t tell you how often I heard the argument from liberal colleagues that the relatively high number of self-identified conservative Birthers found in some polls implicated the entire conservative coalition as hopelessly racist, and that since Birtherism is rooted in President Obama’s perceived “otherness,” no amount of evidence could ever change our Bible-thumping backward redneck minds.
Boy oh boy, if that’s true, then Obama’s decision to release his long-form birth certificate accomplished a feat on par with — nay, greater than — killing Osama bin Laden: it made America dramatically less racist overnight!
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Comments
Maybe he's wrong about the bin Laden pics inciting people to violence too. He doesn't seem to be very good at this.
One problem. It's not an orginal. Computer generated, not photo copied. Just a 'Live Birth, with additional info put in. Real question is: After he was adopted did he ever leagally change his name to BHO? Why has he had all records sealed, and spent millions to keep them sealed? More questions. http://www.citizenwells.com
So long as the Pattericos, Levins, Malkins, Limbaughs and the rest of "polite society" insist on first declaring those who want to talk about the facts to be "conspiracy theorists", "chumps", "retards" and so on, there is no way to have an intelligent discussion about this.
We had Trump finally pushing on this and making progress but the entire media, MSM and other, conspired to shut down the discussion. They had "more important" things to focus on. And so we now find ourselves languishing in that GOP "standing around doing nothing" vacuum we were in before Trump flipped the tables.
It's hopeless. We can only discuss things if "polite society" first deems them suitable to be discussed among the "non-retards".
Updated my post, Professor.
Also i wanted to add that clearly what happened was this. All those people who were racist just became suddenly enlightened. its the only explanation. /sarc
"Now The Washington Post reports that after the release of Obama's original birth certificate, the number of people who believe Obama definitely was born abroad has plummeted to 1% of the population. "
Uh no, reread the text you quoted. The number that still believe he was born outside the US is 10% not 1%. 1% is the number who still believe they have hard evidence to support their position. The mistaken belief has dropped in half but that still leaves an awful lot of people who believe what they want to believe despite the evidence. It also means the evidence does not support your contention that race could not play a role.
Please Professor. Is a PDF file of the original admiisable in court? Was the actual hard copy of the ORIGINAL submitted to any authority, like Congress? Are you really a lawyer? Have you not seen this?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nW_PWzhgvDs
How can you ignore that the POTUS put out a fake official US document? How do you accept that 1 born British is supposedly a natural born Citizen, eligible to be POTUS, when the VERY REASON for the requirement was to prevent foreign influence? Makes me wonder what they teach at that school.
And the 1% chimes in…
Well, this is what I have been saying all along, too. Obama needed to cough it up and resolve the problem. YET, not one single Obotski I ever argued with agreed.
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
And it wasn't just the race card either. Many on the right swore that no mere certificate would ever convince the birthers.
Although not a birther myself, I resented the implication that one had to be an unhinged lunatic just because someone felt that a presidential candidate/president should provide a very basic form of ID to attain the highest office in the land. Especially when it was apparent Teh One was playing games.
The relentless attempts at marginalization by the right since the November elections have been exhausting.
Obama has not resolved anything. No Birth Certificate has been submitted to any controlling authority. A pic on a website is proof of NOTHING. Regardless, Obama was born British, and by that fact alone is already ineligible.
If the well known (irrefutable) reason for the natural born Citizen requirement was to prevent foreign influence, then how could Obama, admittedly born British, possibly be a natural born Citizen, eligible to be POTUS?
I read the article and think it's interesting how people think that the 'birther' issue has to do with race. I am caucasion/white. I can never be president under our current laws. I was born outside the U.S. To me, race has nothing to do with the issue of place of birth. Why do people seem to confuse these two, and then protest 'racism'… I just don't see the connection. I personally believe that the racism card/threat/insult is just a smoke-screen to refuse to actually deal with the issues clearly, fairly and with a level-head. It just seems more fun I suppose to rile people up and play the accusatory role than to calmly express a viewpoint one way or the other. That's one reason I tend to stay away from politics. Too much hot-headedness and too little basic logic presented with philosophical integrity.