WASHINGTON, April 28, 2011 — The ongoing commentary around Obama’s birth certificate was like a hurricane over the waves of the Internet to talk-radio. Why would such a mundane thing as the president’s birth certificate become such a mainstream media topic?
While many just felt the whole thing was too silly to even consider, large numbers of pundits, radio-talk show hosts, bloggers, and people everywhere, from the check-out line to the office, wondered why, if a birth certificate existed, doesn't Obama just show it?
The long form birth certificate (click to enlarge)
Obama's failure to put this issue to rest for the last two years may be linked to the fact that Obama’s attitudes, words and policies are often contrary to wide swaths of the American public.
It’s not that most truly believe the Democrats would put forward a candidate who couldn’t pass the most basic of Constitutional requirements. That idea is absurd.
Rather, it's that he feels he is above answering the question. But he is not.
Obama simply represents a minority American viewpoint, which makes the majority uncomfortable.
According to a 2010 Gallup poll, only 20 percent of the public identifies themselves as liberal or very liberal.
"Conservatives have maintained their leading position among U.S. ideological groups in the first half of 2010. Gallup finds 42% of Americans describing themselves as either very conservative or conservative. This is up slightly from the 40% seen for all of 2009 and contrasts with the 20% calling themselves liberal or very liberal."
While past presidents alternated between the Republican (conservative) and Democratic (liberal) parties, once elected, they seemed to step away from the label of their party adopting mainstream America values and views.
They are elected by ALL the people, for ALL the people. This seems to be a lesson that Mr. Obama missed.
So, what are those mainstream values and views we hold dear?
America is good and expects to get better.
Most of us are proud to be Americans. We tear up at the singing of the Star Spangled Banner, and we treat our flag with reverence.
Singing our national anthem is an early social behavior that once included reciting the Pledge of Allegiance in school.
Early in his presidency, Obama made speeches around the world where he made self-deprecating statements to other countries, but on our behalf, that struck many as inappropriate at best, untrue at worst.
According to the Wall Street Journal "The President's Apology Tour" by Karl Rove (April 23, 2009)
"Mr. Obama told the French (the French!) that America "has shown arrogance and been dismissive, even derisive" toward Europe. In Prague, he said America has "a moral responsibility to act" on arms control because only the U.S. had "used a nuclear weapon." In London, he said that decisions about the world financial system were no longer made by "just Roosevelt and Churchill sitting in a room with a brandy" -- as if that were a bad thing. And in Latin America, he said the U.S. had not "pursued and sustained engagement with our neighbors" because we "failed to see that our own progress is tied directly to progress throughout the Americas."
His low bows to other world leaders, less than diplomatic treatment of Great Britain and statements such as he uttered in France, led conservative and moderates alike to call it his “apology tour.”
No one likes to be called arrogant, dismissive or derisive. Least of all the American public.
A freely operating market works best and hard work is rewarded by prosperity.
Despite extending tax cuts voted in during the Bush presidency and Democrats in both chambers of Congress, pushing for legislation that would raise taxes on millionaires, Obama maintains his stance of raising taxes on families making $250,000 or more.
During the campaign, Obama, now infamously, told Joe the plumber, “If you’ve got a plumbing business, you’re gonna be better off if you’ve got a whole bunch of customers who can afford to hire you, and right now everybody’s so pinched that business is bad for everybody, and I think when you spread the wealth around, it’s good for everybody."
This is a wonderful sentiment, but you don’t “take” from earners unfairly so that others may profit. As a country based on the ideal of capitalism, this rings untrue to the very people that a big government demands pay the bills.
America's working class is “bitter?”
Obama has repeatedly been taped saying things that make us very uncomfortable. On the campaign trail, while stopping in a hard-hit small town in Pennsylvania, candidate Obama was recorded saying "They get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy, to people who aren't like them, or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations."
- Because - is not a good reason for a president to not respond to the American people (Photo: Associated Press)
This is rather disingenious to the millions of Americans who are not bitter, swayed by religion, or suffering from antipathy. It is unfair to call people who want to see legal immigration laws enforced racist or antipathetic. It is not fair to say we are wrong if we take the stance that we want to see what we consume, as Americans – whether it be the food we eat, the clothes we wear, or the customer service call center for our cell phone – be American.
The list of mainstream America values are long, and enough values apply to many Americans to make them important enough not to be ignored by our president.
But ignore them he does. Because he wants to. Like a parent telling a child overhearing an adult conversation that “it doesn’t matter,” even when the child knows it does, Obama chides us for our insolence in asking the question.
This is the heart of the birth certificate controversy.
He’s been dodgy and secretive about much of his background, including his birth certificate, college transcripts and religious beliefs. And, while it is true that a president does not HAVE to provide the American public ingress to his personal papers from before he was a president, why wouldn’t he answer the question most people asked?
When you are positioned in the most powerful job in the world, inquiring minds need to know.
The simple fact is that you cease to be a private citizen as “president,” and just like the movie star who takes the fans money at the box office, and then acts sullen when asked for an autograph, its wrong to think that you get to be a “private citizen” at your choosing.
Obama’s secretiveness on these issues makes us curious and gets our attention, in much the same way it does when we walk in a room, and our kid quickly clicks away the computer screen. We weren’t looking for mischief, but once someone acts nervous or defensive, we take note.
A good parent looks to that computer's history to see just where the child has been surfing.
The things we’ve took for granted in previous presidents - that they are accomplished Americans who love this country - are brought into question by Obama’s weirdness around so many basic topics. He can put it to rest by focusing less on derisive, preachy press conferences, and more on the real issues.
And that is a sentiment that is being echoed by pundits, and people, alike.
Writer, Carla Garrison follows current events with one eye on history and one eye on the future. Her goal is to encourage people to think critically about their lives and the world. Follow Carla at Twitter: CarlaMGarrison
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-cl- 4/29/11
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