Birther, birther, birther, birther, birther. I’m growing tired of hearing about the dispute over Obama’s lacking birth certificate. Not because I think the argument has no merit, but because the left is using coverage of all things “birther” to distract Americans from the real, serious issues that we are facing today. It’s today’s version of “I can see Russia from my house” (a statement that Sarah Palin never said, but is believe to have been said by millions of clueless voters).
My take: Obama’s mother was a flake. She had a thing for foreigners, she married and divorved twice, and moved around quite a bit including going overseas. My money is on the fact that she probably lost his original birth certificate, making it impossible for the president to prove anything about his birth via original documentation.
However, rules exist for a reason. Obama should have had to prove his eligibility, otherwise the concept of rules and requirements becomes moot. I am still waiting for any liberal to justify why Obama had his records in Hawaii sealed. If there is no problem, he would share the records and all of this birther talk would go away. What could justify the hiding of his documents? What’s in there that we will probably never see? If I were insanely rich I would offer one million dollars to anyone that could give me a reasonable explanation justifying Obama’s secrecy. I think my money would be safe.
How bout this: I’ll give out a rare and valuable RFC Radio sticker to anyone that can explain Obama’s lack of transparency on this issue. 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXL86v8NoGk
For the record she says “you can see Russia from Alaska”. Alaska being her home, the derived statement is that she said she can see Russia from her home. I have never heard anyone say “House”.
Ahh, I found the quote you are referring to,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psyo4JDbJJ4
Tina Fey from SNL said it not Palin. Unfortunately for Palin, over time the majority of people remember what Fey said instead of her. Not that Palin’s answer to Gibson’s question was all that intelligent in the first place
Jeff, I’m surprised that you were not aware of my Tina Fey reference. Perhaps you are one of those rare people in America that did not see the skit or portions of it repeated on various news shows ad nauseum. She was making a statement about Alaska’s proximity to Russia in a purely normal context. Tina Fey twisted the comment to mock Palin, and THAT is the soundbite that many Americans actually think is what was said by Palin.
This is a major problem with the press and its influence on elections. They were all in the tank for Obama and happily distorted or mocked conservatives. They didn;t persuade diehard conservatives or liberals. Instead, they persuaded the politically apathetic or ignorant enough to sway votes to Obama.
Palin got a bum rap, I’m sure you realize this by now given the many gaffes Biden has spewed as VP (never mind the many he said before the election).
I wasn’t aware that Tina Fey was a member of the press. Has your devotion to Fox News irrevocably blurred the line between entertainment and reportage?
Glibness aside, your point about the press influencing public opinion is valid enough. Murdoch’s right-wing organs, for instance, are only too happy to brag about their ability to sway the result of an election (hence: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It%27s_The_Sun_Wot_Won_It).
Wunderbahr, I am well aware of the differences between press and entertainment, but sadly, most Americans are not. They get audio from various sources and don’t do any legitimate fact checking or research. Comedians and talking heads influence opinion, and when 95% of the media is in the tank for one candidate, there’s no chance in hell that the other will compete.
Be careful with Wiki facts.
This Obama birth certificate debate is such a joke. The State of Hawaii has provided Obama’s “Certificate of Live Birth” document to several media sources on multiple occasions. In addition the Honolulu Advertiser has historical documentation showing Obama’s birth announcement in August of 1961 in the local news paper. I’ve seen republicans on message boards saying Hawaii isn’t even a US state, LOL (this is why it’s important to stay in school folks!). By the way, to those debating Obama’s presidential eligibility due to being born in Hawaii, I must ask…wasn’t McCain born in Panama? That’s not even a US state!
Here is a non-partisan outlook on the subject.
http://factcheck.org/elections-2008/born_in_the_usa.html
Also, here is something scary. Seven percent of people polled about whether they think Obama was born in the US or not didn’t even know Hawaii was part of the US!
http://www.newsobserver.com/1573/story/1644163.html
You asked why the Administration is not being transparent…
Why should they? This is costing them nothing as far as political capitol goes. The people that are pursuing it are more likely to start channeling winning lottery numbers while being struck repeatedly by lightning than support the President anyway, so there is no point to trying to bring them on board. As a bonus, the Administration gets to tar any conservative group or individual that opposes any part of his agenda as part of a crackpot fringe element of “birthers” that wouldn’t be satisfied if he produced actual film of his very pregnant mother being wheeled into a Honolulu hospital, followed through the entire process, including a key vantage point during the actual birth.
Paint the opposition as cranks, loons or idiots…on a related note, that is why the media talks about “teabaggers” and not Tea Party Protesters.