Birth pain

THE White House’s release of a certified copy of Pres. Barack Hussein Obama’s more detailed, long-form birth certificate on April 27 finally puts the protracted birther controversy, which started during his campaign trail for the presidency, to rest.
The details of the original birth certificate verified that Pres. Obama was born in Hawaii, to an American mother and a Kenyan father and is eligible to hold office as President of the United States.
Before his election in 2008, Pres. Obama released a standard short form of his birth certificate. Up until the middle of the week, the White House has insisted that it was the only legal document required to legitimize his election as president.
But because of the lingering clamor from his detractors (aka prominent business magnate and potential Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump), he decided to send White House counsel Bob Bauer to Hawaii on a quest, to obtain copies of his original birth certificate from Hawaii officials — “an extraordinary attempt to bury the issue of where he was born and confirm his legitimacy to hold office,” says the Associated Press.
On national TV, Pres. Obama accommodated an opportunity to give his final response of certitude. “This issue has been going on for two, two and a half years now. I think it started during the campaign. I have watched with bemusement, I’ve been puzzled at the degree at which this thing just kept on going. We’re not going to be able to solve our problems if we get distracted by sideshows and carnival barkers,” he quipped.
Vindicated at last, the president emphasized that the nation should not dwell on this “kind of silliness” and instead, should move on to tackle bigger things, like the budget decisions in Washington.
On the other hand, Trump gave himself a pat on the back, saying that he is honored and proud for being instrumental in settling the issue once and for all.
With election season nearing and Pres. Obama in the midst of another campaign trail for his re-election, it is understandable for politics to become dirty yet again.
Douglas E. Schoen of FoxNews.com analyzed that the White House took Pres. Obama’s vulnerability to personal attacks into consideration, “especially those that seek to delegitimize him.” Schoen emphasized on Bauer’s efforts to acquire the president’s birth certificate and to solicit acknowledgment from reluctant Hawaiian officials of the president’s birth in the state, which are very telling signs of the White House’s willingness to protect Pres.Obama’s interest, in the best way possible.
Schoen also warned that “the birther issue is also a precursor of what is to come. Other Republicans will learn from The Donald’s experience. Even though Trump was clearly wrong, it is not lost on any potential candidate that Trump moved to the top of the Republican polls, based on his allegations…Trump is the only potential Republican candidate out there offering straight talk and confronting Obama directly. The rest of the field will learn from this, and you can expect that the tone and tempo of the campaign will step up and step up significantly in terms of tone and yes, hostility.”
The Christian Science Monitor views Trump’s political move as groundbreaking, saying that “anytime you force an opponent to react to you, as opposed to talking about what they want to talk about, you’ve often scored a point…So in that sense – which admittedly is pretty narrow – Trump may have managed to do something none of the other GOP presidential hopefuls have yet accomplished.”
As Oscar Wilde aptly put it: “Democracy means simply the bludgeoning of the people by the people for the people.” And the game of politics is no different.
In Donald Trump’s case, it was a matter of grabbing attention and of attempting to deconstruct Obama through the birther controversy — and in the process, coercing the White House to actually do something about it. On that aspect, Trump ‘s politicking was strategic and effective, regardless of its “silliness.”
(www.asianjournal.com)
(LA Weekend April 30, May 3, 2011 Sec A pg.12)