Lingering Questions of Obama's Birth

We are well into the third year of Barack Obama's Presidency and questions of the legitimacy of his birth certificate are still being promulgated by the media.   When he originally decided to run for president, he had to file the necessary papers proving that he was born in the United States.   These papers were checked and verified and guess what, it was verified that he was born in Hawaii.  Yet since the start, there have been questions and conspiracy theories circulating regarding the legitimacy of the birth certificate.   The most popular of the theories is that the birth certificate is a forgery and that he was really born in Kenya.   Due to the internet and the speed in which these questions and conspiracy theories can now be circulated, the idea of illegitimacy took hold and spread like wild fire.   And yes, my writing about it now is not helping in cutting short the life of this "birther" issue.  However, I feel that these ideas and theories of illegitimacy are ludicrous and are a result of a deeply rooted racism that won't seem to dissipate with the passing of time from some people's minds.   For the most part, the theories were started small, picked up by fringe media outlets and began to foment through talk radio shows such as Rush Limbaugh's.   Following that, the ideas went mainstream and were then being covered by TV media shows on CNN, Fox, and MSNBC.  Most of these shows, to be fair, called these theories far-fetched and outrageous, but the theories had taken hold in the minds of Americans.

Media has far greater power over the minds of Americans than we realize.  Whether they speak for or against a specific idea, that idea is given traction and will take hold in one form or another in people's minds.  Some will use that idea as a means to excuse certain prejudices they may have about an issue such as President Obama's birth certificate.   The "birther" issue has gained such a hold in the public eye that books have been written about the certificate's illegitimacy and become no.1 best sellers for brief periods.  It seems people want a reason to validate that fact that they don't want Obama in office.  Well, he is there legitimately and has every right to stay there.  Bringing this issue to the front of the media headlines again and again will only distract us from the more pressing issues that need to be dealt with in our country.  It seems that the reason this theory has been revived recently is due to some comments made by Donald Trump claiming he wanted to see the long form version of the birth certificate.   Trump, who is toying with the idea of a Republican run for president, is nothing more than an attention addict who has a need to keep the money rolling in any way he can.  If there is something that he can say that will draw attention to himself, he will get in front of as many cameras as possible and proclaim it to the world.  As the British would say, its bolox.

What our country needs is for the media to remove themselves from their fear-mongering and diversionary tactics about legitimacy and start delving more into issues that affect Americans at a deeper level, their wallets.  We need to remain focused on recovering from our current recession and bringing more jobs back to American soil instead of lingering on these questions of a legitimate birth certificate for the president.  While racism in the U.S. has diminished greatly and has for the most part removed itself from the public eye, these questions of legitimacy speak to its hold on people's subconscious and their desire not to see an African American in office.  Obama won the election fair and square and it is up to him to prove that he his capable of doing his job.  We may or may not agree with his policies and vision, but that does not mean we should begin trying to undermine his legitimacy.  In addition, not everything the media forces down our throats should be believed.  The purpose of the media these days, especially on TV is not just to report the news, but to make sure they are number 1 in the ratings.  That means they will spin a story any way they can to evoke more emotion and viewer response from people.  As archaic as it may be, it would be much better to get your news from either a traditional newspaper or an online newspaper where you can read the facts and come to your own conclusion about the way things are or should be.  By watching the news on television, you are watching people play to the underlying emotions of an issue and by doing that, there can never be total impartiality.   Let us put this issue of Obama's legitimacy to rest and move on with dealing with more pressing issues like rising gas prices, rising debt, joblessness, wars overseas, home foreclosures or any of the other issues that directly affect us as Americans and in a broader sense citizens of the world.  There are very few countries these days who are not dealing with a recession of sorts and we all need to focus first on personal fiscal responsibility and then on the fiscal responsibility of the countries we live in.  The week is almost over for most of us and let us look towards the weekend and at least a few days of relaxation in this tumultuous world we live in.