Donald Trump declared “I'm very proud of myself, because I've accomplished something that no one else has been able to accomplish"—and, just in case anybody missed the self-congratulation, “ I really did a great job.” This is the political equivalent of lighting a house on fire, calling 911 and then expecting a medal.
The author of the spectacularly ill-timed and ill-titled Where’s the Birth Certificate? Jerome Corsi, tried to save face by moving the goal posts for marketing purposes: “Public pressure finally forced Obama to do what he did today. Now the game begins. Nixon thought he could stop the Watergate scandal from unfolding by releasing a few tapes. All that did was fuel the fire… When people read the book, they will see that Obama is not eligible to be president."The queen of the birthers, Orly Taitz, tried a similar tack, calling the birth certificate’s release “a step in the right direction, just like the release of the Watergate tapes was a step in the right direction by Richard Nixon...
As Jonathan Swift warned centuries ago, “you cannot reason a person out of something they were not reasoned into.”
Mitt Romney released a short statement via Twitter criticizing the president for releasing the document: "What President Obama should really be releasing is a jobs plan." Sarah Palin took a break from playing the victim to play blame-the-victim, tweeting “…Don't let the WH distract you w/the birth crt from what Bernanke says today. Stay focused, eh?" (And what’s with the Canadian ‘eh’ tick, Ms. Real America?)
Oh I see Mitt, like the Republican jobs plan? Things like cutting family planning services, spending undue attention to a likely-indefensible Defense of Marriage Act, etc.?
History will be more unforgiving and see the birther conspiracy more clearly than we have in our contemporary debates. It will be hard to miss the fact that so much time and energy was spent trying to prove the illegitimacy and un-American-ness of our first black president. It will seem shameful. And it is.
Author: Tom Ferrio with loads of help (in italics) from The Daily Beast