Jack & Jill Politics

Wow — I know, right? I’d heard the rumors that one of the biggest right-leaning blogs was pushing back on the birthers (those who believe that Barack Obama was not born in the US and is not a US citizen).

But it was just last weekend that Erick Erickson just out-and-out banned further discussion from the issue on RedState.com. I saw him tweet a link to his post and almost couldn’t believe it. I’ve mixed it up with Erick on twitter and on panels a number of times. Let’s just saw that we tend to take uhhhh….differing views on most matters. Erickson has proudly and publicly proclaimed himself a “right-wing extremist”, for example.

So seeing Erickson defend the President’s legal right to be president using clear reason, logic, facts and history was astonishing and moving for me. I know Erick got no love for Barack Obama. Yet he’s willing to accept Obama as President and be part of the loyal opposition to his policies. I can respect that. Erickson writes:

Based on the facts, it is very clear that President Obama is our lawfully elected President and the Office of President of the United States of America requires that though we may disagree with him and oppose him, we recognize and respect his position as President — a position entrusted to him by 69,456,897 voting Americans, or 52.9% of the popular vote.

As early at 1350, the British Parliament approved statutes recognizing the rule of jus sanguinis, under which citizens may pass their citizenship by descent to their children at birth, regardless of place. Similarly, in the its first naturalization statute, Congress declared that ‘the children of citizens of the United States, that may be born beyond the sea, or out of the limits of the United States, shall be considered as natural born citizens.’ 1 Stat. 104 (1790) . . . . Notwithstanding the Supreme Court’s discussion in Wong Kim Ark (1898), a majority of commentators today argue that the Presidential Eligibility Clause incorporates both the common-law and English statutory principles, and that therefore, Michigan Governor George Romney, who was born to American parents outside of the United States, was eligible to seek the Presidency in 1968.

Meese, Edward, Heritage Guide to the Constitution, p. 190 (2005).

Even were the American public to fall under the belief that Barack Obama was born in a foreign country and 49 years ago his associates fabricated a narrative, a birth record, and placed birth announcements in both the Honolulu Advertiser and the Star Bulletin on August 4, 1961, to ensure that 49 years later he could become President of the United States, it is undisputed that Barack Obama’s mother is and has always been an American citizen. Therefore Barack Obama is and has always been an American citizen.

The leaps of logic and reason to arrive at such a conspiracy are unbefitting the credibility of anyone and not worthy of further discussion. Notwithstanding the same, no American should ever sanction what would amount to a judicial coup — the removal of the President of the United States after 52.9% of the American public instructed their Electoral College representatives to place their votes for him. The time to even be willing to entertain these issues from those who claim a conspiracy has long past.

A conservative movement worthy of leading this nation must be willing to cast aside those who, for whatever reason, cannot and will not be persuaded that the President is our legitimately, constitutionally elected President.

I agree with him whole-heartedly. The birther non-controversy is a dark blemish on the face of the right that needs some spiritual Proactiv. This is kind of a big deal. Why? Because there is a shocking number of Republicans who still take refuge in the illogical and debunked concept that Obama can’t be a citizen to explain away their racism-based discomfort & fear of a black president.

An opinion poll carried out for Daily Kos by Research 2000 in July 2009 found that 77% of Americans believed that Obama was born in the US, while 11% didn’t, and 12% were unsure.Republicans and Southerners were far more likely than other political or demographic groups to doubt that Obama was born in the United States. 58% of Republicans either believed that Obama was not born in the US (28%) or were not sure (30%), with 42% believing that he was. An overwhelming majority of Democrats (93%) and independents (83%t) believed that he was born in the US. Support for the belief that Obama was born outside the US was strongest in the South, where only 47% of those polled believed he was born in the US, compared with an average of 90% of residents of the Northeast, Midwest and West.

A Public Policy Polling survey carried out in August 2009 found that only 32% of Republicans in Virginia thought that Obama was born in the US. 41% thought he was foreign-born and the remaining 27% were unsure.^[194] In Utah, an August 2009 poll carried out for the Deseret News and KSL-TV found that 67% of Utahns accepted the evidence that Obama was born in the US. The poll found that those who do not believe that Obama was born in the United States, or do not know, are predominantly middle-aged, lower-income Republican-leaning individuals without a college education.

So many aging, broke, poorly educated mouthbreathers willing to cast a GOP vote, in fact that numerous prominent Republicans & conservatives have given credence to the doubts and winked to curry favor with the birthers. For example:

• Sarah Palin
• Michael Savage
• Lou Dobbs
• Rush Limbaugh
• Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL)
• Rep. Roy Blunt (R-MS)

Sarah Palin actually said just 2 months ago (Dec 3, 2009):

I think the public rightfully is still making it an issue. I don’t have a problem with that. I don’t know if I would have to bother to make it an issue, because I think that members of the electorate still want answers.

Erickson said this in the comments for his post:

If a candidate comes out

Erick Erickson Sunday, February 14th at 4:47PM EST (link)

as a birther, we will shun them. If we have endorsed them, we will withdraw the endorsement.

I really hope that more conservatives will choose to take the high road like Erickson. Look, we’re not asking you to love the guy like we do. Just accept that his skin color doesn’t make him any less qualified to be an American (and a president) than you.

Thanks for the tolerance…and for dragging your party back from the brink of insanity.