Here’s the breakdown:
Yes No Not sure
Dem 93 4 3
Rep 42 28 30
Ind 83 8 9
Anyone doubting the effectiveness of negative campaigning and swiftboating, please wake up and smell The Hunting of the President, the Barack Obama edition. It was launched and perfected during William Jefferson Clinton’s presidency, with some Democrats sucked into it, more than willing to marginalize a man who got us out of the last economic tank the Republicans put us in.
Luckily, a huge majority of the country’s population are sure about Pres. Obama.
So the birthers have hatched a plan b.
I’ve been watching the coverage of the birther crazies with amazed amusement. How the Republican Party, who used to be considered so politically adept and savvy at campaigning for the whole country, could be reduced to such mania illustrates the desperation among them. However, reading a column over at NRO today, their plan b became clear. Having lost the foundational Obama birth question when you look at the country as a whole, quickly regrouping, mainstream Republicans have decided to join in and change tracks. They see an opportunity in the 58%. So, yes, they believe Obama was born in Hawaii; now it’s about his lack of honesty about his life.
Compliments of the creative quackery of Andrew C. McCarthy over at NRO we get the full hyper-ventilating narrative. It begins with the obvious from the right. That there should be no doubt about Obama’s citizenship because after all, “if Obama were not qualified to be president, the Clinton machine would have failed to get that information out?” Followed by the nut:
… The editorial desire to put to rest the “Obama was born in Kenya” canard is justifiable. The overwhelming evidence is that Obama was born an American citizen on Aug. 4, 1961, which almost certainly makes him constitutionally eligible to hold his office. I say “almost certainly” because Obama, as we shall see, presents complex dual-citizenship issues. For now, let’s just stick with what’s indisputable: He was also born a Kenyan citizen. In theory, that could raise a question about whether he qualifies as a “natural born” American — an uncharted constitutional concept.
… .. Under Indonesian law, adoption before the age of six by an Indonesian male qualified a child for citizenship. According to Dreams from My Father, Obama was four when he met Lolo Soetoro; his mother married Soetoro shortly thereafter; and Obama was already registered for school when he and his mother relocated to Jakarta, where Soetoro was an oil-company executive and liaison to the Suharto government.
… [...] Obama’s religious background also matters in terms of how he views American policies bearing on the Muslim world. … ..
Call it the Middle East policy squeeze play, if you want, but that part in bold is the real crux of it, which renders us all in unchartered territory.
Mark Steyn dutifully helps out:
But do I think there’s something on the long-form birth certificate he doesn’t want us to see? Yes. That would seem entirely likely — and consistent with his modus operandi.
That sound you hear is William F. Buckley screaming from the grave.
Then there is the other objective, which centers on Obama’s Middle East policy, specific to Israel of course (and Iran), as the Republicans focus on what Obama’s “real” story could mean to U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East. A reach out to thinkers among them? Or maybe just to scare the fundamentalists into action?
The claim that Obama is someone with dual citizenship and loyalties, McCarthy’s intent is to question his ability to guide Middle East policy, because, as McCarthy hints, Obama’s religious background might impact “how he views American policies bearing on the Muslim world.” Could it be more obvious? It’s code. Translation: Obama’s real religious leanings might shred our “special relationship” with Israel, or tilt us towards diplomacy with Iran.
Now, this journey to follow Republican thinking and their campaign to delegitimize Pres. Obama may seem pointless. But I’ve been studying this stuff for decades, including the lengths the wingnut fringe on talk radio will go to get their man by building grass roots voter efforts from the ground up. They build slowly, methodically, and entertain all manner of mania in a serious fashion until they’ve built an underground movement of activists that blankets the country through grass roots actions that start locally with people who all vote.
Hey, but it’s not just NRO. Politico’s Ben Smith is now officially a birther sympathizer:
With nearly a third of Republicans believing the theory, you can see why Republican politicians are inclined to treat it with some respect.
This is how Reagan’s southern strategy worked. And since the south leads the lunatic anti Obama fringe, with Bubba leading the birther band, all Republicans like McCarthy and the crew at NRO are doing is building on what has worked for them before. But with an African American President, Republicans have obviously weighed the odds and think this time it will be even easier.
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