Birthers

  By Florida Bill

                              The unmentionable belief and theory that President Obama was not born in America is being mentioned again by a whole bunch of news anchors and reporters.  Did you think that the controversy was over and done with?  
                              Donald Trump, perhaps the most forceful voice of anyone behind the theory that the President was born in Kenya, has rolled it back and has declared in a news conference very tersely:
                               " Hillary Clinton and her campaign of 2008 started the 'birther' controversy. I finished it.  President Barack Obama was born in the United States, period."
                              The Democratic troops have come out screaming with claims that Trump is lying as usual, but hey, there is evidence that he is on target.  No Dem wants to admit it though.  In 2008, Mrs. Clinton was brawling with Obama in a quest for the Democratic nomination which Obama ultimately got, but the battle was fierce and political blood was shed. 
                               Followers of Mrs. Clinton, the record indicates, favored floating out the idea that Obama was a Muslim and had been born in Kenya where he had attended a Madrassa in his early years; and the Clinton team was even considering releasing a photograph of then Sen. Obama decked out in a turban and other middle eastern garb.  Clinton's close buddy, Sidney Blumenthal, reportedly was agitating for her to slam Obama for his Kenya birth.  
                               Very likely, the whispering by Clinton campaigners about Obama and his birthplace in Kenya, rather than in Hawaii, leaked out, though it is not clear that Mrs. Clinton endorsed that tactic.  It appears that she opposed the dissemination of the "birther" information and the picture of Obama in the turban.  But it is pretty clear from the written record that the Clinton campaign team of workers and volunteers were toying with disseminating the explosive material.  
                                 The so called "birther" talk was also linked with the accusations flowing from political corners, fanned by Republicans, that Obama, then a United States senator from Illinois, was a "closet" Muslim,  although Obama had declared publicly that he was a  Christian and a follower of Jesus Christ.  When Clinton was asked on 60 Minutes if Obama was a Muslim, she responded by saying "not as far as I know," and that answer further fueled the belief that Obama was indeed a Muslim.  
                                   So it seems the "birther" talk was already permeating political discussions when Trump took an active role in publicly pursuing the case that Obama was not born in America--and therefore was holding the office of the president illegally.  He took the lead in calling for the president to provide his birth certificate to prove he was born in Hawaii.  In 2011, after continued sniping at the president and following a long and unexplained delay, Obama produced his Hawaiian birth certificate.  But the issue did not go away and Obama detractors, with Trump in the forefront, continued the discussion by questioning the authenticity of the certificate. 
                                  Through the years, scores of lawsuits have been filed in various states challenging the legitimacy of the Obama Presidency and charging that he holds an office for which he is not qualified as set forth in the in the U.S. constitution. For the most part the suits have been dismissed for various reasons. In some cases, it was determined that plaintiffs lacked standing to sue and in other suits the courts have refused to take the case.  Despite the many suits and demands for discovery process, President Obama has not been directed to provide answers to interrogatories or to testify under oath at a deposition.  
                                  Presently, according to researchers, one in five Americans, around 50 million persons,  continue to believe that Obama was born in Kenya. These "birthers" rely heavily on a 1991  promotional biography for an anticipated book authored by Obama  which states Obama was born in Kenya and raised in Indonesia.   Also there have been public comments attributed to the President and also to his wife Michelle acknowledging his Kenyan roots. Dissenters continue to point to reports that an Obama step-grandmother has said that she was present in Kenya when Barack Obama was born.  
                                  Trump has now said that he accepts the fact that President Obama was born in Hawaii.  Clinton has called him a racist and a bigot for endorsing the "birther" controversy over many years, and Trump says well, '' she started it anyway" and I am ending it.   
                                   You have to wonder if Trump, after nearly a decade of leading the "birthers," has changed his position because of the political necessity of doing so, and that deep down he continues to believe that President Obama is hiding his true history. On the other hand, perhaps Trump has come to see the authenticity of the Hawaiian certificate of birth.  One thing is for sure, Trump will probably never change the mind of the nation's multitude of   "birthers" who will vote for him but will never alter their judgments on Obama.  
                                   Frankly, I believe that Trump was sorry that he was backed into a corner by the demanding media which had been chasing him for his position on the Obama birth question since he announced his campaign. He probably hoped that the whole thing would just go away and that he could talk about illegal immigration and building a wall without interference from annoying newsmen. Obama is now leaving office and Trump may or may not become his successor.  In any case, it looks like the controversy has been laid to rest, at least for the foreseeable future. . 

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