The verdict is in. Yesterday, the White House released Barack Obama’s complete birth certificate, which showed Obama to have been born in Hawaii, proving once and for all his legitimacy as a U.S. president.
Done deal. Case closed. Right?
Unfortunately, this latest development may not achieve as much as expected in terms of silencing the conspiracy nuts. Polls have shown that more than a quarter of Americans aren’t convinced that the President was born in this country, with some indicating an even larger percentage of doubters – especially among Conservatives.
Now that all apparent doubt has been removed, those percentages are likely to decrease. But by how much? After all, most birthers didn’t consider the facts to be all that relevant before. Why should they now?
The truth is that there will always be bogus conspiracy theories. The Obama birthers will always be just as stubborn as the 9/11 truthers. There’s not much that can change that fact.
What can change, however, is the national discourse regarding these non-issues. And that’s what Obama is aiming for. Up until the last few weeks, the birther conspiracy had, for the most part, receded to the dark corners of right-wing nutjobs and Glenn Beck’s dinner table discussion.
But when Donald Trump and Sarah Palin recently began spewing their concerns to the mainstream media, the issue once again became a national distraction, and the White House knew it had to act. After releasing the certificate, Obama denounced the “silliness” that had taken over the national discourse, saying “we’re not going to be able to solve our problems if we get distracted by sideshows and carnival barkers.”
But why did it take so long for the birth certificate to be released, and why did it take a real estate mogul with a poorly tamed coif to bring it to light? Those are the questions most birthers are likely asking right now, along with some who even question the certificate’s authenticity.
Most Americans already acknowledge that Obama had long ago satisfied the legal requirements to be president. The White House had previously produced a shorter version of the birth certificate – the one that is commonly distributed by Hawaii – as well as a birth announcement from a Hawaiian newspaper. Unless the birthers believed that Obama’s parents planted a fake birth announcement in hopes that their son would one day grow up to become the socialist overlord of America, their argument didn’t hold much water. Regardless, the administration considered it a dead issue. The President shouldn’t have to pander to the every whim of conspiracy theorists.
The real problem was the national media, which consistently offered validation and credit to the birthers’ claims, perpetuating the conspiracy. And once Trump began rehashing the same old allegations, the media jumped right back onboard.
I don’t think the leader of the Free World withstood two and a half years of public scrutiny and then suddenly got scared by Donald Trump. I believe he saw the national discourse once again veering toward the ludicrous, and rather than have the country lose sight of its real challenges – namely, the budget debate – he resolved to put this issue to rest once and for all.
But the issue won’t rest if the mainstream media won’t. The birthers will never completely go away, but there’s certainly no reason to keep validating their ignorance. The power is in the facts, in responsible journalism and in the majority of Americans who rely on informed discussion to make their decisions. The country must use that power to ensure reason, rationality and civility rule the airwaves.
Or else we need to tell the media, “You’re fired!”
Armen Changelian is a Weinberg sophomore and DAILY blogger. He can be reached at [email protected] and followed at twitter.com/shroomalogs
Check out Obama’s full birth certificate below:
