The Chris Moeller Archives

State of Hawaii Certificate of Live Birth File #151- 61 10641

President Obama dropped the hammer today. His "long form" birth certificate from Hawaii was released to the media and the public this morning, and combined with a masterful press conference expressing frustration and impatience ("I've got better stuff to do"), the race-baiters and immoral political opportunists, such as Donald Trump-- the Charlie Sheen of the 2012 presidential race-- now look, collectively, like Charlie Sheen.

Yet if you think this dropping of more definitive truth in regards to the location of the president's birth will bring more sanity and substance to our political debate, you haven't been paying attention. The distractions are there for a reason. This specific distraction turned into a major victory for Obama, but they're capable of falling both ways, and trivial issues will continue to dominate the national debate because the Democratic and Republican Parties share no disagreement over the important issues. They support the same wars and imperial ambitions, the same suspensions of Constitutional protections, and the same economic system of privatizing Wall Street's profits and socializing its losses.

On the bright side, though, a group of hate-spewing windbags do look damn foolish today. So there's that.

Additional thought 4/28/11: Even this issue can be seen as an example of the similarities between the two parties. Democratic loyalists have suggested throughout Obama's presidency that the issue of his birthplace is indicative of the sanity of their party's faithful relative to the insanity of the Republican rank-and-file. But where did the issue of Obama's birthplace originate? Yes, the Hillary Clinton 2008 presidential campaign. So it was a popular theory among many Democratic activists too-- when it was politically expedient. The Clintons have devoted their entire political careers to blurring the line between Democrats and Republicans so this information probably doesn't surprise you even if you don't remember it. Obama refers to Trump as a "carnival barker," Hillary is his Secretary of State. They're tribal for electoral purposes, but the policies and playbooks are the same.

posted by CM @ 4:27 PM