Obama Derangement Syndrome

(National Review Online)  This column was written by David Horowitz.

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The continuing efforts of a fringe group of conservatives to deny Obama his victory and to lay the basis for the claim that he is not a legitimate president is embarrassing and destructive. The fact that these efforts are being led by Alan Keyes, a demagogue who lost a Senate election to the then-unknown Obama by 42 points, should be a warning in itself.

This tempest over whether Obama, the child of an American citizen, was born on American soil is tantamount to the Democrats' seditious claim that Bush "stole" the election in Florida and hence was not the legitimate president. This delusion helped to create the Democrats' Bush derangement syndrome and encouraged Democratic leaders to lie about the origins of the Iraq war, and regard it as illegitimate as Bush himself. It became "Bush's War" rather than an American War - with destructive consequences for our troops and our cause.

The birth-certificate zealots are essentially arguing that 64 million voters should be disenfranchised because of a contested technicality as to whether Obama was born on U.S. soil. (McCain narrowly escaped the problem by being born in the Panama Canal zone, which is no longer American.)

What difference does it make to the future of this country whether Obama was born on U.S. soil? Advocates of this destructive campaign will argue that the constitutional principle regarding the qualifications for president trumps all others. But how viable will our Constitution be if five Supreme Court justices should decide to void 64 million ballots?

Conservatives are supposed to respect the organic nature of human societies. Ours has been riven by profound disagreements that have been deepening over many years. We are divided not only about political facts and social values, but also about what the Constitution itself means. The crusaders on this issue choose to ignore these problems and are proposing to deny the will of 64 million voters by appealing to five Supreme Court Justices (since no one is delusional enough to think that the four liberal justices are going to take the presidency away from Obama). What kind of conservatism is this?

It is not conservatism; it is sore loserism and quite radical in its intent. Respect for election results is one of the most durable bulwarks of our unity as a nation. Conservatives need to accept the fact that we lost the election, and get over it; and get on with the important business of reviving our country's economy and defending its citizens, and - by the way - it's Constitution.
By David Horowitz
Reprinted with permission from National Review Online

[attygirl]

Wow, what a rational, so which laws and rules should we enforce, if not the minimal constitutional requirements for the highest office in the land? Why is there not a system in place for confirmation of the requirements? I didn't think much of the claims until I learned that Obama has spent in excess of $ 800,000 fighting various lawsuits. Where did he get that money? and why doesn't he just shut them up by authorizing the release of his birth records? Obama has not produced a birth certificate from hawaii, only a registry of birth - big difference. Kenya was ready to celebrate him and the location of his birth on this recent trip, which may explain why Obama decided to stay in Ghana and not visit Kenya. $ 800,000 - that's a lot of $$
In his own book we know he was an Indonesian citizen from time of his adoption by his stepdad through college, as he was traveling on his Ind. passport when he went to Pakistan; he did not get US passport until Senator, and then he got a 'special' one for Senators.
Why has Obama fought and not released any of his school, college, employment, etc. records; only a few pages of his medical - no other candidate has concealed so much - many don't release everything.. like Kerry never released all of his military records.. particularly those who dealt with the allegations against him...
$ 800,000 - to stop the release of his birth records. Even the State of Hawaii has only verified they are in possession of his birth records - they did not state they were in possession of his Hawaiian birth records............. If he is not a natural born citizen, then shame on all of us, and the democrat party for putting up a candidate they did not properly vent.

[r_d_]

Well I am a bitter red neck but I was taught by my parents and school, That you must obey the law no matter what. If you feel that the law is wrong work to get it changed. The law says that you must be born on American soil to be president so it is very important that he obey the law. No one is above the law, not a president or illegal immigrants. Now you know why so many want to know.
R D

[ausus-2009]

If Obama becomes disqualified, Joe Biden would be President, not a Republican.

I am convinced that Obama was born in the US, but if anybody should prove otherwise, he should be disqualified. The Presidency in the end is a job. One of the prerequisites for that job is to be a natural born citizen. It is something like not having been convicted of a felony for many other jobs. Still, it is not for Obama to prove, it is for others to disprove.

[sanfelz]

Bush did lie about the reasons and origins of the Iraq War and as often as NRO and other Bush apologists try to change history, it is fact.

[cheetah-man7]

I''''d like to point out that whoever wrote this article is an idiot.

You wrote 6 paragraphs attempting to attack the credibility of people questioning Obama''''s Birth Certificate.

Yet you couldn''''t even write one sentence defending Obama''''s birth certificate.

Obama has a constitutional duty to prove he is eligible to hold office. But of course questioning why he still hasn''''t shown his original birth certificate, and why he has spent over $300,000 in legal fees to hide it - makes us nutty right?


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Posted by sh0wtym3

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I''m sorry, WHO''S the idiot?

Sounds like a lot of sour grapes for McCain losing! People need to get a life and stop creating nonsense to cover up their own intellectual deficits!

[sh0wtym3]

I''d like to point out that whoever wrote this article is an idiot.

You wrote 6 paragraphs attempting to attack the credibility of people questioning Obama''s Birth Certificate.

Yet you couldn''t even write one sentence defending Obama''s birth certificate.

Obama has a constitutional duty to prove he is eligible to hold office. But of course questioning why he still hasn''t shown his original birth certificate, and why he has spent over $300,000 in legal fees to hide it - makes us nutty right?

[h5582]

Blood was shed for the protection of the US Constitution, and it must be followed. If you don''t want to live by it, than leave this country so we that respect it can. This country is going to hell by the ignorance of the American public. You must know where you came from, where you''re at, to know where you''re going.

[eo11110]

Hell, with this logic whats the point of ANY provision of the Constitution??? Lets just say ''screw it all'' and use anarchy as our form of government?
I think Jay Leno may have said it best in one of his show monologues:
"The United States is putting together a Constitution now for Iraq. Ya know, why don''t we just give them ours? I mean think about it, It served us well for over 200 years and we dont appear to be using it any more so, what the heck..."
And for the record, Im an independant who harbors no racist opinions or beliefs and would simply like to see us start following the rule of law as the Constitution is supposed to provide. Agree or disagree, the more ''We the People'' sit back and allow holes like this to be poked in our Constitution, it will not be too long before the parts that you value most are trampled as well.
When you apply for a job, many emplyers require background checks, drug tests, etc.. It would be great for those withsomthing to hide to simply tell that employer, "nah- no need to check me out, Im good." Come on Mr. Obama, lets see it...

[ge13-2009]

I was seriously considering Obama early in the primaries, but as I did some open and honest research (and it didn''t take long) it was clear that this man had far too many extremely questionable background associations, statements, etc. You all know what they are. The Constitutional Requirement to be a "Natural Born Citizen" is in force to help ensure that the candidate for President has a high liklihood of TRULY LOVING his country and to have less chance of embracing someone who doesn''t think with a "Country First" attitude. This birth certificate issue came up long before the election and for good reason. Both Barak and wife Michelle, through thier writings, associations, and verbal statements have demonstrated the kind of anti-American thinking that could very well lead to subversion of the purposes of the Constitutional, arguably the most amazing document ever written. The U.S. is a Democratic Republic, meaning that laws that are purposely difficult to change are the LAW OF THE LAND...period...no matter how much you LIKE and are ENAMORED by a candidate! We are NOT a pure Democracy, where "mob rule" even by vote is the law of the land. Obama could EASILY stop all of this by allowing a representative and "expert" panel or the Supreme Court to VALIDATE his true certificate of live birth...that it is not just a "registration" of prior birth in another country that was simply REGISTERED in Hawaii. This VALID question will not go away until Obama is forthcoming and transparent.

[pdchapin]

Then you realized that our consitution was actualled changed in 2000 to allow foreigners to be usa president.
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First, what are you talking about? The last change to the constitution was in ''92 and had to do with congressional pay.

Second, "natural born citizen" has been accepted to mean citizen at birth whether by birth on US soil or through parents. This was all worked out in 1968 when George Romney (Mitt''s father ran). George was born in Mexico to parents who were US citizens.

Third, although the article dismisses this as an issue, the author couldn''t apparently bring himself to say "This is just silly. Of course he''s eligible". His argument, that we should ignore the issue in deference to 64 million voters implies that there is a real issue here, and there isn''t.