Keller @ Large: Nut Fringe Won't Go Away

BOSTON (CBS) - If you think the release of the president's long-form birth certificate will finally put an end to right-wing fantasies about his background, think again.

Listen to Jon's commentary:

A quick perusal of a few arch-conservative web sites finds that not only are they unprepared to accept the document as real, but they still want the release of other supposedly "concealed" documents from Mr. Obama's past, including - are you ready? - his passport records, kindergarten and grade school records, Occidental College and Columbia University records, undergraduate thesis, Harvard Law School records, Harvard Law Review articles, University of Chicago articles, Illinois State Bar Association records, Illinois State Senate records and schedules, medical records, Obama/Dunham marriage license, Obama/Dunham divorce documents, and so on, and so on.

This is, of course, madness.

The only thing worth talking about is what the president is doing now and where his policies are leading us.

But no one should be surprised at the persistence of his enemies' efforts to delegitimize the man rather than simply critiquing his performance in office. This is a repugnant but common theme in our politics going way, way back.

Let's work back from President Obama. To the nut fringe, George W. Bush was a bloodthirsty idiot doing Halliburton's bidding; Bill Clinton was a serial rapist who conspired to murder some of his own allies; George H.W. Bush and Jimmy Carter were pawns in a weird global conspiracy; Ronald Reagan was simply President "Ray-Gun."

All of it was designed to belittle the president's character, falsely stereotype them in a derogatory way, and thus, undercut any credibility their work might have.

Standard operating procedure, I guess, that pleases red-meat partisans and those who need conspiracy theories to help them cope with reality.

But for the rest of us, it's grotesque.

At least, I hope it is.

You can listen to Keller At Large on WBZ News Radio every weekday at 7:55 a.m. and 12:25 p.m. You can also watch Jon on WBZ-TV News.