Virginia’s Eric Cantor (R) replied to host David Gregory during an interview on Meet the Press who wailed about the birthers “crazy talk,” with what might almost be considered a rebuke. Cantor said, “It’s not nice to call anyone crazy.”
At the moment the only acceptable way of actually vetting a sitting President is calling birthers crazy. That is all about to change. Who would have ever guessed the day would come when we had to pass laws to ensure that the laws we already have on the books (including the Constitution) are properly enforced?
The law may force the issue out on the table but in terms of this President providing honesty and transparency as a good example to American youth; the damage is already done.
Now ten states are developing legislation to make sure Presidential candidates are properly vetted and that would include requirements for a full long form birth certificate. Arizona’s legislation may be enacted before the Obama 2012 re-election bid is fully underway.
Just assuming that Mr. Obama is U.S. born because a COLB (certificate of live birth) was popped up on the internet and since then O’Reilly and Beck have proclaimed the matter is finished and any further question about it is foolish; this is what many people consider “crazy talk.” Millions of conservative Americans love O’Reilly and Beck but almost none of them should be expected to answer “how high” when either of them says - jump.
While the “birthers” continue to get bashed and battered it seems that no one has noticed that the Presidents credulity and believability is also taking a serious beating.
Although on a completely different level, it is no longer just a legal question, or the absence of proper vetting where the President is losing credence but it is on a far more basic level. It is on the level of being a bad example to the young, the law abiding and the fastidious of the nation who try to comply with our laws.
We hear plenty today of how we need more compelling role models in our society to give our young people examples of what perseverance, honesty and hard work can produce. How is that balanced against the picture of a President who is alleged to have spent better than a cool million bucks to keep his birth certificate, school records and other documents from being seen by anyone in the public?
Are we now urged to call those who want to see these documents crazy? Perhaps a better question to ask is; were those who are calling the birthers crazy born in this country? This is America where for most people it seems even crazier not to ask, “What’s he got to hide?”
I won’t go down the road of the dual citizenship question or the missing school records but if you want to know every single detail you need only click on over to the World Net Daily where an extensive history of these matters can be found. I can only point out the absurdity and the hypocrisy that is so blaringly apparent but un-acknowledged on this controversy.
Why would anyone just insist it must be wrapped up and put away so we can get on with the real issues? What issue is more important that the legality of a sitting President. Isn’t everything he says or does a sham if he has no place being in the Oval Office in the first place? Does putting it away make everything OK? Is it answered by ignoring it? Again, this is America and the most honest answer that we would expect from most American’s is, “not likely.”
When Bill Clinton was under full scrutiny of the public during the Lewinski affair every sniveling detail was sought out on that scandal and published, broadcast and discussed at length. No stone was left unturned and no word was left unused to describe what went on in the Oval Office. Now are we supposed to overlook a matter a hundred times more serious and potentially damaging to the country? What hypocrisy!
Some secrets are fair game but others are not depending on who is asking. Clinton’s indiscretion may have caused a lot of embarrassment but no more. The truth about the birth certificate has the potential to cause a constitutional crisis. To compare these two is high handed hypocrisy by any rule of comparison. But nobody was labeled “crazy” for asking about the sordid details of the Lewinski matter.
Even more hypocrisy emerges when we consider that our children would be denied a place on a little league baseball team, entrance into a grammar school, a driver’s license and dozens of other things if we refuse to produce our birth certificate or school records. But should you want to be the President of the United States you can just sail right into the old oval office on a bunch of glowing rhetoric and a posting of your COLB on some online internet site. Is this the kind of message we want to teach our children.
It is not just about being legal; it is about being a bad example!
Refusal to comply with the law is not a good example in parents, role models, celebrities, heroes or anyone, so how about a recalcitrant President?
When we consider the greatest leaders or high ranking military officers this nation has ever produced a singular theme emerges about their conduct. The best of them, the very crème de la crème have all been heard to say that they would never ask someone to do something they would not willingly do themselves. That is called leading by example.
It is this poor example that is fueling the doubt and stirring the controversy, not the group of people now known as the birthers. We need to let this simple fact sink in and stop calling anyone who dares to ask the question a “crazy.”
It is never crazy to seek the truth and in fact; it may be one of those peculiarities that make us so uniquely American.
The President has been noted for saying that the Bible passages that speak about the homosexual life style being wrong, are taken from an obscure passage and need not be taken seriously. He may want to know of another passage from the same writer, the Apostle Paul. In his letter to the Thessalonians Paul told them not only to avoid doing evil but to abstain from what looks like evil. “Abstain from all appearance of evil.” (1Th 5: 2)
This is the bottom line. Perhaps there is nothing at all wrong in the entire matter but the clincher is that hiding, concealing or refusing to be transparent on a matter will always look like “the appearance of evil.” That’s America’s way of thinking and that’s not crazy!
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Rev. Michael Bresciani Bio
Rev. Michael Bresciani Most recent columns
Rev Michael Bresciani is a Christian author and a columnist for several online conservative and Christian news and commentary sites. His website is The Website for Insight covers current events, politics, Christianity, movie and book reports and much more. Americanprophet.org. Rev. Bresciani can be reached at: ampro@americanprophet.org
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