Birthers And Nationalism
I haven’t said anything about the so-called “Birther” lunacy, because, well, it’s lunacy that really doesn’t deserve a moment’s consideration, but Steve Benen made a remark about it that I want to discuss briefly. Benen wrote:
Outside the South, this madness is gaining very little traction, and remains a fringe conspiracy theory. Within the South, it’s practically mainstream.
Now Benen already noticed that there is a significant partisan gap in the responses. The South has become the Republicans’ main region, and it has a disproportionate share of partisan Republicans living in it. My guess is that the reason why the South as a region has so many more people in agreement with Birther nonsense or those who are “unsure” about Obama’s citizenship is that it still has a much larger population of Republicans, and partisan hatred of the President is much greater there. This makes it more fertile ground for believing nonsensical claims about the President, because it is a region with a higher concentration of people willing to believe almost anything negative about a leading member of the other party. Hard-core partisans are quite often willing to believe the worst about their political opponents, no matter how baseless, and will happily ignore identical or worse claims about their own leaders no matter how well-supported.
If the President were McCain, who was born in the Panama Canal Zone and whose status is therefore very slightly more ambiguous than Obama’s, this movement would not exist. The same people leading the charge today would probably be shouting down anyone who had the temerity to “raise questions” about McCain’s citizenship. I won’t rule out that race may have some role, but nationality and nationalism are far more important. Never underestimate how closely some of these partisans identify their own particular ideology and party with being truly American. The only way to make sense of the explosion of this lunacy is to see it as a continuation of the belief that Obama, by virtue of what he believes, cannot be a “real” American, so the obsession with his place of birth is really an extension of the presidential campaign in which he and his supporters were considered not to be from “real” America. We are endlessly treated to more respectable versions of this argument in articles that claim that Obama doesn’t believe in American exceptionalism, that he embraces national decline, etc., which pretend to be policy arguments, but which are ultimatey arguments against Obama’s American identity. The argument normally portrays Obama as being somehow anti-American, and therefore self-loathing. The Birthers have modified this argument and chosen instead to claim that Obama is simply non-American. Neither is true, but the former somehow hangs on as a credible, serious argument when it is just as baseless and wrong as the latter.
None of this excuses the gross, willful ignorance that is required to persist in the belief that Obama is not a natural-born citizen, but it may help explain why otherwise presumably rational people fall for such nonsense.
Update: Dan McCarthy has a longer post in much the same vein at Tory Anarchist.
What’s “lunacy” is that people like Larison don’t really understand this matter before speaking out about it. And, it’s also “lunacy” that the leaders of the supposed opposition to BHO are actually helping him with this issue rather than being able to figure out how to turn this issue to their advantage.
The leaders of the supposed opposition to BHO (very broadly defined to include those like Larison) could have used this issue to discredit the MSM, and instead they’re helping the Dems smear the GOP.
Solution: find better leaders.
Remember some of the lunatic conspiracy theories surrounding Bill Clinton? His trip to Russia was evidence of his being a Manchurian candidate? Or the Mena thing?
Derek Copold: thanks for that brilliant, albeit brief, insight. But, if you want wacky conspiracy theories and tinfoil hattism to the max, this article beats them all, hands down!
Let no comrade challenge the official history of our leader lest they suffer the same fate: timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article3315213.ece
The so-called “Birthers” simply don’t understand the immigration process in America. If Barack Obama were indeed born in another country, he would have 1) immigrated with a foreign passport, 2) applied for US Citizenship at some point in his life and 3) this documentation trail would be located in the Department of State. It would have been impossible for the State of Hawaii to confirm his birth in Honolulu! True conservatives must begin to distance themselves from these “Birthers”…or else many other sensible, independent-minded Americans may begin to perceive this to be some “conservative conspiracy” and take thus diminish the arguments made on other, critical issues at hand!
My birth certificate from VA (1976) titled: “Certificate of Live Birth”
My daughter’s birth certificate from NY (2005) titled: “Certificate of Live Birth”
This is what makes the “birther” movement so bizarre. To the extent that there is anything exceptional about America it is precisely the fact that in America, someone like Obama can become President, born outside of the elite and succeeding through his abilities. But in another sense the “birthers” illustrate the very absurdity of American exceptionalism. When Americans disagree so fundamentally about their identity that their opponents must be defined as cheats and outsiders (and the same kind of thing, arguably with only a little more justification, happened to Bush) how can they continue to believe in a providential destiny?
VDare finds the “Birthers” claims preposterous. You’d think that woould be enough.
There are other reasons for the southern Republican interest in this tale. Southerners do tend to pay more attention to lineage that the rest of us. If you think you can tell what kind of person someone is by “Who their folds are,” Obama is going to be a challenge. It doesn’t help that he is the product of an African father and a white woman either. Even many southern blacks don’t approve of marrying out side their race.
But I suspect that the main reason that so many people what to believe this nonsense, is that it would overturn the election of Obama. Why these people would prefer Joe Biden over Obama is between them and their Psychiatrists.
1. WestCoaster appears to be a concern troll. I might be wrong, but it’s certainly interesting how this issue seems to attract a great number of the people who are “concerned” for the GOP’s welfare.
2. For those who didn’t read my first link, let me offer a quick version. Let’s say that CNN says, “BHO is a Christian because he went to church three times per week in Chicago.” And, let’s say that’s picked up by many other sources who weave it into their coverage whether attributed to CNN or not. Not only that, but those same sources attempt to define anyone who disagrees as insane. Not only that, but a whole series of sockpuppets and concern trolls then join the chorus.
The fact that what CNN said is wrong doesn’t mean that BHO isn’t a Christian. However, it’s not a piece of evidence that should be used in making the determination as to whether he is because it’s false: CNN just made it up.
The above describes an extremely dangerous situation: the establishment is trying to create newtruth.
And, if no one spoke out against what CNN did but instead didn’t realize or didn’t care what they did, it would indicate extreme incompetence and more on the part of those naturally opposed to CNN.
Now, for an example of something like that actually happeneing, see this.
CNN just made something up and it’s been repeated by many other sources, including the SPLC describing it as an example of good journalism. And, so far, I’m the only person speaking out against this. And, that indicates an extremely serious problem.
Let’s make this simple. Napoleon said, “If you set out to take Vienna, take Vienna. Or, if you set out to prove that the President is not a citizen, prove that he is not a citizen or shut up. By speaking without proof the birthers make us all look like nitwits.
Outside the South, this madness is gaining very little traction, and remains a fringe conspiracy theory. Within the South, it’s practically mainstream.
How was this conclusion arrived at? Were the facts pulled from his butt? If you are going to smear an entire region perhaps you can provide more information.
I am not a Birther, but I have lost my trust of the media. Can you tell me why it took the National Enquirer to break the story on John Edwarrds cheating on his wife during the primaries?. The mainstram nedia ignored the story while Edwards continued to take votes from Hillary allowing Obama to win. Where is the media on who the Federal Reserve loaned two Trilion dollars to late last year, that story went down the memory hole real quick.
Are birthers crazy, well they are from the South and you know how ignorant and hateful Southernerrs are compared to the elites on the coasts.
Maybe the Birthers are wrong, but if they are right about Obama spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on lawyers to keep his long form BC hidden from public view than there sure is a little smoke in the story, and when you look at all the other documents Obama will not allow published you start to smell something bad. But maybe the smell is not Obama and just the smell of the media not doing its job once again.
I am not a Republican and voted for Obama as a Democrat, but I remember thinking when G.W. Bush took office that being a conservative suits me now in my 60′s more than being a liberal.
I would like to be a thoughtful conservative, one who takes in many opinions but chooses a careful path.
But when I heard of the “birther” phenomenon I dropped this thought like a hot rock.
Mr. Larison’s article caught my eye in Google News and thought I would see what conservatives had to say about this issue, that I thought was theirs.
Turns out they are pretty sensible about it for the most part which is reassuring.
OJA, maybe it would be better to form your opinion on conservatism, not by whatever op-ed article has just happened to most recently catch your eye, but by reading the honored luminaries of conservative thought, by considering how you feel about things like objective truth, a transcendant moral order, and the cold, hard testimony of history as to what really does and doesn’t work over the long term in creating a healthy and succesful human society.