Re: Ding, Ding, Ding, Ding...

I want to preface this post by emphasizing that I am not accusing
anyone of being racist. I'm speculating about *why* someone might
accuse birthers of racism. As I said before, I don't know whether the
birther movement is rooted in racism, and I don't care, because it's a
question that doesn't need to go that far before being dismissed.

> Yes. I have to think if there was *any* doubt about
> W's birthplace, the left would've grabbed onto that
> just as hard.

I agree with you here, but that's also *exactly* the catch:

There *wasn't* any doubt about Obama's birthplace. Never in his
academic, professional, or political career. His birthplace was never
in question until somebody, somewhere, *decided* that it was. Then,
after sufficient legal documentation was produced to debunk the
bizarre and baseless accusation, this party persisted with their
objection.

So. The question is, "why?"

Why was the accusation raised in the first place? Why, after legal
documentation was offered, did the accusation persist? Why, after
*further* legal documentationj has been offered, does the accusation
*still* persist?

What is it about Barack Obama, in particular, that engenders these
sorts of baseless accusations?What's different about him than about
any other President? Let's think hard. Other Presidents have been
accused of corruption, philandering, back-room dealing,
election-fixing, even murder; so why is it *this?" What, exactly,
inspired this accusation in the first place?

When one starts asking these questions, it doesn't take long to come
around to race, or to at least consider the possibility that race
plays a part. After all, he's the first non-white President, and lo
and behold, he's just *coincidentally* having to deal with unfounded
accusations that he's "not one of us."

Whether you believe the birther movement is rooted in latent "racial
anxiety" or not, you should at least be willing to consider a
*possible* connection between these two striking facts. If you're not
willing to consider it, then you're quite simply not interested in
whether there's a connection or not.

So while I, personally, wouldn't opine that most birthers are racists,
I can *certainly* understand how some people might reach that
conclusion.

(For Mike, that's what I meant when I said the idea was "beyond the
pale." For anyone who's genuinely interested, there's at least enough
circumstantial evidence to consider the possibility, that's all.)

-- 
-pcg
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