Birthers Got Punk’d, Yo!

When I woke up on Wednesday morning to the news that Obama had released his birth certificate, I’ll admit that I was a bit confused.

Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.
Napoleon Bonaparte

It seemed to me at the time that the birther distraction was helping Obama greatly, siphoning away reasoned political opposition to his policies and making the fringe of the Republican and Tea Parties the primary focus of the public eye. Even moreso that Donald Trump had picked up the charge. The face of the right became Orly Taitz and Donald Trump, much as the face of the left had become Cindy Sheehan and Dennis Kucinich towards the end of the Bush years. It’s never a bad idea to paint your ideological opponents as crazy; it’s especially effective when they cooperate. The birthers are no different than the truthers or the “selected, not elected” morons. They accomplish exactly nothing but tarnish the reputation of people who have legitimate beefs with an administration.

Obama releasing the certificate seemed to me to be likely to take the wind out of the sails of the birther movement — it seemed to take the “crazy” off the political table. I thought that the crazy wouldn’t simply double-down, but as Obama has proven over the last few days, I was wrong.

The birthers have taken a non-issue and allowed it to paint Obama as the victim of racism. Then, just when they were gaining steam, Obama “gave in to their demands” in a political move intended to look like he’s taking the high road. The proper move from the birthers would be to walk away. Instead, they’ve pressed on even harder [and crazier] and it makes Obama look like even more of a victim than before.

So here’s my message to the birthers: You got played like a fiddle. You were, and you continue, to work for Obama’s ends rather than against them by distracting the nation from legitimate criticism of his policies. And as much as you think you’ve got ironclad evidence that Obama isn’t qualified to hold office, you — like the 9/11 truthers before you — are never going to win.

Let it go.