Birther Fires Stoked...Yet Again

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I can't say that I'm at all surprised that there are people out there that will stop at nothing to attack and destroy President Barack Obama's legitimacy. Frankly, this whole "birther" conspiracy theory is one of the most ridiculous of the smear attempts. And just when I thought that this garbage would die along with the Orly Taitz idiocy, we get two nut jobs that are riding the train to "Silly-ville" along with her.

J.D. Hayworth is running against John McCain for his Arizona Senate seat. During a line of questioning by Chris Matthews on Hardball, he accidentally outed himself as a "birther", asking that Barack Obama go to Hawaii to get his birth certificate. Funny how he's running against John McCain, who had questions raised about his legitimacy as a "natural-born" citizen, due to his birth in the Panama Canal Zone in 1936.

And now we have South Carolina Congressman Joe "YOU LIE!!" Wilson, who said during a radio interview with Kevin Cohen back in December that questions regarding Obama's birthplace should have been brought up during the primaries in 2008 (Huffington Post has the audio). Again, no surprise here. Wilson is a Neoconfederate and a member of Sons of Confederate Veterans. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, these birther conspiracy theories have been adopted by white supremacist groups that just cannot get past the fact that a Black man has been elected president. Scoff if you'd like...but it's real.

As I've mentioned many times before, there are some very naive people out there that thought the election of Barack Obama would magically conjure up a "Post-Racial America". There are also some people that were (and continue to be) shocked that there are still strong racial feelings out there. It's pretty amazing that anyone would think that hundreds of  years of social conditioning would just evaporate overnight. Not that things haven't changed. My dad used to tell me stories about how he used to be called a "nigger" to his face by White men-- particularly when he was in the service (he was in Vietnam). I personally have not experienced any like that in over 20 years (since high school). Racists have become very adept at hiding their feelings and opinions, to the point where now they use phony issues and Trojan horse-like movements to push their agenda and (lack of) thoughts. Cowardly? Yes. But real.

I know a lot of people get very antsy and afraid when issues of race are brought up. But, unfortunately, it's a real issue that cannot afford to be ignored. Not any more (not ever, really). Now that Barack Obama has been made the primary target for all of the predominately White racial animus in this country, it should be clear to everyone that this is more than just a Black/non-White nuciance, and a lot more than a White problem (that is what American racism is after all...). It's universally an American problem. It's one of the things holding us back from true greatness. And we can no longer be so timid in our dealing with it.

Everyone jumped on Eric Holder for calling America, in the face of racial issues, a nation of cowards. He wasn't wrong. And none of his critics have been able to prove him wrong.