Maine Writer

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Saturday, August 25, 2012

Birthers and Racism - Appealing to Right White Voters

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/mitt-romney-birther-joke-outrages-president-barack-obama-campaign-article-1.1144125

Governor Mitt Romney is not a stand up comic.  Still, the former Massachusetts governor used a "birther joke" when addressing a political rally in Michigan, the state where he and his wife were born. Justifiably, President Obama's re-election team is outraged by Romney's failed joke.  

By bringing up the degrading birther topic, Romney raised, once again, the subject of President Obama's legitimate birth in Hawaii.  Paranoid thinkers, who are overwhelmingly right wing Caucasian zealots, love to harp on this issue, because it feeds their racist bias against our President.  

In other words, "birtherism" reminds voters that President Obama's father was African. 

"Birtherism" is racism, without using overt racist language. 

But, Romney lowered himself to joking about the wasteful subject of "birtherism". But, the comment wasn't funny. Instead, it was intentional to appeal to right wing Caucasians in the audiences who thrive on racist bias against President Obama.  

President Obama's mother was an American citizen. President Obama's birth is recorded in Honolulu, Hawaii, a US state on August 4, 1961, when  Hawaii was a US state. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barack_Obama

Yet, "birthers" claim President Obama's birth documentation is somehow fraudulent.  No amount of convincing changes their concrete minds. They don't have one shred of evidence to contradict the testimony of Hawaiian officials, many of them Republicans, who swear to the legitimacy of President Obama's birth record.  Hundreds of journalists and politicians have examined this issue, wasting their time trying to disprove the obvious legality of the President's birth document. Paranoid zealots think all of these expert and objective opinions are wrong.

We know Romney and his wife were born in Michigan.  Therefore, there was absolutely no need for Romney to remind the audience about where his birth certificate is found.  His comment inappropriately raised the "birther" issue while speaking to a Michigan audience. His comment was deliberate, just to appeal to right wing zealots who continue to harbor paranoid ideation about President Obama's legitimacy, based upon his place of birth.  

Let's recall how Governor Romney continues to deal with his own legitimacy as Massachusetts governor, when he claimed to be a state resident, but his residency was never clearly proven. Let's also remember how Romney's father, also a Presidential candidate, was born in Mexico.

Romney calls on President Obama's campaign to raise the level of discourse while he lowers himself to fuel "birther" paranoia.  

Meanwhile, Governor Romney has not explained to Americans why he wants to be President or what he will do if he wins the election.

Birtherism is an act of desperation by Romney to lock up right wing voters who cannot abide an African-American President.  

For Governor Romney to be an inspiring leader, he must raise Americans up rather than play to the lowest common denominator of concrete thinking.  He should apologize for his ugly birther joke.

Of course, Governor Romney could easily change the conversation by revealing his income tax information. At the same time, he could also explain how it was he signed Securities and Exchange Commission documents as the Chief Executive Officer of the investment firm Bain Capital, after he left the firm.

Romney's continual avoidance of his public accountability and fiscal transparency is troubling. We already know Romney was born in Michigan, but we don't know why his extraordinary wealth is invested outside of America, other than, for obvious tax sheltering purposes. 

Birtherism turns off reasonable voters, because the subject is camouflaged racism.  Romney thought he could sneak the birther subject into a largely white Michigan political rally, cloaked as a bad joke.  Instead, it showed Romney to be a pandering politician, desperately trying to woo right wing voters. It's another example of Romney's poor judgement and uninspired leadership.

President Obama's campaign is correct to hold Romney accountable for inappropriate rhetoric. 

Let's vote for inspired leadership and re-elect President Obama. 







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2 Comments:

Blogger Sha'ir Majnun said...

Love your post. I think you are dead one. The fact that the Republicans accepted George Romney as a legitimate presidential candidate despite knowing full well that he was born in Mexico proves they don't care whether you're born in another country so long as you are a white conservative.

One side note, there is no such thing is "objective opinion". If it is objective then it is fact not opinion. If it is opinion it is subjective.

8:39 AM  
Blogger Juliana L'Heureux said...

Thank you for your comment, it's validating and helpful. Yes, I could use lots of proof readers, "objective" as I am LOL! About your comment, the birther issue is purely a euphemism for racism. It's as simple as that. Horrible. I sincerely (once upon a time) believed all Americans were above this but right wings need their tails clipped....

8:44 AM  

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