DECKER: ‘No Drama Obama’ vs. The Birthers

Politics is a blood sport, and it’s naive to think there won’t be some serious injuries when playing in the political big leagues. Because the stakes are so high, people running for office put forth enormous efforts to scrub their past and curricula vitae of any information that could give the faintest whiff of scandal or irregularity. This leads to many self-inflicted wounds. Excessive fear of scrutiny breeds secrecy, which can inspire conspiracy theories, as the current occupant of the White House has proven.

All of the question marks lurking around President Obama‘s background could be answered with a little transparency. Fair or not, refusing to make college transcripts public makes a gossipy society curious about what someone has to hide. When a public servant doesn’t provide clarity, the creative masses will fill in the blanks. As liberal MSNBC host Chris Matthews frustratingly asked about the hullabaloo over Mr. Obama‘s birth certificate, “Why doesn’t the president just say, ‘Send me a copy right now?’ Why doesn’t [White House spokesman Robert L.] Gibbs and [presidential Senior Adviser David M.] Axelrod say, ‘Let’s just get this crappy story dead?’ Why not do it? If it exists, why not put it out?”

Democrats try to wave off the birther controversy as a right-wing tempest in a teapot, but the president, his own staff and backers are the rainmakers who have stirred the recent storm. Even when conservative critics of this administration try to ignore the numerous conspiracy theories flying around Mr. Obama, Democrats like Mr. Matthews keep bringing the issues to the fore and thus make the scandals more bipartisan and mainstream. Hawaii Democrat Neil Abercrombie - a left-winger who made his political debut in 1970 as a longhaired Vietnam war protester - is another example. After being elected governor in November, Mr. Abercrombie, an Obama supporter, vowed to put the birther issue to rest “as quick as we can” because it could have implications for the 2012 presidential race. Now he’s backtracking and giving conflicting statements about what exists and what doesn’t. With friends like these, the president hardly needs enemies.

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