Even crazy people can be factually correct

11 Oct, 2008 by Bookworm

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First, watch the video in this blog entry at American Thinker. Then let’s talk.

Yes, I agree that Philip Berg sounds like a member of the tinfoil hat brigade. And he’s got a rather questionable history, since he’s a Truther. All in all, not a very reliable source. Nevertheless, as I learned in law school, even a person with a monomania can be correct about certain facts. There’s nothing too peculiar about Philip Berg’s current quest to force Obama to produce evidence showing that he is, in fact, an American citizen.

Normally, I’d scoff at this kind of thing as a quixotic enterprise suitable only for people with conspiracy theories on the brain. What stops me from dismissing Berg isn’t what Berg is saying, it’s what Obama is doing — or, rather, not doing. He is refusing to produce a single scrap of paper, whether a birth certificate or a school transcript, or anything else, that would establish conclusively that he was born in America and is currently an American citizen.

Considering just how easy it would be to put this rumor to rest, it’s strange that Obama refuses to do so. I can think of only three reasons for refusing to do so, and only the last makes sense.

Reason number one: Berg may be a nut, but he’s dead on the money with this one. Obama was either born in Kenya, or he became an Indonesian citizen and never properly re-naturalized. If this is true, no wonder Obama is hiding things.

Reason number two: As a matter of principle, Obama refuses to bow to this kind of slander. I find this hard to believe for two reasons. First, Obama has repeatedly demonstrated that he has no principles. Second, it’s a rather foolish principle that lets this kind of rumor fly when there is an easy and painless way to put it to rest. This is especially true here because being a native born citizen is a prerequisite for the office he seeks, so it’s not as if he’s being asked to do anything bizarre or inappropriate or humiliating.

Reason number three: Something really bad about Obama has the potential to emerge from the swamp. (Think of Rezko singing like a little sparrow.) In an effort to deflect attention from that, Obama will suddenly produce his birth records, allowing the MSM to tout what a great, honest guy he is, and to castigate the anti-Obamites for being paranoid loonies. This is the only reasonable explanation I can think of for Obama’s coyness right now.