Phil Orenstein On The Question of Obama's Eligibility

Phil Orenstein has an excellent blog on Democracy Project in which he raises new concerns about Barack Obama's birth certificate. As Phil mentions, I had run a petition last summer and obtained more than five thousand signatures. Phil writes that the issue has gone much further. 58% of Republicans now have questions about Obama's birth certificate, yet the Democratic Party organs, Daily Kos and the New York Times, continue to spin questions about it as taboo.

Phil asks:

"The birthers have some valid points when they wonder where is the transparency, openness and change, the bold themes of the new Obama administration, when not only the birth certificate, but also his kindergarten and school documentation, College records, Columbia thesis, his passport and medical records have never been revealed to the public?...Why hasn’t the entire birth certificate been released, which details in its 'long form” the attending physician present and in which hospital he was born?'"

As Phil points out, the Democratic Party position on this as reflected in the New York Times has been one sided. On the one hand, the Democrats sued John McCain concerning his birthplace issue and the Times covered this story. In contrast, the Democrats spin the Obama birthplace issue as off limits and the Times has not covered the story.

Perhaps what is revealing is not that the Democratic media favors the Democrats but that the Republicans have pursued a mentally retarded strategy of relying on the Democratic Party media. Aren't the Republicans smart enough to start their own media?

Phil concludes that:

"my battle will continue to be on the policy issues which will undoubtedly expose the hidden phantoms of the Obama presidency. The immediacy of the battle at hand will hardly leave me time to pursue questions regarding Obama’s birth certificate. The socialized healthcare legislation has just passed the final House committee, clearing the way for a floor vote in September after the August Congressional recess."