Certificate of Strategy

Charles Johnson is having way too much fun kicking the "Obama Birth Certificate" kooks while they're down. Hard to blame him really; they do keep showing their asses after all.

Pity really. The whole question regarding how, and by whom, a potential candidate is proven to be eligible for the office sought is an under-examined one in my experience prior to this last political campaign season. I remain convinced that the American polity deserves a public hearing on the process with an eye toward achieving greater national consistency and transparency regarding any future candidates standing.

On that note, let me just say that due to his having been legally elected, formally confirmed and duly sworn into office, Barack Hussein Obama is the President of the United States. Period. The time to have raised this question was during the campaign; now is well and truly too late.

And, baring tragedy or some utterly unlikely action on his part, Mr. Obama will remain so for the entirety of his term. The Constitution is quite clear regarding the terms and conditions under which a sitting president may be legally removed from office, and most of those conditions are limited to his actions while in office. Since the courts have already declined to hear arguments on this issue numerous times, it seems unlikely that a criminal conviction arising from this allegation will be forthcoming either, so that option seems off the board too.

That all said, I do think the continuing interest stemming from the campaign allegation(s) regarding Mr. Obama's circumstance at the time of his birth demonstrates that this issue does seem to contain an electoral anomaly. Even now, it remains unclear precisely which elected official (and by what mechanism) bears the responsibility to confirm (and to what standard of proof) that any given seeker of elective office within these United States qualifies for such candidacy. An examination of how the process actually does work would seem to be a necessary and illustrative first step in resolving said anomaly.

Mr. Obama's strategy in the present circumstance is actually quite impressive in my judgement. While not directly addressing the issue himself (or even especially via his official or even semi-official representatives), the President encourages his political opposition to expend their energies (and monies) on a moot issue - at least as regards the presentation of any threat to his tenure in office. Sun Tzu noted that; "the supreme general is he that defeats his enemies without engaging them in battle". President Obama, through no apparent effort on his part (yes, I realize the press consists largely of his supporters; so what?), is presented with a surprisingly large percentage of the principal opposition party's membership who seem willing to waste their time in office over this immaterial effort. Not too surprisingly, he also seems quite willing to let them keep on doing so. Proving that somebody with his confidence listens to Rush Limbaugh; "When a fool is doing something stupid, get out of his way!"

Should the rest of the country finally decide we've had enough of the silliness over this issue now (and I have to say, the spectacle is really starting to tire - the clowns in the circus are ever only on stage for brief periods of time for this very reason), perhaps the Senate could organize hearings with an eye towards soliciting the states to pursue a constitutional amendment that formalizes both a standard of proof and mechanism for detailing same should such an action be the best way to ultimately resolve this question.

I imagine Mr. Obama would treasure that irony all the rest of his days.