4/29/09: Presidential Press Conference

The President gives his third prime time press conference from the East Room of the White House.

What’s Black America’s Grade 100 Days into Obama’s Term?

By: Tonya Pendleton

Barack Obama celebrates his 100th day as President today. He and even his wife, Michelle, have been scrutinized thoroughly to see if they’ve passed muster thus far. The process is familiar to anyone who’s experienced the 90-day probation period that determines whether or not a new employee is going to work out.

President Obama has assuredly passed his probation period with flying colors. But how is black America doing after these first 100 days? Obama’s historic election and emotion-filled inauguration saw the black community united like never before. But given the challenges we face in our daily lives and the recession that has compounded them, have black people been able to hold onto hope? And has the historic nature of Obama’s election inspired the black community to create any real and lasting changes and/or growth?

“There is a quasi-euphoric state still,” says Dr. Howard Dodson, the director of the Schomburg Centure for Research in Black Culture in New York City. “There are still those who have a sense of disbelief about him. What I observe is pride, which people of all ages and political levels have. There’s a personal sense of pride as they take in the fact of his presidency, and emotionally there’s a palpable sense of pride, and it’s the kind of thing that you run into daily here in Harlem. Basically, people are bragging about how well he’s doing and how that reflects on us.”

What’s Black America’s Grade 100 Days into Obama’s Term?....

Census Data: Racial Disparities Persist in Higher-Paying Jobs

By: Hope Yen

WASHINGTON - Blacks and Hispanics lag behind whites for higher-paying jobs at the largest rates in about a decade as employment opportunities dwindled during the nation's economic woes and housing slump.

Census data released Monday show an increasingly educated U.S. work force whose earnings didn't always seem to match up with its potential.

"The lesson of most economic downturns is minorities are the last hired, first fired. They lose jobs more quickly, and they will be the last to recover," said Roderick Harrison, a demographer at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, a think tank that studies minority issues.

Among those 25 and older last year, 86.6 percent had graduated from high school, up from 85.7 percent the previous year. It was the biggest increase since 1992, with record percentages of people earning diplomas across all racial categories.

Census Data: Racial Disparities Persist in Higher-Paying Jobs....

100 Not So Black Days

Despite the deserved early focus on Barack Obama's barrier-shattering achievement, the economic calamities of the first 100 days quickly took his race off the table.

By: Terence Samuel

The torrent of analysis and appraisal, hagiography and scorn leveled at Barack Obama’s first 100 days will be relatively quiet on the issue of race. That’s shocking when you consider how all-consuming the issue was during his campaign for the White House.

There is a perfectly obvious explanation: The Obama presidency, which so far has been a whirlwind of policymaking and legislation, crisis management and confidence-building, international diplomacy and domestic firefights, has been relatively quiet on the issue of race.

Consider the landscape. Obama has had to take steps to help bail out the world banking system; save the world’s largest insurer; rescue the American auto industry and an American sea captain held captive by pirates; pass a stimulus package and a budget and explain how, together, they were going to be the salvation of the sickly U.S. economy. And, these last couple of weeks, he’s had to walk the damn dog.

Under these circumstances, it’s only reasonable to expect mediations on racial progress and the “historic nature of this presidency” to slip down the priority list. To hear him tell it: “That lasted about a day.”

Obama’s response to the race question is of a piece with his overall message to the American people: “We’ve been busy.” But underlying the on-message nature of that answer, there is also a what-did-you-expect quality to the entire debate about how race would affect the tenure of the first black president. I have said that American presidents tend to look more like each other than they look like anything or anyone else. When he started to deal with Iraq and Afghanistan and the French and the North Koreans, Obama was going to look more like George W. Bush, whatever their differences, than he did candidate Obama.

100 Not So Black Days....

What Happened to the Office of Urban Policy?

After 100 days, Obama’s shiny-new dream for our cities is looking more like a bureaucratic nightmare.

By: Dayo Olopade

In November 2008, less than one week after winning the votes of city dwellers by a margin of 28 points, President-elect Barack Obama announced he would reward them by creating the first-ever “White House Office of Urban Policy.” Like other new aspects of Obama’s executive branch, appointing a city czar was intended to fast-track communications among city governments, federal agencies and the White House. With great fanfare, Obama dispatched his friend and fellow Chicagoan Valerie Jarrett to tell America that he was making good on his campaign pledge to “stop seeing cities as the problem and start seeing them as the solution.”

When the office was officially formed in mid-February, urbanists rejoiced: “It’s past time,” said Elnora Watson, president of the Urban League in Jersey City, N.J., as she walked the halls of Congress recently. “Way past time,” added Ella Teal, another Urban League president from the neighboring city of Elizabeth. “Cities will lead America,” Newark Mayor Cory Booker said at an April speech on city government in Washington. “When it comes to industry, innovation, education and the arts … cities are where it’s at.”

But celebrations about the potential triumph of urban policy may be premature. In recent weeks, the Obama administration has begun referring to the office as “urban affairs,” rather than “urban policy,” a small but notable downgrade. And while other offices and Cabinet agencies have been staffing up—the Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships has representation in 12 government agencies—100 days in, urban affairs has announced only two senior staffers: Derek Douglas, who was special adviser to New York Gov. David Paterson, and former Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion, Jr., who faces allegations of mismanaging campaign donations and development projects in New York City.

What Happened to the Office of Urban Policy?....

4/25/09: Your Weekly Address

This week the President reiterates a theme that has been a hallmark of his career, namely that "old habits and stale thinking" will simply not help us solve the new and immense problems our country faces. Listing off several specific changes he intends to bring, he describes his guiding principle: "To help build a new foundation for the 21st century, we need to reform our government so that it is more efficient, more transparent, and more creative."

Most Americans High on Direction Obama's Taking the U.S.

By: Ron Fournier and Trevor Tompson

WASHINGTON - For the first time in years, more Americans than not say the country is headed in the right direction, a sign that Barack Obama has used the first 100 days of his presidency to lift the public's mood and inspire hopes for a brighter future.

Intensely worried about their personal finances and medical expenses, Americans nonetheless appear realistic about the time Obama might need to turn things around, according to an Associated Press-GfK poll. It shows most Americans consider their new president to be a strong, ethical and empathetic leader who is working to change Washington.

Nobody knows how long the honeymoon will last, but Obama has clearly transformed the yes-we-can spirit of his candidacy into a tool of governance. His ability to inspire confidence - Obama's second book is titled "The Audacity of Hope" - has thus far buffered the president against the harsh political realities of two wars, a global economic meltdown and countless domestic challenges.

Most Americans High on Direction Obama's Taking the U.S.....

President Obama's Cool Aside, Let's Hope the Fight in Him Comes Out

By: Deborah Mathis

There has yet to be a president who does not disappoint. That includes the current one, who is, for many of us, is as good as it gets.

I wish President Obama had told Rush Limbaugh that he would debate him when his ego was small enough to fit into the East Room.

I wish he would be as decisive about reinstituting the assault weapons ban as he was about lifting the ban on embryonic stem cell research.

I wish he would direct the Justice Department to prosecute the authorizers of torture against “enemy combatants.”

I wish he had given Hugo Chavez a book about the cruelties of Latin American dictators since Chavez played the president in publicly offering a book that portrays the U.S. as a thieving, conniving, bullying cheat.

I wish he would tell the various homegrown fiends where to get off when they sling racial invectives at him or call him “facist” or question his religion or legitimacy in office.

I wish he would show some temper, or some sorrow, or some excitement or something other than the perpetually too cool for words demeanor for which he is fast becoming legend.

Were that the case, our president would be batting a thousand with me.

But his presidency would be in deep trouble.

COMMENTARY....

U.S., Israel Lead U.N. Racism Summit Boycott

The United Nations opens its first global racism conference in eight years on Monday with the U.S. and at least seven other countries boycotting the event out of concern that Islamic countries will demand that it denounce Israel.

4/18/09: Your Weekly Address

With the process of going through the budget line by line in full swing, the President uses his Weekly Address to give some examples, big and small, of how the Administration is working to cut costs and eliminate waste. The President also announces two new key appointments, Jeffrey Zients as Chief Performance Officer and Aneesh Chopra as Chief Technology Officer, who will be invaluable in streamlining the way government functions through efficiency and innovation.

King family draws fees from DC memorial project

By BRETT ZONGKER

WASHINGTON – The family of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. has charged the foundation building a monument to the civil rights leader on the National Mall about $800,000 for the use of his words and image — an arrangement one leading scholar says King would have found offensive.

The memorial — including a 28-foot sculpture depicting King emerging from a chunk of granite — is being paid for almost entirely with private money in a fundraising campaign led by the Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial Project Foundation. The monument will be turned over to the National Park Service once it is complete.

The foundation has been paying the King family for the use of his words and image in its fundraising materials. The family has not charged for the use of King's likeness in the monument itself.

"I don't think the Jefferson family, the Lincoln family ... I don't think any other group of family ancestors has been paid a licensing fee for a memorial in Washington," said Cambridge University historian David Garrow, who won a Pulitzer Prize for his biography of King. "One would think any family would be so thrilled to have their forefather celebrated and memorialized in D.C. that it would never dawn on them to ask for a penny."

King would have been "absolutely scandalized by the profiteering behavior of his children," Garrow said.

According to financial documents reviewed by The Associated Press, the foundation paid $761,160 in 2007 to Intellectual Properties Management Inc., an entity run by King's family. Documents also show a "management" fee of $71,700 was paid to the family estate in 2003.

In a statement to the AP, Intellectual Properties Management said the proceeds it receives go to the King Center in Atlanta, where King and his wife, Coretta Scott King, are entombed. The statement said the arrangement was made out of concern that fundraising for the monument would undercut donations to the King Center.

King family draws fees from DC memorial project....

Men Charged With Obama Plot Back in Court

Two men charged with plotting a racial killing spree that was to include President Barack Obama argued in federal court Thursday that they were illegally arrested and searched.

Obamas File Taxes, Made $2.7 Million

President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle, millionaires from his best-selling books, made $2.7 million last year and paid just under one-third of their adjusted income in federal taxes.

Nation Ripe for Recruiting by Right-Wing Extremists, Says Report

By: Eileen Sullivan

WASHINGTON - Homeland Security officials are warning that right-wing extremists could use the bad state of the U.S. economy and the election of the country's first black president to recruit members to their cause.

In an intelligence assessment issued to law enforcement last week, Homeland Security officials said there was no specific information about an attack in the works by right-wing extremists.

The agency warns that an extended economic downturn with real estate foreclosures, unemployment and an inability to obtain credit could foster an environment for extremists to recruit members who may not have been supportive of these causes in the past.

Homeland Security spokesman Sean Smith said the report is one in a series of assessments issued by the agency's intelligence and analysis unit. The agency describes these assessments as part of a series published "to facilitate a greater understanding of the phenomenon of violent radicalization in the United States."

n February, the department issued a report to law enforcement that said left-wing extremist groups were likely to use cyber attacks more often in the next 10 years to further their cause. And in September, the agency issued a report that highlighted how right-wing extremists over the past five years have used the immigration debate as a recruiting tool.

The latest assessment started making its way into the mainstream press after conservative blogs got wind of the analysis. In this report, the agency warns that imposing new restrictions on firearms and returning military veterans who have difficulties assimilating back into their communities could lead to terror groups or individuals attempting to carry out attacks. The returning war veterans have skills and experience that are appealing to right-wing groups looking to carry out an attack, according to the report.

The agency cites the April 4 killings of three Pittsburgh police officers as an example of a the type of violence spurred by right-wing rhetoric.

"Despite similarities to the climate of the 1990s, the threat posed by lone wolves and small terrorist cells is more pronounced than in past years," the report said.

Nation Ripe for Recruiting by Right-Wing Extremists....

Tax Day ‘Tea Parties’ Show Intolerance More Than Patriotism

By: Tonyaa Weathersbee

Wouldn’t you know it?

Wouldn’t you know that right about the time a black man is elected to lead the country, a whole lot of white people would want to stop paying the money it takes to run it?

That they’d want to pick up their toys, er, taxes, and go home?

That is, after all, really what’s eating most of the people who plan to turn out for one of the many “Tax Day tea parties” that are being held in cities around the country today.

Buoyed by a number of right-wing billionaires who are none too happy with President Barack Obama’s plan to make them pay more taxes, as well as the hot air coming from Fox News’ blowhards, thousands are expected to toss out little tea bags to tell Congress and Obama that they don’t like his budget; that the trillions he is poised to spend will shackle future generations with too much debt.

Now, reasonable people can disagree about where Obama’s budget might lead. But the thing that has these tea partiers in a tizzy have less to do with how much Obama plans to spend – and more to do with what he plans to spend it on.

And it seems they’d rather spend money invading other countries than to uplift their own.

A guy named Tim, for example, told the Ann Arbor News in Michigan that he hadn’t been politically active in years, but that he decided to get involved because of Obama’s big-spending, big-government agenda – and that he believed the country was headed toward a “nanny state.”

Think about that for a minute.

For the past six years, George W. Bush wasted trillions of dollars in Iraq – an unnecessary war generated by neo-con spin and exploitation of fears – on private contractors and other assorted parasites. He also did the fiscally irresponsible thing of cutting taxes while waging war – and caused the surplus left by his predecessor, Bill Clinton, to evaporate.

If there was any time for this Tim guy and the rest of tea partiers to protest irresponsible government spending, it was five or six years ago.

If they were genuinely concerned about wasteful government spending - or, as they’re now crying, “taxation without representation” - they would have been protesting the corporate welfare that subsidizes wealthy companies - some of which are probably sponsoring these tea parties - and costs taxpayers around $900 billion a year.

None of that pushed them to the tea party boiling point. Obama, however, did.

And the fact that they’re protesting now – as Obama is faced with having to clean up that steamy pile of fiscal mess left by the last administration – tells me their outrage has less to do with the policies that are coming from the White House and more to do with who is living there.

And, in a way, it’s rather sad.

Tax Day ‘Tea Parties’ Show Intolerance More Than Patriotism....

Obamas Host First White House Egg Roll

President Barack Obama welcomed thousands of children and families to the White House Easter Egg Roll Monday, calling it 'one of the greatest White House traditions.' Kelly Daschle reports from The White House.

In Hostage Crisis, Obama Passes First National Security Test

By: Jennifer Loven

WASHINGTON - The U.S. economy is showing only glimmers of life and two costly wars remain in the balance, but President Barack Obama's "no drama" handling of the Indian Ocean hostage crisis proved a big win for his administration in its first critical national security test.

Obama's quiet backstage decision to authorize the Defense Department to take necessary action if Capt. Richard Phillips' life was in imminent danger gave a Navy commander the go-ahead to order snipers to fire on the pirates holding the cargo ship captain at gunpoint.

For Obama, the benefits were instantly clear: an American life saved and a major victory notched against an increasingly worrisome scourge of the seas off the Horn of Africa.

Obama's handling of the crisis showed a president who was comfortable in relying on the U.S. military, much as his predecessor, George W. Bush, did.

But it also showed a new commander in chief who was willing to use all the tools at his disposal, bringing in federal law enforcement officials to handle the judicial elements of the crisis.

The rescue appeared to vindicate Obama's muted but determined handling of the incident. What won't be known for some time is whether Obama will benefit politically.

When Obama campaigns for re-election, he may take Bush's approach of turning any such incident into evidence of his leadership acumen. On the other hand, Obama didn't go before the cameras Sunday to trumpet the success, instead releasing a written statement that saluted the bravery of the military and Phillips but claimed no credit for himself.

Also, this crisis, while topping the news now, may fade into distant memory by the time voters get a chance to take any new measure of Obama and his party.

Still, it goes some way toward dispelling the notion that a liberal Democrat with a known distaste for war - Obama campaigned on his consistent opposition to the Iraq invasion - doesn't have the chops to call on U.S. military power.

The sniper operation Sunday, with pirate guns aimed at Phillips, was a daring, high-stakes gambit, and it could have easily gone awry. If it had, the fallout would have probably landed hardest on Obama.

In Hostage Crisis, Obama Passes First National Security Test....

4/11/09: Your Weekly Address

The President discusses the multitude of problems and opportunities before the world through the prism of Passover and Easter.

Recession Leaves Diabetics Without Care, at Risk

The economic crisis is pushing diabetics to literally risk life and limb, as many who have lost jobs and health insurance now are cutting back on _ even going without _ doctor visits, insulin, medicines and blood sugar testing.

Why President Obama Should Consider Decriminalizing Pot

By: Tonyaa Weathersbee

Maybe he thought it was a trick question.
After all, when Barack Obama was running for president, his candor about smoking pot and snorting cocaine as a teenager induced all sorts of salivation in his opponents.

They thought that Obama had unwittingly handed them a stereotype that would work to their advantage; that the idea of a black man who might be a closet Muslim who might be a closet druggie occupying the White House would be too frightening for most voters.

They thought wrong.

So when online questioners recently peppered President Obama about the prospect of legalizing marijuana as a means of bolstering the economy, it didn’t shock me that he tried to laugh it off.
“I don’t know what this says about the online audience,” Obama said, as people who were gathered in the White House East Room for the online event laughed.

Then Obama got serious. He said no. He said that legalizing marijuana was not a good strategy for growing the economy.

He might want to rethink that.

Sure, legalizing marijuana won’t save General Motors. But legalizing (or at least decriminalizing) pot would be a first step toward salvaging black communities that have been ravaged by this failed experiment that is the War on Drugs.

True, marijuana hasn’t been as devastating to our communities as the crack cocaine that is sold on corners – and is oftentimes the drug behind the violence and savagery that has turned our comfort zones into war zones.

But the one overwhelming characteristic the drugs do share is one of economics.

Why President Obama Should Consider Decriminalizing Pot....

HIV/AIDS Rate in Washington D.C. Tops West Africa

By: Jackie Jones

Get tested. Know your status and be tested regularly.

That’s the message health experts in Washington, D.C. want to get across, following a report released in last month that revealed at least 3 percent of the city’s residents have HIV or AIDS, a total that exceeds the 1 percent threshold that constitutes an epidemic.

With 2,984 residents per every 100,000 over the age of 12 - or 15,120, according to the 2008 epidemiology report by the District's HIV/AIDS office – that means the city’s rate of HIV/AIDS infection is higher than West Africa’s.

“We think information is power, and every time we release information, we do capture another level of the population who recognize HIV is important to their lives,” said Shannon Hader, M.D., director of D.C.’s HIV-AIDS Administration.

Hader told BlackAmericaWeb.com all but one of the city’s eight wards saw an increase in the transmission of the AIDS virus, meaning it cuts across all racial, socio-economic and gender orientation groups.

The report, she said, caused many people to ask, “What’s the first step I can do to protect my health and move the health of the city forward?”

Hader said many Americans have relaxed because they either think they are not at risk for the disease or that their health care professionals are routinely testing them for HIV/AIDS. Many doctors think they will catch the patients at greatest risk simply by asking them about their sexual history and activity. An HIV/AIDS screening should be as routine as having one’s blood pressure checked. Sexual history should not matter, she said.

“It doesn’t take a lot of partners to be at risk,” she said. “You could have had only one partner, and you didn’t know his HIV status. This is such a common disease that you can’t categorize risk.”

In the African-American community particularly, many straight black men believe that AIDS is still largely a gay white man’s disease, and while the report said that only three in 10 people surveyed said they used condoms, “anecdotally, I would tell you that the number is lower among African-Americans,” said Regina Newkirk, director of development communications and community relations for the Whitman-Walker Clinic.

HIV/AIDS Rate in Washington D.C. Tops West Africa....

Is Anything Black About the American West?

The black American experience is more than just Harlem and Mississippi, North and South, ghettoes and Jim Crow. There was a Western front, and it wasn’t all that quiet.

By: Kenneth J. Cooper

Reading obituaries about John Hope Franklin reminded me about a long-standing beef I have with a certain limited way of thinking about who African Americans are. For me, though, the telling biographical fact was where he was born—Oklahoma.

In its obituary, the Raleigh News & Observer said the eminent historian “gave definition to the African-American experience.” That’s quite a legacy. A black Okie did all of that?

You see, too many African Americans—you know who you are—believe real black folks are from the South or the urban North. They’re not from the West, not Oklahoma, not Colorado—where I was born—and certainly not Hawaii, though there are exceptions made for California and L.A. I’ve been hearing it for the 30 years or so I’ve lived on the East Coast.

This narrow-mindedness results in part, I think, from our creative imaginations of the black experience, in fiction and film, almost exclusively in the South or North. Historically, African Americans have been concentrated in the South, but major migrations have taken us not just to the North but to the West. By taking a geocentric view of blackness, we cut ourselves off from parts of our history—and even some of our heroes. With a black Hawaiian in the White House, it’s time to embrace an expansive view of the black experience in its full diversity.

Is Anything Black About the American West?....

Nothin' But a G-20 Thang

With their European road trip almost over, President Obama and the first lady are clearly a huge hit around the world and the Europeans are going to have to deal with it.

By: David Swerdlick

The condensed history of the Western world goes something like this: Achilles slays Hector, Charlemagne conquers Saxony, Anne Boleyn, Martin Luther, Waterloo, May Day, Versailles, The Beatles on Ed Sullivan, and Queen Elizabeth II hugs Michelle Obama.

Can you say “road trip”?

Halfway through their trip to the G-20 summit, NATO and beyond, it’s safe to say that President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle are still a hit around the world even if the president’s policy approach for the damaged global economy is not.

For Obama, all it took was the frank but subtle concession that yes, “some of this contagion did start on Wall Street,” to reassert that the United States would be leading a “strong, coordinated response to growth.” Between his remarks and some off-the-cuff banter with India’s Times reporter Simrat Ghuman, Obama left them “still walking on air.”

Nothin' But a G-20 Thang....

4/4/2009: Your Weekly Address

The President discusses the breadth and depth of the global challenges we face, as well as our potential to address them through renewed international alliances. This week's address was filmed aboard Air Force 1 amidst vital diplomatic stops at the G-20 Summit, a NATO summit, and bilateral meetings.

Policemen who stopped NFL player in hospital lot resigns

By JAMIE STENGLE

DALLAS (AP)—The police officer who pulled out his gun and threatened an NFL player with jail instead of allowing him inside a hospital where his mother-in-law was dying resigned Wednesday.

Officer Robert Powell had been placed on paid leave pending an investigation of the March 18 incident.

“I made this decision in the hope that my resignation will allow the Dallas Police Department, my fellow officers and the citizens of Dallas to better reflect on this experience, learn from the mistakes made, and move forward,” Powell said in a statement issued through his attorneys.

He had stopped Houston Texans running back Ryan Moats’ SUV outside Baylor Regional Medical Center in suburban Plano after the vehicle rolled through a red light.

The officer pulled out his gun and threatened Moats with jail as the player and his family pleaded to be allowed to go inside the hospital. Powell continued writing Moats a ticket and lecturing him even after a fellow officer confirmed that Moats’ mother-in-law was dying.

Jonetta Collinsworth, 45, died of breast cancer before Powell allowed Moats to go inside the hospital.

Powell’s resignation was first reported by Dallas-Fort Worth television station KTVT. He later issued an apology, and Moats said he would accept it.

“I still hope to speak with the Moats family to personally express my deep regret, sympathy, and to apologize for my poor judgment and unprofessional conduct,” he said in the Wednesday statement.

He also said he wanted to apologize to his fellow officers.

Policemen who stopped NFL player in hospital lot resigns....

President Obama's Aunt Becomes Symbol in Immigration Debate

By: Denise Lavoie

BOSTON - Barack Obama's Kenyan aunt lost her bid for asylum more than four years ago, and a judge ordered her deported. Instead, Zeituni Onyango stayed, living for years in public housing.

Now, in a case that puts the president in a tough position both personally and politically, Onyango's request is being reconsidered under a little-used provision in U.S. immigration rules that allows denied asylum claims to be reheard if applicants can show that something has changed to make them eligible.

Such as the ascension of her nephew to the presidency of the world's most powerful country.

"If she goes back to Kenya, she is going to be much more in the limelight, and that, in and of itself, could put her at a greater risk. The chances of her going back and keeping a low profile are gone at this point," said Boston immigration attorney Ilana Greenstein.

Onyango, 56, the half-sister of Obama's late father, moved to the United States in 2000. Her first bid for asylum was rejected, and an immigration judge ordered her deported in 2004; she continues to live in public housing in Boston.

In December, a judge agreed to suspend the deportation order and reopen her case. An initial hearing is scheduled Wednesday in U.S. Immigration Court in Boston.

Obama has said repeatedly that he didn't know his aunt was living in the United States illegally and believes that laws covering the situation should be followed. If she wins asylum, he could look soft on immigration enforcement. If she loses, he could face criticism from immigrant advocacy groups.

The White House says Obama is staying out of it.

Obama's Aunt Becomes Symbol in Immigration Debate....

Instead of Exploiting Ignorance, the GOP Should Get Focused

By: Tonyaa Weathersbee

Now, here’s a guy who either has too much time on his hands or who believes he’s hit upon a rational way to exploit the irrationality of a few voters.

Bill Posey, a freshman GOP congressman from Florida, recently announced a plan for curtailing any future questions about the authenticity of any future president’s birth certificate.

Because he’s received so many calls from constituents in his conservative, central Florida district who don’t believe that President Barack Obama is a U.S. citizen, he said he plans to introduce a bill that would require presidential candidates to submit their birth certificates before running for office.

On its face, Posey’s bill seems reasonable. That is until you think about the fact that it was prompted by unreasonableness and intolerance.

You think about the fact that Obama’s birth certificate has been scoured and inspected by several legitimate news organizations and fact-checking organizations, and all have concluded that it is authentic. Hawaiian officials have vouched for its authenticity. And judges have virtually laughed the idiotic lawsuits challenging Obama’s citizenship out of court.

The Obama campaign also posted a copy of his birth certificate on its Web site.

But rather than try to explain to these fools that yes, President Obama is indeed a citizen, and that it’s time they resigned from the black helicopter conspiracy club and folded up their tin foil hats, what does Posey do?

He feeds their fanaticism.

Instead of Exploiting Ignorance, the GOP Should Get Focused....