Transparency, Progress, and the Birther Issue

     All of us are keenly aware of the problems facing our nation, many of which have been a direct result of the economic crisis.  Many Americans have begun to ask questions of their leaders and elected representatives about the massive expansion of federal government through control of many areas of the private sector and many are taking a closer look at what amounts to be gross violations of Constitutional law. Some have raised questions and even accusations about the eligibility of Barack Obama to be the president citing the Constitutional requirement that the president be a natural born citizen.

     I had been aware of the arguments raised by this group since before the election of Obama last year, but I never put much stock into the claims, as they appeared to be just another conspiracy theory similar to claims made before about other candidates. I am not claiming, as others have, that Obama is not a natural born citizen, nor do I have an opinion one way or another. I am, quite honestly, the furthest thing from a supporter of his possible, but I believe that without proof one way or the other, it is obsurd to make claims or hold beliefs about such a serious claim. I have made some rather important observations and would like to share those here.

     First, the fact that Obama has spent large sums of money fighting the release of his birth documents and other important documents, is not in keeping with his campaign of transparency and a farewell to the politics of the past. One has to wonder that if he has nothing to hide, why he would spend so much money, over a million dollars, on keeping these records hidden. When accused of a crime, most people provide an alibi which clears them. However, if they were to withhold this information, it would likely steer more suspicion in their direction. No person in their right mind would do such a thing. Why is Obama? With so much at stake in this nation, why allow the distraction of continued claims and doubts? All of this could be put to rest very simply and easily with the release of the documents in question. 

Just some thoughts.

P.S. I would like to give credit to Michael Johns for inspiring most of this. Here is the link to his blog post.
http://bobmccarty.com/2009/10/15/release-the-birth-documents/