Attacking Obama

Dr. Errington Thompson

by Errington C. Thompson, MD

It should not surprise you that there are those in our society who dislike, even despise, our president. These “Americans” will do anything and everything to undermine Barack Obama’s presidency.

Attacking a political foe is not new. Thomas Jefferson had some unkind words to say about George Washington. But trying to delegitimize the president is a relatively recent phenomenon that began during Bill Clinton’s administration. Republicans were civil—compared to today—until the Monica Lewinsky scandal broke out. Seeing an opportunity to dethrone a sitting president, the GOP went after President Clinton like a shark going after wounded prey. The rules of the game had changed: criticizing policies was no longer sufficient: now it was open season to attack the man himself.

In 2008, Republicans were seeking anything to destroy candidate Barack Obama. They looked for mistresses; there were none. Evidence that Obama cheated on his college transcripts? None. Maybe he cheated on his tax returns? Nope.

By mid-summer, the Republicans were getting desperate. They couldn’t find anything juicy, yet they were determined to paint this Ivy League success story as out of touch and unAmerican.
How about—he was a Muslim from Indonesia who attended a madrassa? Proven false the same day the accusations began to fly. So they settled for Reverend Jeremiah Wright; if they couldn’t make Obama a Muslim, they’d make him a bad Christian—using a years-old video of a Wright sermon that Obama hadn’t even attended. That got some traction…until Obama gave a wonderful speech about race and America. Forget Rev. Wright.

Which brings us to the birth certificate.

Why would—how could—anyone believe that President Obama was born anywhere but in the United States? Well, many Americans have not taken the time to know better (despite his book containing all his biographical information, which no one has disproved). Many others don’t know how to look up information themselves, so they listen to their friends, and they watch the news. Far too many watch Fox News, where, weekly, they hear unfounded accusations that President Obama was not born here.

On Fox they hear “experts” pretending to discern errors, suspicious notations, and other “proofs” of conspiracy on Obama’s Hawaiian birth certificate.

Week after week, month after month, this kind of campaigning takes its toll. What began as the propaganda of, by, and for the farthest fringe exposed unbelievable gullibility on the part of Americans. By this April, 20 percent of all American adults thought the President of the United States was born outside the country, and 35 percent of conservative Republicans believed he was not born in Hawaii.

Now, several weeks after the President released his long-form birth certificate, 16 percent of conservative Republicans are still not convinced. Ten percent of all Americans still believe President Obama wasn’t born in Hawaii.

So, despite his American mother and grandparents, despite his short-form and long-form birth certificates, despite birth announcements in Honolulu newspapers in August 1961, despite school records and college diplomas and the editorship of the Harvard Law Review, one out of ten Americans are convinced that Mr. Obama is not a native-born citizen of the United States.

“Birtherism” is just one part of a coordinated effort by Republicans to undermine Barack Obama’s presidency. By planting seeds of doubt, they believe they can chip away at his authority and his legitimacy.

Proof of that effort came last week. On May 1 President Obama announced to the world that on his orders, Osama bin Laden was dead. He stated unequivocally that Bin Laden was killed by a team of Navy Seals, that his body was identified visually, photographically, and by DNA, and he was buried at sea. Years after President Bush had given up the hunt for the world’s number one terrorist, Bin Laden was dead.

During a debate with John McCain, Senator Obama had stated that if the US developed evidence that Bin Laden was hiding in another country, and if the government of that country could not be trusted to arrest or kill him, that as president he would take action to arrest or kill him, with or without the knowledge or support of the host country. Thirty months later, in fulfillment of that specific campaign promise, President Obama did exactly that, and Bin Laden was dead.

Now, to you and me, this seems pretty straightforward; but those with an ax to grind live in a different reality. They didn’t believe the president, asserting it was a political ploy and that Bin Laden was still alive; they believed Al Qaeda, however, when they announced they would avenge his death. Others say that the president did not have the “stomach” to give the kill order, that it was given by Robert Gates and Leon Panetta. Their refuting such baloney will fall on deaf ears, because these radical conservatives will say anything to depict the president as weak and unfit to lead.

But the facts speak for themselves, at least to those intelligent and honest enough to listen.
When Somali pirates captured Americans, Barack Obama gave the okay to take out the Somali terrorist.

When our economy was on the brink of collapse, Barack Obama campaigned, prodded, and cajoled the Congress into enacting an economic stimulus program that has kick-started our economy into producing over 220,000 private sector jobs each of the last four months.

When Barack Obama was given intelligence on where Osama bin Laden was hiding, he weighed all the evidence. He talked with all his advisers. Once he had all the information, he made an informed decision to take out a terrorist.

I don’t know about you, but this is exactly why I voted for this man. I thought he could weigh the evidence and make thoughtful, intelligent decisions under pressure.

I was right… We were all right.