Playing the Trump card

by Rossputin | 8:45 am, April 14, 2011 | Comments Off

(H/T to Craig Silverman for the pun…)

Donald Trump, although a larger-than-life figure, is not a “right wing nut” or Tea Partier and thus, in addition to the fact that he just doesn’t give a damn (or at least wants us to think that, ala Iranian President Ahmadinejad), is bringing the issue of President Obama’s birth, or more precisely his birth certificate, into the mainstream of America.

The issue could be a serious thorn in Obama’s side, not so much because people think he was born overseas (though that’s not something we can logically rule out at this point), but because Trump’s more basic question is easy to understand: “Why not just show us the birth certificate?”

The same inquiry can and should apply to his academic records, including who paid for his attendance at two colleges and law school.

The lack of answers and Obama’s intense efforts to prevent such answers from coming to light will make independents wonder “who is Obama, really?” even more than they’re wondering it now.

So while the “birthers” were denigrated (not least by the use of that term) by the left and the dominant mass media (but I repeat myself), Obama will find it harder to dodge the question this time.  And given how much effort and money he’s spent to hide his documents so far, you’d have to bet that he won’t cave in, leaving this issue to dog him all the way to the election and hurt him at that time.  The question becomes obvious: What does Barack Obama have to hide?

Trump’s semi-mainstreaming of the issue of “why won’t he just show us and make this all go away?” will also make it easier for other candidates to ask similar questions.  Although the question of Obama’s birth is not an irrational one, it’s politically somewhat risky.  However, Republicans can and should imply the question without asking it, such as “President Obama, among the questions people have about your well-hidden past, I’m sure America would love to see your college records, as we’ve seen from every other president in recent years.”  Or something even more subtle than that.  A candidate need not mention the birth certificate in order to remind voters of the elephant in the room, or more precisely the elephant missing from the room.

Trump made other news Monday when he was said in an interview that he would “probably” run as an independent candidate if he does not get the Republican nomination. It may be a gambit to try to increase voters’ likelihood of supporting him in a GOP primary, or he may really mean it. With Trump, one never knows. (I continue to believe he will not run at all.)

While I’m quite pleased, in a tactical political sense, with Trump’s actions bringing up the birth certificate question – again, more because it shows Obama’s evasiveness than because of any certainty on my part about where Obama was born – Trump should not be the Republican nominee.  And even more importantly, he must be dissuaded out of running as an independent, an act which could decimate the chance of beating Barack Obama.

Please read the entirety of my article for the American Spectator (which leaves out the prior thoughts about Trump and the birth certificate):
http://spectator.org/archives/2011/04/14/trump-the-protectionist

Comments

Praise for PPC From Our Lefty "Fan"

• "Zany-ass bombast-entertainment...Hackneyed weirdo communist pseudo-nostalgia" --Alan Franklin, ProgressNow

Featured Posts

• Unemployment Up in February, Obama Reelection Chances Down

  February is a long way from November.

• The Greek Deal Saves the Banks
• Geithner Ignores Subpoena to Testify in Lehman Bros. Case
• Plans Revealed for Greek Default on March 23
• Celebrating International Aviation Mandates: Don’t call them Taxes!
• Obamanomics, the State of the Union, and Reality
• Eurozone Recession Accelerates; Moody’s Piles On