Does birtherism potentially pose a threat to Obama's presidency?

[cali]

I don't think it does now, but I do think that if the ranks of the birthers swell and President Obama continues to slip in the polls, it could have a negative impact. Yes, it's ridiculous and racist and thoroughly repugnant, but underestimating the gullibility of the American people, is a mistake.

[saltpoint]

1. I think President Obama has nothing to worry about re the birthers.

[HelenWheels]

2. Not if people start to call them what they are: Liars

I'm sick and tired of people being door mats. They either know they're liars and therefore first degree assholes or they are complete imbeciles. Why should we play nice with them?

[billyoc]

3. No.

[LiberalEsto]

4. No

But it threatens to overwhelm our nation's limited resources for the mentally ill.

[BlooInBloo]

5. Depends how much ammo they stock at the White House.

[WeDidIt]

6. Obama's got a hole card

HE'll only play it if he has to.

See, he always has the option to go to Hawai'i and publicly allow the release of the documentation the State Health Department has on file.

After doing so, his surrogates will endlessly point out that no president in history has ever had to do this and will further point out there is only one consistent difference between him and the 43 presidents who came before him.

This is why he hasn't done it yet. Why blow something that could provide tons of political capital when you don't have to?

[mikehiggins]

7. All it means is he won't get the voters he was never going to get in

the first place, no matter what he did or accomplished.

On the other hand, it does make the few people who pay attention to stuff like this (aka, not working for the media or whacko blogs) think the GOPers are idiots.

The smart move is to try and hang this around the necks of every GOPer (and Blue Dog) we can.

[BluegrassDem]

8. Alarmism: FAIL

People didn't vote for Obama will never vote for him. I'm not sure how it threatens his presidency? :boring:

[alcibiades_mystery]

9. You

don't need the last comma:

"...but underestimating the gullibility of the American people, is a mistake."

It serves no grammatical purpose whatsoever.

[MoonRiver]

16. No, it's not necessary.

But maybe the poster wanted to put an emphasis on "is a mistake." The comma frames it for that purpose, produces a pause in the reading and thereby brings added attention to the dangerous mistake of underestimating Americans' gullibility. :shrug:

[Occam Bandage]

38. s/d

[niceypoo]

10. LOL

These are REPUBLICANS were talking about here, not normal people

It is a threat to the GOP and it will divide the GOP

[WeDidIt]

12. PREDICTION

Given the recent fake Kenyan Birth Certificate and the current trip by Oily Taterz to the UK to verify it, Rim Jobinson will use these epic failures to banish Birtherism from Free Republic.

The Birthers are an albatross to the GOP and if they are not fully cut off this year, they threaten the outcomes of numerous Congressional races next year.

[Prism]

11. No

I cannot imagine anyone who voted for President Obama being taken in by this stuff. Most of this exists in the realm of those who never supported the President in the first place, and of them, the smarter of the bunch want nothing to do with it but only mouth the words in order to feint the appearance of some vague form of populism.

I am never surprised by the political calculus of people. I have seen people behave precisely as I assumed they would in all the worst ways in my life. If birtherism ever materialized into something consequential instead of the media side-show it is today, I would be very surprised.

It is a circus, an entertainment, a little tracked performance for the applause and derision of the politically attendant. It means nothing at the end of the day. It should mean nothing.

If it ever became something, I fear the blame would be widespread, and many here would find themselves implicated. Some people need this stuff to feel validated in their beliefs. Too many. No one should feel "I'm right because these people are insane," as the basis for their political validation. But I'm seeing that so much, and it bothers me a great deal.

I wish we could let it all go away already.

[dkf]

13. I like it. It exposes the rational and the irrational.

And it is entertaining.

[Douglas Carpenter]

14. to the extent that it supports a broad theme, "he is not part of the "real" America"

There are a number of other people who might not come right out and say that he is not an American. But the general theme that there is question and at the very least he was raised partly outside of America in parts of the world a certain significant segment of the population would consider utterly foreign - traveling in foreign countries, influenced by a foreign religion, speaking foreign languages, having a foreign sounding name and being all too empathetic with the feelings of the generically large foreign world - not even a European or Western world - a world that is nonwhite, non-western and non-christian.

There is a significant portion of the population that is threatened by this. It is already quite clear that many in the GOP think it is a clever strategy to try to position the Republican Party as the party of "normal" white Americans. Raising a doubt in the back of peoples mind - people who are not going to research the issue - people who may not immediately swallow all the birther claims - but people who might allow there paranoia about the vanishing "real America" to influence how they vote and what political party they identify as representing them.

On other hand, it is entirely plausible that the whole birther nonsense and the whole theme the GOP is trying to frame could back fire on them and make them look like a bunch of real crazies in the eyes of an even larger portion of the population.

[Autumn]

15. No they are silly litle shits

and anyone with half a brain knows Obama is an American . The birthers are bushes 28 per centers,

[BlueMTexpat]

17. In and of itself, I don't believe that it poses a threat

to Obama's standing in the polls. If anything, it may encourage moderates to come out more strongly for the President so as to distance themselves entirely from the crazies and the polls could actually rise slightly.
But to the extent that birtherism inspires the righteously crazy ones who act out Freeper fantasies (the Tiller shooting, etc., etc., etc.), it could indeed pose a real threat to Obama's personal safety.
That is one reason why it should be nipped in the bud ASAP, and the MSM, so woefully lacking in responsibility and accountability these days, should be doing everything in its power to do so. Orly Taitz needs to be thoroughly discredited, disbarred, fined heavily and, if not actually imprisoned for treason and inciting mayhem, then sentenced to perform community service for a long, long time.

[santamargarita]

18. No, only because he's in office. Don't forget the Swift Boat Liars and...

President Clinton's impeachment.

[depakid]

19. No, what poses a threat are all the idiots who focus on it rather than fight the battles at hand

You know- the ones like health care reform?

[Phx_Dem]

20. No. It poses a big threat to the GOP. Normal folks don't want to be

associated with a party of crazy people and racists.

[ecstatic]

21. I was among the chronic worriers last year

Worried about each poll, etc. But I was wrong and the optimists were right. I hope they're right this time too!

[BlooInBloo]

22. Their growth ceiling is very low, so no - no threat by growth....

Of course, terrorism doesn't require great numbers. So that threat remains. Of course, they're already in a foaming, slavering frenzy with or without birtherism, so I think the *marginal* threat differential is low.

[Jakes Progress]

23. I like to think that the idiots will hang themselves.

When I taught, one of my best classroom control techniques was to wait out the obnoxious kids with patience and politeness. Soon the whole class came to hate the clowns and would shush them themselves. Eventually, their behavior changed because the student body would shun them.

[ksoze]

24. Only in the sense he has to govern a small group of idiots for next 8 years

he will have to speak slowly and use lot's of pictures, because he has to govern a segment of people whom are severely reality challenged. Leading is hard, leading idiots is even harder.

[Cha]

25. I think anyone who has a bigoted racist

or any other gripe against Pres Obama and who doesn't give a shit about facts will jump on this.

If we didn't have a corporatemedia that keeps giving them airtime and actually shot it down like Phil Griffin, the president of msnbc, did..it would have been layed to rest.

"It’s racist,” said Phil Griffin, the president of MSNBC. “It’s racist. Just call it for what it is.”

http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/24/on-television-and-radio-talk-of-obamas-citizenship/

The above article in the link gives a small section to Griffin and the lion's share to the birfers like dobbs.

They will continue to try and suck the oxygen out of any space they're given or take.

[Drunken Irishman]

26. Nope!

Seriously, this will impact only those who never wanted Obama as president in the first place.

Remember, 53% of those who voted in 2008 voted for Pres. Obama. Those numbers aren't going to change much (at least not in the negative sense).

[rvablue]

27. NO. n/t

[Arkana]

28. You're....you're kidding, right?

[Political Tiger]

29. I do, but only in this aspect:

I fear for his safety. These birthers are fearful, crazy and hateful racist pigs. If one of them were to inflict harm on the president, they would become a hero to the birther movement. In their sick, puny and fearful minds, a person who "stopped" President Obama's "socialist agenda" would become an idol to every idiotic Joe the Plumber out there.

We know these asses love their guns and are not hesitant to use them, and the fear-mongers that control their tiny brains have them scared shitless. They believe Obama is out to kill little old ladies and force women to abort their babies. In their world, Obama is gonna take all their money and give it to the scary black people as reparations for slavery. Let's face it, that's how these nuts think!

I hope the Secret Service is aware of all this, and I am sure they are, but it only takes one filthy, hateful puke to get through the cracks to change history.

[JimWis]

30. Hell no. It's a small percentage of idiots making alot of noise.

[ncteechur]

31. nope

just drives the gop further and further away from capturing new voters. the gop is literally dying out. They will be noting but a fringe group in another generation.

[Cali_Democrat]

32. If anything, it will hurt the GOP

I don't think more and more people will get sucked into this nonsense. If anything, it will backfire on the GOP and make them look like the deranged nuts that they are.

[Lord Helmet]

33. probably not

and not much he can do about it anyway

[windbreeze]

34. let's see....

for the last few months, I have visited another site every day...because it seemed pleasant, and I thought it was a site where anything could be discussed, everything from survival to 9/11...oh let me back up...I just thought anything could be discussed..today I found out different...the last few days have been really strange...I got banned once in an ISP sweep, ...hadn't done or said a thing personally...but got banned anyway...so I did what I was required....after a couple days...everything was ok...Then today...over this bc crap...I read a post there about the REAL Kenyan AUTHENTIC birth certificate, then checked out through google when Kenya actually became a Republic...Then I went back and questioned how they could have an official document of his birth in Kenya..dated/signed Feb.17, 1964, when Kenya did not become a republic officially until Dec. of 1964....I should have left it alone at that point...but I had to go and make a crack about forged papers from Niger leading to a war in Iraq and how some will believe anything...and got banned again...I never realized, until that moment, how serious these guys actually are/were...

A few minutes later I went back again to see if my posts on that thread had been deleted, and they had..Then I found a thread about shills...from DU.....what they fail to see, is that they are doing the same thing..I never went from here to there to here to there, to cross post anything, or cause problems..but I read how some of them had come to DU to post and how they had already been banned...and how they intend to declare war on this site....They see it as though posters on DU were deliberately going over there and posting to cause problems...were we?? I haven't got a clue..I just know I never did..and I can only speak for myself..I went there to read their views and opinions, same reason I came here..I posted there, I posted here...never intending to cause problems at either place...but..

I am totally floored today, and as to your question...I'm honestly beginning to wonder where this is all leading, my biggest question is, once again...who's behind this? who stands to gain? who's funding the drive against Obama? and what's their real agenda??...I can't think it's gonna be good.. I am not going to give the site name..I will say, no it's not fr...and that it's a pretty well known site...wb

[CreekDog]

35. too many Hillary supporters bought into it

and some even hoped it would disqualify Obama.

but i doubt this is the future.

[Starry Messenger]

36. Lord, no.

The more media exposure these freaks get the better. It will burn itself out when its sideshow nature is fully understood.

[Occam Bandage]

37. You're becoming increasingly alarmist, I've noticed. nt

[mkultra]

39. your concern is noted

but the obvious answer is no. It helps Obama in many respects.

[cherokeeprogressive]

40. I understand the point of your post and am kind of surprised that so many would choose to trash you

for asking the question.

My answer is that it doesn't, but underestimating the gullibility of the American people IS a mistake.

We as a group though, surely don't want the issue to die, seeing as how there are about a gazillion OP's concerning it.

The BC is a moot point in my opinion, but now it's proven to be false they will only dig and dig until they find the girl he jilted in Jr. High School, and try to use it against him. Or find a bounced check. Or a late mortgage payment, or some other irrelevant thing to try and skewer him with.

[OneGrassRoot]

43. +1 n/t

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

41. Yes. If the crazy Birthers are incited to violence against our president. Of course he's

threatened! :nono:

[Clintonista2]

42. No, and it's idiotic to think it would.