Obama and ‘birther’ politics

last updated 8 January 2015

The odd “right-wing obsession” with President Obama’s birth certificate is spreading, said Joe Garofoli in the San Francisco Chronicle. First, Rep. Mike Castle (R, Del.) had to fend off an angry “birther” at a town hall meeting (watch video), then “border-obsessed” CNN host Lou Dobbs jumped on the “birther” train. Thankfully, Rep. John Campbell (R, Calif.) got “a beat-down” from Hardball’s Chris Matthews for pandering to the GOP’s “wacko wing.” (watch video)

The “birthers” are both “a fringe movement and something greater,” said Marc Ambinder in The Atlantic. No “important Republicans” believe this “extremely thoroughly debunked” conspiracy theory (although Rush Limbaugh is flirting with it), but some local lawmakers and an unknown number of GOP voters do. As midterm elections approach, Republicans have a tough choice: alienate the “birthers” or reveal the “narrowness of their base.”