The Birther sideshow

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Too Bad, the Birther Sideshow Was Just Getting Good

by Henry Rollins

April 28, 2011, 4:45 PM

At first, I was disappointed that the White House released President Obama’s birth certificate yesterday. I had been enjoying watching and listening to that small group of America’s rabid rejects being all bouncy and birthy. They are an interesting group, from seething baby man Andrew Breitbart, who reminds me of that kid at summer camp who, upon the slightest provocation, would hyperventilate and pass out, to Orly Taitz, who looks like the Russian operative who gets hit with a poison dart in a crowd during a 70s-era James Bond film. They make for perfect guilty-pleasure viewing.

Now that the president’s birth certificate is in full view, it is hardly surprising that many of the people who don’t believe President Obama was born in America are still not convinced. He was born in Africa and his presidency is illegitimate—that’s their story and they’re sticking to it. There is nothing you can show these people that will cool them out.

I also know that President Obama is a master strategist. He has the onerous task of steering his country through some very tough and complex challenges and has to take time out of his day to deal with those who can’t deal with the color of his skin. That really is the issue here and it’s about time that these birther types summon the courage to come in through the front door and own up to it. Of course, moral cowards that they are, they won’t. They can’t. They will move onto some other aspect of the president’s life and attempt to prove some other non-existent fact.

Perhaps one of the reasons the White House only now did the reveal on the president’s birth certificate was to allow enough time for these people to more deeply invest in this idiotic talking point. When they move on to the next non-issue, they will further isolate themselves and turn up the light on their depressing stupidity and negative credibility factor. Months from now, we won’t remember the issue as much as their pathetic conduct.

Sadly, these faux patriots can’t handle the dynamic powers of the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments, so they act out in public and waste time. I hope they’re only getting warmed up. As 2012 looms ever closer, I think it’s a great recipe for losing on a monumental scale.
I think more airtime should be given to Donald Trump and Orly Taitz. They should run for office together. They should open for Charlie Sheen. They should do an adult-entertainment film. They should do a lot of things but they shouldn’t shut up; it’s just getting good. Sideshow is as sideshow does—we’ll deal with the real issues.
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