It is 2012, and Donald Trump is once again pushing the charge that President Barack Obama was not born in the United States, despite an earlier harangue by Trump, which resulted in President Obama releasing the long form of his birth certificate.
This recent revival of the birthers' claim comes as Trump voices his support for Republican presidential candidate, Mitt Romney.
Is it in the name? Is it because more than 25 percent of Americans believe he is Muslim despite his repeated affirmation that he is Christian, and doubt that he was born in the United States? Or, is it because he is the first black President of the United States, and every attempt — legitimate or not — is a way of creating doubt to keep him from getting re-elected?
Unlike any other president before him, President Barack Obama’s faces persistent challenges regarding his place of birth, which many believe is a shameful tactic to prevent his re-election. It began when he won the Democratic Primaries in 2008. The claims originated with Republican elected officials, conservatives, many fringe activists, and prospective political opponents.
Republican members of Congress and state legislatures proposed and voted for legislation that would require presidential candidates to provide documentation of their qualifications to be president, including natural-born citizenship.
The lower courts rejected lawsuits seeking to disqualify Obama as President, and the United States Supreme Court dismissed three lawsuits.
Despite the state of Hawaii releasing an official birth record, the newspaper announcement of birth submitted by the hospital where President Obama was born, and the findings of investigative reports of journalists from around the world who confirm that he was indeed born in the United States, there are still those who continue to persist that he was not.
Why?
Name one other president who had to produce a birth certificate to prove that he is a natural citizen of the United States.
Why isn’t President Obama’s birth certificate proof enough?
The next issue to resurface, no doubt, will be his religious faith. After all, last week, Romney supporters were strategizing on how to revive the President's past controversial pastor, Jeremiah Wright. In terms of his religious faith, why do media and political leaders still proffer over the airways that President Obama is Muslim? Is it because Obama doesn’t wear his religious faith on his sleeve and is not seen worshiping every Sunday at a Church in Washington, D.C.?
Did people question President Ronald Reagan and other presidents who did not go to church on Sundays? Do we even know the religious affiliation of all of our past presidents?
We certainly have never questioned where they were born, or their religious beliefs, and questioned it so doggedly.
Why is the birthplace and religion of President Barack Obama persistently challenged?
As honest and fair-minded citizens, we seriously need to examine the underlying reasons, and truly understand the motivation behind these questions; what good will come of these tactics for us, the American people?