birthers

Where the President was or wasn't born matters little. That the President hasn't been forthcoming with information about himself either as a candidate or now as our President is a problem and dismissing those who perceive it this way as being 'birthers' buys into the docile role prescribed for the press in these matters by the Obama Administration.

Reporters who have attempted to find out things about the Obama past have all run into dead ends. They've been purposely blocked from accessing that information. An example is Hawaii Governor Linda Lingle's determination to keep any but 'official ' eyes away from the long form birth certificate that is supposed to confirm his place of birth in Hawaii. But more than that, anything having to do with the President's past is aggressively protected by people in his employ and the birth certificate, the long form official birth certificate, is just one of those items. So anyone who asks about his Law review experience or his college grades or medical files is a 'birther'.

The label 'birther', like the label 'racist' is too easily thrown at anyone asking a question about the President's past. Anyone who is looking for more than just the platitudinous narrative that he and his minions pre emptively applied to his pre election persona is shunted aside. The fourth estate, not wanting to run afoul of this President they so assiduously promoted and sponsored, was derelict in their obligations to vet him as they would any other candidate.

Glenn Beck notwithstanding, we have need to have our questions answered and our document requests complied with. Journalists who push for this openness should be praised and not derided with the 'birther' label.

And if the media needs help in what to took for here's a list of a few things they overlooked during the campaign, here are a few. It's never too late to add to our store of knowledge.

How about finding some of his childhood friends and/or neighbors....

Be nice to see some of his college papers or transcripts and maybe even a paper or two.

It would be interesting to know how he paid for his Harvard education No visible means of support creates that question which has been ignored.

And which were the countries that issued his various visas for travel to Pakistan and other places under the name Barry Soetoro.

Even Michelle Obama's Princeton thesis on racism might be of interest.

That none of this was and is forthcoming and that all of it is kept from view by aggressive guardians denotes an issue far greater than just a birth certificate. And those brave enough to inquire about them ought not be tainted by that cleverly created pejorative, 'birther'