The Truth Behind Birtherism

As Donald Sutherland reminds us in JFK, the key question to ask about a conspiracy is not “who?” but “why?’ What he means is that conspiracies aren’t carried out for fun, but for some demonstrative reason. In Stone’s ahistorical view the murder of JFK was carried out because Kennedy was starting to challenge the military industrial complex. In the view of those who think the moon landing was a hoax, the government faked it to assert dominance over the Soviet Union. I’m reminded of this litmus test for conspiracies, because today Breitbart.tv breathlessly released, and Drudge echoed, early 90s promotional material from Obama’s publisher that touted the fact that he was born in Kenya.

A ton of writing has been done about the psychological background of the “birther” movement. It’s been seen as being rooted in an racist unease about the president’s background, and its hard to argue with that logic. In fact, there was a 2008 Presidential candidate who demonstrably wasn’t born in the United States, John McCain was born on a military base in Panama, and while that counts as US soil, it’s easy to imagine unease from right-wingers if the same could be factually illustrated about Obama. And let’s not kid ourselves, Obamas familial background is far different than almost every other president, as the son of a foreigner he’s at least half first generation American. He’s a far cry from the landed aristocracy of Jefferson, the Roosevelts, or the Bushes. His ethnicity clearly causes consternation amongst some folks, a fear that has been exemplified in the “birther movement.”

Despite the fact that it’s the domain of racists and looneytunes, I’ve always kind of liked the “birther” conspiracy. Not because I think Obama is subverting the constitution, but because I find conspiracies sexy and mysterious and interesting. Conspiracies are always more interesting than the real story, and it’s cool to think that there was some global liberal cabal that determined that a small child born in Kenya was the chosen one, and all sorts of trickery would have to be employed to ensure that he could one day arise to the highest office in the land. That’s where the conspiracy starts to fall flat, if there was a group of international liberals hell bent on bringing down America, why would they think that some African child was the best conduit to bring about this change, and what kind of slow burning conspiracy necessitates planting a birth announcement in a newspaper 45 years before the main phase of the conspiracy starts.

But you know what, let’s ignore the fact that the “birther” conspiracy makes no sense, and get back to the original question, “who benefits?” To hear the right tell it, it’s an attempt to overthrow the constitution. This overthrow has included a tepid healthcare bill, the continuation of an exploitative banking system, the continuation of a wasteful war on terror. None of these things are good, but they are hardly a departure from the status quo of American politics. The people who have benefitted in Obama’s America are the same folks that always have.

With one notable exception. In a Redel Traub Report exclusive allow me to offer my groundbreaking hypothesis about the real power players behind Obama’s phony citizenship: Tea Party Republicans. Since Obama’s election, the Tea Party has become the dominant force in the Republican party. Observe the myriad Republican incumbents defeated or forced out of office by challengers from the right. The latest victim was Dick Lugar, a 36 year incumbent, primaried out of office by a Tea Party candidate with a propensity for comparing his opponents to Hitler. If anyone has seen their stock rise since Obama’s election, and decidedly Jamie Dimon has not, it’s the hard right wing of the Republican party. It’s the perfect smokescreen, endlessly bitch and moan about Obama’s phony birth certificate, when they’re the ones behind the whole damn thing!