I note DavidL’s post on this subject. I must confess, I too find “Was Dumbo lying then, or is Dumbo lying now?” to be an important question. But it seems to me there’s far more going on here.
Let’s re-establish. with David’s help: [1]
In 1991,in order to sell books, Barack Obama was described as having been borne in Kenya, from by Joel B. Pollak, Big Hollywood [2]:
[3]Barack Obama, the first African-American president of the Harvard Law Review, was born in Kenya and raised in Indonesia and Hawaii. The son of an American anthropologist and a Kenyan finance minister, he attended Columbia University and worked as a financial journalist and editor for Business International Corporation. He served as project coordinator in Harlem for the New York Public Interest Research Group, and was Executive Director of the Developing Communities Project in Chicago’s South Side. His commitment to social and racial issues will be evident in his first book, Journeys in Black and White.
OK. That done…
What David doesn’t say is that this “error” if “error” it was, made it through several iterations of printing… there are several generations of this brochure out there. It initially showed up in promotion of Obama’s anticipated first book, Journeys in Black and White… a project that Obama abandoned [4], and was also used later in the promotion for Dreams from My Father. Funny how nobody…. and I mean nobody, Obama himself included, thought it wise not to remove this “error”.
That leaves one of two possibilities; either they lied because it made a better “Poor boy makes good against all odds” narrative, or, it wasn’t an “error”, and they were telling the truth. In short, he was lying then, or lying now. And as far as I’m concerned we still don’t have proof either way. Frankly, given the record of this individual called Obama, I’m inclined to believe the worst of it.
At best, we’re left with the question of what what this administration and his supporters will not lie about…. what they will not fabricate in the way of stories to make him appear better than he is. In reality, it’s worse. Far worse.
Breitbart’s site, Big Government, actually broke this story. [2]but even they couch it in terms that attempt to deny what it clearly indicates.
[5] from Breitbart.com
Andrew Breitbart was never a “Birther,” and Breitbart News is a site that has never advocated the narrative of “Birtherism.” In fact, Andrew believed, as we do, that President Barack Obama was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, on August 4, 1961.
Yet Andrew also believed that the complicit mainstream media had refused to examine President Obama’s ideological past, or the carefully crafted persona he and his advisers had constructed for him.It is for that reason that we launched “The Vetting,” an ongoing series in which we explore the ideological background of President Obama (and other presidential candidates)–not to re-litigate 2008, but because ideas and actions have consequences.
It is also in that spirit that we discovered, and now present, the booklet described below–one that includes a marketing pitch for a forthcoming book by a then-young, otherwise unknown former president of the Harvard Law Review.
It is evidence–not of the President’s foreign origin, but that Barack Obama’s public persona has perhaps been presented differently at different times.
Hmmm.
Well, granted that it is at least that.
Certainly, as Big Government suggests, it is proof of the degree to which the mainstream press has been covering for Obama. Let’s be realistic; The story we have here, where this a Republican president, would be considered a smoking gun by every individual in the press and on the left. (Granted, a repetition.) It fascinates me that even some on the right aren’t willing to consider as such. (And yes, I know I’m opening myself up for a hate filled response from the leftie keepers of sweet and light. So be it.)
But it strikes me as even more proof of the degree to which anyone who has any problems with Obama’s (Lack of) documentation has been demonized. This CYA language being employed here by the denizens of Big Government is absolutely fascinating. The demonization of anyone who questions Obama’s very shaky documentation is so complete that even those on the right, Big Government included, refuse to even suggest what this rather clearly points to.
Consider it the way this is going; the depth of the problem, and the mortal fear being displayed. Anyone who dares suggest that Obama was telling the truth, is attacked. Even bringing up the mere possibility is subject to attack from the usual suspects, including the White House itself. [6]
I am reminded of the man accidentally caught in the bear trap, who is additionally and ironically confronted by a bear. He removes his own foot in an attempt to escape the bear. (Or if you prefer, the guy at the end of the movie “Mad Max”.) So it is with the Obama White House at the moment. My instinct tells me that the idea that Obama was telling the truth when he said in these brochures that he was born in Kenya, becoming commonly accepted, is the bigger fear. It is the only logical explanation for the reaction of the White House. They would be hardly willing to admit that Obama had lied in that brochure, otherwise. Yet, here, they’re insisting on it. Certainly, given his record, the concept that Obama was telling a lie, is easier one to believe than that he told the truth.
But that insistence does not make sense until you consider what it is that they are possibly protecting. Clearly, they believe the political cost of the electorate believing he was telling the truth is larger than believing he was telling a lie.
And of course anyone falling outside that narrative is demonized ridiculed etc.. What I find annoying is that Big Government is among those who are apparently so afraid of being demonized that they’re willing to play along. It is that same fear of demonization that we saw in the McCain campaign where McCain suggested that we have nothing to fear from an Obama presidency [7]. That all of these negative stories that were coming up about him were beneath us. McCain did that because he was afraid of being demonized himself. We see where that got him. And by extension, us.
Interestingly, we see that same fear in Romney, today [8]. But that’s another post.
Meanwhile, the question becomes “Is there anyone with the courage to speak the truth?” Specifically, why are so many going to such lengths to avoid the obvious conclusion in this matter? There’s an elephant in the room, people. It does not serve our purpose to be looking around and saying “What elephant?”
Addendum 1: By way of McPhillips, we find this statement on the point from Moochelle Obama, saying Obama was born in Kenya.