I am a realist. I know that not everyone is going to like our President. After all, I am probably the only one in the United States that didn't like President Reagan (ok, an exaggeration, but I was in the Navy at the time, and those around me were very pro-Reagan).
But not liking the President and opposing his policies is NOT an excuse to just make up stuff about him.
At least some in the media are standing up to it; more below the fold.
I recommend reading the short editorial in today's Peoria Journal Star (Peoria, IL):
(note: in my first edit I screwed up the link and linked to my blog rather than directly to the newspaper editorial. I corrected this)
Here we thought the birthers – those who don’t believe Obama was born in the United States – had cornered the market on kooky. Now they’re getting a run for their money. No doubt there’s some overlap here.
No one can blame the president’s tolerance for the Muslim community center near Ground Zero in New York for these numbers, as the poll was conducted before that issue grew legs. We suppose some continue to fault him for his name, which he did not give himself. Of course, some wouldn’t be satisfied unless he managed to work Jesus’ name into every other sentence; likely a few in that camp would turn the U.S. into a theocracy, if they could. Extremists come in every stripe. Some of this nonsense is fueled by irresponsible politicians and media figures looking to cash in; they could say the sun sets in the east without getting any challenge from the true believers who tune in to them. Based on his performances of the last couple years, little about Newt Gingrich is good for the country.
But let’s say, for the sake of argument, that the president was Muslim. The proper response to that would be: So what?
There it is. The editorial goes on to point out that many presidents have had "spiritual/religious" views that were difficult to put into a box; they note:
For what it’s worth, a fair number of presidents had ambiguous religious affiliations. Abraham Lincoln often tops the list of the nation’s greatest leaders and could quote Scripture with the best of them, but his spiritual allegiances, while disputed, were generally described as complicated, skeptical of organized religion, and evolving over time and personal circumstance. In any event, he never joined a church. How’d he get away with that? Feel free to take a crack at that one, conspiracy theorists.
They also acknowledge that there will be some who simply oppose the President for policy reasons. We understand that.
But this "birther/Muslim" stuff is just nuts.
It is about time that the media starts saying so.
(side note: check out Time Magazine's excellent article on the Stimulus; it points out that much is being done within that bill for energy and scientific research).