Of sideshows and carnival barkers
Of Sideshows and Carnival Barkers
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I feel cheated.
This week, I hoped to write about how Republicans are holding town hall meetings and facing increasingly angry senior citizens who’re in fear of losing their Medicare.
I wanted to point out that those are the same Republicans who ignited angry town hall meetings by hinting that seniors would be subjected to “death panels” during the debate over healthcare reform.
Granny didn’t die. She’s feistier than ever. She suspects, and rightly so, Republicans are trying to change her Medicare forever.
It was my desire to gloat, and tell you what goes around comes around, because Tea Party tinged Republicans are now playing defense.
Instead, I’ve been prevented from enjoying my victory lap.
Once again, I feel obliged to write about a piece of paper.
Last Wednesday morning President Obama released his long form birth certificate.
He later appeared at a news conference and capped off the release, with a few deliciously choice words – some of which were obviously aimed right at Donald Trump.
“We do not have time for this kind of silliness. We’ve got better stuff to do. I’ve got better stuff to do. We’re not going to do it, if we get distracted by sideshows and carnival barkers,” Obama told reporters.
Sideshows? Carnival barkers? I’m surprised he didn’t mention Trump by name. I know I would have.
Trump, though, wasn’t in a mood to take the release of the long form birth certificate at face value.
He did what only Donald Trump could do, after foolishly basking in the glow of Birther-speak for months. He hurled his hand right over that odd hairdo, and he patted himself right on the back.
“I am very proud of myself, because I’ve accomplished something that nobody else has been able to accomplish,” said the man who, according to a recent USA Today/Gallup poll, has 63% of Americans (including 46% of Republicans) saying they’d never vote for him for president.
Trump’s humility (if he has any) keeps getting kicked aside by his oversized ego.
After he repeatedly told reporters how proud he was to have polished this non-issue to a gleam, he moved on to Obama’s college records.
Trump smells a bit of social engineering in the president’s collegiate past. He claims Obama was a poor student, and there are questions about him getting into Columbia University and Harvard.
Undaunted by his failed attempts to prove the president isn’t a robot from Mars, he’s pressing forward with that claim now.
It doesn’t matter to Trump that the president was an exemplary student at Harvard, and that he graduated magna cum laude.
Trump wants to see his college transcripts.
He thinks he forced the president’s hand by finally getting him to reveal what most Americans already knew years ago – that he, too, is an American.
So why not press forward with a new supposedly mysterious aspect of the president’s life?
Perhaps he’s thinking he’s catching the president off-guard. That the president, having knowledge that he’s really not that smart, has had his college transcripts secretly buried in a sealed vault at Fort Knox.
“The Donald” should quit while he’s behind. There’s ample evidence that the president’s intelligence has been widely underestimated. Conversely, recent events have indicated Trump’s has been wildly over estimated.
The president has been aware of the rise of “Birthers” for a long time. He even claims he’s gotten a kick out of them.
“Over the past two and a half years, I have watched with bemusement. I’ve been puzzled at the degree at which this thing just kept on going,” he said.
So bring on this nonsense about the president’s college grades.
He’ll probably quietly bask in the controversy.
Meanwhile, Trump is where he wants to be. He thinks he’s done the country a great service.
Right now he’s wearing his self-satisfaction on his sleeve.
He claims the release of the president’s long form birth certificate is the cause for self-satisfaction. “I am听 really听 proud. I am really honored,” he claimed.
But he left out one thing. “I am really stupid.”
Edward A. Owens is a three-time Emmy Award winner and 20-year veteran of television news. E-mail him at freedoms@bellatlantic.net
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