Romney: I Think I'm a Birther Now. Obama Campaign: Woo Hoo

Fine, Mitt wasn’t that crass with his statement earlier today in Michigan but saying to this crowd that he was born right there and no one has asked him for a birth certificate to prove it pretty much made
him a birther today.  This issue, so far as I remember was settled over a year ago and the only ones that are holding on to are part of a fringe.  I don’t want to call Romney a fringe candidate but… seriously.  The Romney campaign says that Mitt was making a joke and obviously the Obama campaign isn’t laughing, though they should be because this is yet one more mis-step this campaign has taken.  We were making fun of the Vice President last week but this isn’t that far off.

The point of the trip to Michigan was for Romney to lay out his economic policies and re-acquaint himself with the voters.  You have to agree that the Romney campaign has had a disastrous summer, from a
horrific trip overseas all the way up to the Akin controversy; it’s been one problem after another.  This was supposed to resolve itself by the convention – well that starts in 48 hours and here we are,
Romney jokingly wondering about where the President was born.

The law itself I personally find asinine.  I feel that you should be eligible to be the President if you are a US Citizen, either by birth or by choice.  I understand the Founding Fathers intentions in putting
that stipulation in the Constitution; fearing a foreign born leader that may have allegiances to a foreign King.  These days, with the huge foreign born population in this country, many of those people dying just to be a part of this country, I do not believe that this is really an issue anymore.  It is simply an outdated hang-on from a much
earlier era (not unlike the right to bear arms).  Those are debates for a different day though.

Opinions of laws notwithstanding, the Romney campaign screwed up again – and this time it was Romney himself.  Even if he was making a joke, this joke not only potentially re-ignited a debate that was put to
rest many months ago and makes him look fairly foolish, it detracts away from the message that he was trying to convey.  He’s not going into the convention with the media discussing his economic plan, he’s
going in with talk about birtherism.  

An interesting tidbit about the whole thing; back in 1968 a Gov. George Romney was running against Richard Nixon for the nomination.  The campaign was short lived because the then Gov. Romney was actually born in Mexico and thus disqualified from the White House. This didn't stop the Governor from trying to run, thus creating probably the first 'birther' controversy.  This Governor, in case you haven't gleaned it, was Mitt Romney's dad.