Throughout the last few days, I've watched the development of the **Barack Obama** birth certificate issue with a mix of amusement and political interest. Amusement, because the whole thing is absurd and the birthers are a bunch of nuts, now led by perhaps the most buffoonish American, **Donald Trump**. And political interest, because as always there are strategic considerations at play -- for instance, did the White House see political value in bringing this issue to the front page (maybe)? -- and that's something that interests people like me. But I have to confess I haven't been tuned enough into the pain this is causing. I've written plenty over the last few years about the racism motivating so much of the opposition to Obama (see here, and here, and here). But the emotional weight of what just happened didn't really hit me until I watched this powerful video from Baratunde Thurston (warning: there's a bit of strong language):
Baratunde is ordinarily a pretty good-natured guy, but as you can see, he's practically quivering with rage and hurt over this spectacle, in which the president of the United States had to show his papers before people would grant that he's allowed to be where he is. And now Trump says that he'll have to prove he was smart enough to get into Harvard Law, because after all, how could he have, if not for some special unfair privilege granted to him, by virtue of which he surely pushed aside a more deserving white applicant? So yes, birthers are a ridiculous lot, and there's plenty to laugh at about Donald Trump. But there's nothing funny about this, if there ever was.
