Last Gasp Efforts of Desperation

Two last gasp efforts are taking shape this week.

One is Donald Trump's plan to attract attention to himself. After Obama released his birth certificate, Trump moved on to ask for the release of other records, such as college grades and academic writings. Trump had implied that he had some very dicey revelations that turned out to be very little. His presidential campaign, such as it is or was, will probably dissipate as serious candidates ramp up their rhetoric.

While I don't see why Obama would have a problem with the release of grades, theses, or other materials, this just doesn't have the wow factor of the possibility of foreign birth. Franklin Roosevelt, Ulysses S. Grant, and Winston Churchill all did poorly in various phases of their schooling. If Obama was a C student, it is one of the few things he has done that would raise him into that sort of company. Perhaps there is some proto-Marxist expression in there, but that would not be as effective as hacking away at the poor decisions that he has already made. Most people care about Obama now, not Obama in college. College Obama did not attack Libya or shut off access to energy resources in a time of skyrocketing prices.

The other gasp of desperation comes from Obama supporters. This won't be a last gasp, but it is desperate. They want to shape the agenda for 2012 in terms of racism. In other words, you are a racist if you do not support or like Obama. An Associated Press story today pulled experts from Tufts University and elsewhere who confirmed over and over again that everyone who accused Obama of not being born in the United States of being racists. I suppose that included blacks who also asked those questions. They also tried to link racism to the Tea Party again, despite the fact that many Tea Partiers support either Allen West or Hermann Cain for president.

Obama supporters are definitely afraid. Their incumbent has had a difficult time and they have little positive record to run on. Incumbents cannot run on hope and change, either. So they will be pulling out the race card next year, just as Trump pulled the birth one in the past few months. Obama called Trump a carnival barker who pushed a non issue when there are many other problems to debate (does anyone REALLY think Trump is a racist?) Those who pull the race strategy are of the same ilk. They want to raise a distracting issue that is not even relevant to get us away from the real problems faced by America.

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Personally, I am tired of presidents who want to create a historical legacy. Since the 1920s, we have not had a president who simply let things work as they should and who had no interest in talking to anyone, or creating a historical legacy. I say dig him up, extract DNA, and clone him now. Then I'll campaign for Calvin Coolidge in 2012.