There are now reports that The Donald was a Vietnam draft dodger (hat tip: Politik Ditto). Mr. Trump has been questioning President Obama's birth, and his sealed college records. He is now saying that Obama should spend less time playing basketball and more time lowering gas prices. Bookeristas are split on whether The Donald is playing the race card or not:
YES: Juan Williams: "The Truth About Trump, Obama & The Race Card"
The moderate-liberal commentator opines: "Trump is now questioning whether the president was smart enough to write a best-selling book. He is asking if Obama is too busy playing basketball to handle the economy. Trump is doubting whether Obama had the grades to get Harvard Law School and suggesting he is just an affirmative action token. It is hard not to see a pattern in these questions. The president is not smart enough to write his own book, he is not smart enough to get into Harvard, and he spends his time playing basketball. The pattern sure looks racial, smells racial, and invites Whoopi [Goldberg, on 'The View'] to call a spade a spade."
He continues his commentary: "The truth is that this national disgrace was never really about birth certificates or citizenship. It is about the fact that no matter what his policies – and there is a lot to argue with in his policies and leadership style – some people appear to never have accepted a president who is very smart, patriotic, hard-working and a family guy. They cannot accept that he is different from the majority of the American people in terms of his name, his life experience and yes, his race. In the 'birther' mindset, different equals dangerous. They can’t say this out loud because they will then be called out for naked racism. So they have stoked doubt about the president’s birth certificate, speaking in coded language and tacitly indulging the race-baiting."
NO: Constructive Feedback: "The Black Quasi-Socialist Progressive-Fundamentalist Racism Chasers Are Projecting Black Inferiority Onto Obama As A Coping Mechanism Against Trump"
Asserts the conservative blogger in Atlanta metro: "As I scan various Black Progressive propaganda channels it is tragically stunning how much they are aggrieved by Trump's actions. They are now trying to assign 'Black VICTIM' attributes to the President Of The United States - in line with what a Black man walking down the street in an exclusive White area of town at 9pm might face by the police. In their view Obama was the victim of the political version of the 'aggressive policing' and subsequent 'carding' for ID. This has set various Black Progressive blogs into a frenzy as they try to show some connectivity.
The Grio.com: "Show Me Your Papers Politics" Could Suppress The Black Vote
There it is. The connection!! If they (the White racist conservative Republicans) have the audacity to see a Black man in their 'White House' and card him......what are the chances that a 'Ninja' like me will escape their racism as they have me spread eagle on a the trunk of a police car..............when all I was doing is trying to VOTE? I'ma vote for Obama TWICE AS HARD this time. We can't allow those Tea Party types to do this RACISM to us. This fight against RACISM is far more important than worrying about the 15.2% Black unemployment rate under Obama. This is due to RACISM as well - anyway. Why load this burden upon Obama? He is the president but THEY don't respect him that way. Don't be a hater upon him - like they are'."
YES: Sophia A. Nelson: "Why Obama Can't Escape America's Great 'Birth Defect'"
The moderate pundit in Virginia opines about Donald Trump's criticism of the president: "The worst part of it all [of President Obama's press conference about his birth certificate] wasn't that we had to listen to Donald Trump's narcissistic ramblings or watch his bad hair flapping in the wind. It was that my president, our president, had to stand in front of the world and justify his right to be in the White House. And Trump's assault on the president's integrity hasn't stopped. He now questions the president's academic standing and worthiness to have been accepted into Ivy League Schools like Columbia and Harvard [L]aw. Worse than all of this, was that just like the late baseball legend Jackie Robinson before him, President Obama has to put up with the insults, lunacy, and outright bigotry with a smile. He can't lose his cool because he is the first. He must handle himself with grace and class or the next black candidate for president won't stand a chance."
She continues her commentary: "Some feel Trump and the birthers have a right to see more proof that the president is indeed a U.S. citizen. They find it okay to question 'how' and 'why' he got into an Ivy League school, even though he graduated Magna Cum Laude and was president of the Harvard Law Review. I have come to conclude, sadly that we are cowards when it comes to race as Attorney General Eric Holder said because some of my fellow Americans refuse to connect that dots, even when all of the proof is right in their face. I struggle now; with how do we ever bridge the seemingly growing divide on race."
NO: Duane Brayboy: "Sophia, Stop Being A Drama Queen. You're Treating Obama Like A Child"
The conservative blogger in Atlanta metro responds to Ms. Nelson's op-ed over at theGrio.com. He says that Obama supporters need to stop turning every criticism of him into a new, invented form of racism: "All past presidents have been asked to submit this information. Former presidential candidate Sen. John McCain was challenged back in ’08 over the 'natural born citizen' clause. The case was even taken to court. Yes, Obama did submit a certificate stating that he was born in Hawaii. But true political junkies know that in politics, EVERYTHING can be questioned. Hilary Clinton (the person who jumpstarted the who[le] 'birther' movement) knew this."
He continues his commentary: "Now the latest gauntlet thrown out there by Trump was for Obama to release his school records. Nelson and the rest of the Obama fan base are having yet another cow. Here is what I don’t understand: Birth certificates and grades are simple bits of information that most past presidents have made public before entering the White House. Bush made his public before entering the White House. Why drag this thing out? Obama graduated Magna Cum Laude. Why keep that info under lock and key – ESPECIALLY when other past presidents have made this info readily available to the public from day one? What’s the big deal? Release the info and shut down the critics on this issue. When Obama was running for president, he told the American people that he promised greater transparency if elected. Critics on both the left and right agree that most of that has not happened. Big deal. Most politicians do not. Where 'we, the people' screw up is when we do not hold them accountable."
He ain't done yet: "What Nelson is doing is something I warned would happen if Obama was elected: The childish treatment of Obama by his most loyal fans. Obama should be held to the same standard as all other presidents. As I pointed out, the endless requests for birth certificates, grades, etc. ARE NO DIFFERENT from WHITE candidates who had to go through the same thing. But in Nelson’s eyes, she has to guard Obama’s lack of promised transparency with baseless charges of racism. Obama’s her boy, and she is treating him just like one."
DEBATE: Is Donald Trump Playing The Race Card, In Going After President Barack Obama?
