Media Bias Begat the Birthers

The birthers -- Americans who claim Obama is not eligible to serve as president because he was not born in the United States -- may be, and are more likely than not, wrong but they are not devoid of plausible arguments. Furthermore the questions that they raise about things such as where Obama was born, the source of the funds that paid for his very expensive education, whether he applied for and received a college scholarship as a foreign student, the passport that he used for his youthful travel to Pakistan certainly are legitimate.

That these questions exist at all,  and persist and remain unanswered, is due to the enchantment that the countries mainstream media -- the major metropolitan newspapers and broadcast networks -- have had with Obama and his candidacy from the outset. That enchantment deflected them from any serious vetting of Obama, and that failure provided, and continues to provide the opening to the birthers and their allies. Had the media performed their traditional role and vetted candidate Obama, those questions would have been laid to rest before receiving any significant notice.

Why then does this not so humble blogger believe the birthers probably are wrong? One and only one simple reason. If candidate Obama was constitutionally ineligible for election to the presidency, that in all likelihood would have been discovered and disseminated by the Clinton opposition research and attack machine.

However, linked to the birthers' arguments are certain indisputable facts: Obama, as a youth, was mentored by, and closely and continuously associated with radical critics of America and its traditions,  There is in his record no clear break with that background. In fact, there instead are his appointments of czars who hold sway over huge swathes of our national life. They were not subject to confirmation by the Senate and are answerable to no authority other than Obama. These czars -- commiczars actually would be a more descriptive appellation -- are unsavory characters from Obama's radical past and they likewise have received little if any vetting by the nation's big media. 

Given all of this, is it any wonder that the nation's major newspapers and broadcast networks lack credibility, are mistrusted, and, as a result, are losing their audience and failing economically?