By Mark Rhoads
The headline above is not intended to provoke a debate on exactly where or when President Barack Obama was born. My question is prompted in part by an article written by Tom Roeser on April 24. Suppose we assume for the sake of argument that, as his web site says, Obama was born at the Kapi'olani Medical Center for Women and Children in Honolulu, Hawaii on Aug. 4, 1961. No member of the news media has ever seen his original birth certificate but the Obama campaign last fall posted what they said was a certification by Hawaii that such an original certificate of birth does exist in a vault somehwere even though it does not list the place of birth or refer to normal tests given to new born babies such as silver nitrate solution for the eyes, etc. The fact that some of his relatives in Kenya claim he was born there could be due to confusion or faulty memory.
My question is a little more subjective. Does Barack Obama, President of the United States, see himself as not just a citizen of the United States, but as part of the nationality that is called American? Does he internalize that nationality? Or, does Obama view himself as something beyond nationality? Does he view himself as a citizen of the world who only happens to be the custodian of the American executive branch? This is a question that Tom Roeser hints at and it is an entirely legitimate one that in an unguarded and honest moment, President Obama himself might have a tough time answering.
Roeser refers to Obama as "a faculty lounge sophisticate." I might have added the imaginary slang word "wannabe" as in "want to be." Roeser's point is that Obama can happily shake hands with enemies of America becuase he does not see their rants against our country as anything he needs take personally since he is detached from the history of the nation and is not emotionally bound up in its identity as most Americans are. I realize this is a very harsh judgment of the lack of a core national identity for President Obama. But maybe not. Maybe Obama himself would not be offended and would openly say that he should be above national identity. Maybe he takes pride in that. Given some of his bizarre actions since taking office, this is a fair question to ask and the answer could explain many things. Here again is the link to Tom Roeser's article:
http://www.tomroeser.com/blogs/blogview.asp?blogID=24955
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