Paranoia...It's Baaaack!!!! Or is it?

Snail mail brought me an envelope this weekend. Inside was an editorial page from the Wall Street Journal. The date and the title were highlighted. Having been a subscriber to the WSJ for decades, I had already read the marked editorial, but it took on new meaning.

It is, you have to admit, amusing to be accused of paranoia by someone too reticent…yes, I’m laughing…to include their name. That’s what the piece dealt with: the paranoia of the Birthers primarily.

I admit to serious interest in this subject primarily because it won’t go away. Every time I think it has been killed off, it’s back. The newest version has a Federal judge setting a firm trial date in January where the infamous birth certificate must be produced. It also has an affidavit from “a very responsible American” unnamed, swearing that he has, or has seen, a birth certificate from Nairobi, Kenya bearing the footprint of Barack Obama. The judge in question is now an ex-marine committed to having the troops informed that they serve under a legitimate commander in chief.

Barack Obama must be laughing his socks off. What a wonderful way to make your opponents look ridiculous. And there’s the rub. He could end all this in a minute, and won’t. All he has to do is make his records public…all of them, any of them… and he won’t. This does not build respect. Quite the contrary.

What is seen as paranoia is being fed by a man named Gary Kreep. Wouldn’t you think that name would keep you on the straight and narrow? Mr. Kreep heads the U.S. Justice Foundation and sends out lots of mail. His letters ask for money to pursue the public display of that birth certificate on behalf of his client Alan Keyes. Legitimate? I don’t pretend to know.

I do know that a lot of this public refusal to give up on that elusive birth certificate is not paranoia. It is wishful thinking. Barack Obama, a dream candidate for many, is now seen by many opponents as a nightmare president. Four years of “the Chicago way” is seen as four years too many. Finding a fake birth certificate would end all that. Looked at that way, Gary Kreep, lawyer, becomes Arthur in pursuit of the Holy Grail. And even though my brain disallows it, my inner child is cheering him on.