Obama Coasts as GOP Acknowledges His Citizenship and Christianity

This is beautiful because the interviewer directly asked, "is it your job to stand up to ignorance?" And Boehner said no. "It's not my job to tell the American people what to think." I have to agree here. Our elected officials are not elected to tell us we are ignorant. It's almost totally the opposite. "Our job is to listen." That's what Boehner said.

You would think it was about leadership, but it isn't. It's about listening and following, even if people are stupid. So if the people are stupid, we're all screwed. This is where education comes in. If the people get smarter, then the politicians are following the smart people and everything is okay. That's why they're always talking about education. Right now the people are stupid, so the politicians are listening to and following the stupid people, and it's a vicious cycle. We need to break out.

I have always thought this was a tempest in a teapot. So what if Obama isn't a citizen? I know lots of people who aren't citizens and they are just great. And plenty of cool Muslims too.

Is it fair to ask this Boehner guy to condemn those who say Obama is a Not-a-Citizen Muslim Communist? We are going to say politicans can't be ignorant? If this is the "new standard" we are going to have to substantially rethink almost everything in politics right now. Seriously.

House Speaker John Boehner says Americans have a right to think what they want to think, even when they're wrong about President Barack Obama's citizenship and his religion.

Some people believe that Obama, a native of Hawaii, was actually born outside the U.S. or in some other way is not a natural-born citizen eligible to be president. There is also a persistent belief among some that Obama, a Christian, is actually a Muslim.

When the host of NBC's "Meet the Press" asked Boehner whether he, as speaker of the House, had a responsibility to "stand up to that kind of ignorance," Boehner told David Gregory: "It's not my job to tell the American people what to think. Our job in Washington is to listen to the American people."

Boehner continued: "Having said that, the state of Hawaii has said that he was born there. That's good enough for me. The president says he's a Christian. I accept him at his word." He later called those "the facts" of Obama's background.

Boehner denied that he is willing to let those misperceptions remain because they weaken and delegitimize Obama.

[Associated Press]