The Ultimate Gotcha

My brother hates that politics has devolved into mudslinging. I think what he's really tired of is "gotcha" politics. Politics has become a game of trivializing the other sides utterances instead of discussing policy and preferences.

But here's the real Gotcha: Obama's citizenship. Some crazy right-wingers think that Obama hasn't proved his citizenship because his campaign hasn't produced a valid birth certificate. There's a little gristle, and not much meat on those bones of accusation.

I'm predicting that some hyper-partisan group will file a lawsuit against Obama's name being listed on a ballot for President. No serious group has raised the issue yet because Obama isn't yet the nominee of the Democratic party and his name has not appeared on any ballot for President.

The question of Obama's citizenship arose months ago. I'm guessing that some well-funded group of partisans has taken advantage of these months by hiring an expensive legal team to research the issue and to venue shop. As soon as Obama's name appears on the ballot in the right jurisdiction, the well-funded partisan group will launch a lawsuit.

Obama doesn't need to prove his citizenship until he is an official candidate for President. Until now, his campaign's assertions of his citizenship were sufficient. I'm thinking that there's just enough to this issue to bait some group into filing a lawsuit so they can compel the Obama campaign into producing a valid birth certificate.

We'll see....