Despite his odd name, his place of birth, his non-conventional upbringing and the fact that he looks vastly different than what the majority of Americans and most mainstream media outlets usually imagine when the word "President" is uttered, Barack Hussein Obama is just as American as your average ordinary American citizen, perhaps even more so.
He was born on American soil, despite how some would see Hawaii as being a very foreign locale*. He was raised in a loving family, in spite of his father making a very poor and rather selfish choice early on in his upbringing. He survived and thrived, becoming a well-respected community activist, civil rights attorney and United States Senator before being elected to the Presidency in 2008. He's faithfully married to a loving wife with two children. The man would be, and should be, the living embodiment of the perfect American success story.
Unfortunately, there are many of the unreconstructed among us who believe that, despite all of this, the President is not, and as far as they are concerned, never will be who he say he is. Since the President, by virtue of his appearance and his origins, runs counter to their idea of who should occupy the Oval Office, these unreconstructed beings are agitating for just about any reason or rationale for removing him from office. To them, he's little more than a Marxist, Socialist, liberal Kenyan usurper who slid his way into a place he simply does not belong.
The big meme pushed along by the Tea Party and the "Birthers" since the beginning of President Obama's term in office was, well, he's a ferriner. Just look at him, with that dark complexion and ferrin' name. The kicker? He wasn't born in Hawaii. Nope, his place of birth is Kenya. Or Indonesia. Or whatever sufficiently foreign locale the Teabaggers and Birthers could come up with. A lot of people jumped on that bandwagon, including The Donald himself, although Trump did it for the same reasons most bottom-feeders would do anything. It took the president showing his birth certificate, something that no other president had to do or perhaps will have to do, to kill this meme, along with any chance of Trump being anything but a footnote in this ridiculous portion of our nation's history.
At least, that's what I thought.
A judge has ordered President Barack Obama to appear in court in Atlanta for a hearing on a complaint that says Obama isn't a natural-born citizen and can't be president.
It's one of many such lawsuits that have been filed across the country, so far without success. A Georgia resident made the complaint, which is intended to keep Obama's name off the state's ballot in the March presidential primary.
An Obama campaign aide says any attempt to involve the president personally will fail and such complaints around the country have no merit.
The hearing is set for Thursday before an administrative judge. Deputy Chief Judge Michael Malihi on Friday denied a motion by the president's lawyer to quash a subpoena that requires Obama to show up.
When was the last time any sitting U.S. president was called into a U.S. district court over any issue (possibly other than Watergate)? Just asking, at this point. And yes, I know the above is old news.
The energy that's being expended on devising new and improved ways of denigrating and attacking the President and the First Lady could be used on more positive pursuits: child mentoring, helping the homeless, combating spousal abuse, assisting the elderly, etc. This is what happens when hatred, dislike and loathing of someone for whatever reason encompasses your very being. It's an ugly sight.
*You can't blame folks for thinking that. After all, it was it's own actual sovereign nation before Americans began taking an interest to it.