President Barack Obama must be getting pretty steamed at Gov. Neil Abercrombie for his bumbling grandstand play that stirred up the Obama birth controversy all over again.
The non-issue had pretty much settled down with most reasonable Americans accepting that Obama is a U.S. citizen born in Hawai‘i — until Abercrombie announced with much fanfare that he’d use his new powers as governor to prove once and for all that Obama was born here.
That got the crazies stirred up anew, and when Abercrombie abandoned his effort after finding there was nothing more he could do to certify Obama’s birth beyond what the state had already done, it only amplified the cries of conspiracy.
In the latest bizarre twist, a “celebrity journalist” named Mike Evans, who claimed to be a friend of Abercrombie’s, said on a Minnesota radio station that the Hawai‘i governor told him he was unable to find Obama’s birth certificate despite an intensive search.
Evans later said he “mispoke,” hadn’t talked to Abercrombie and what he said wasn’t true, but not before the story was widely circulated in the national media, getting beyond the usual crackpots to guys with big audiences like Rush Limbaugh and Chris Matthews. Even our own state Sen. Sam Slom bit on the bogus story in his small business newsletter.
So now, because of Abercrombie, an issue that was all but dead will likely dog Obama into the 2012 election. Nice going, bearded one.
In his State of the State speech, Abercrombie told an amusing story about how as a young legislator he was outfoxed by veteran Kaua‘i Rep. Tony Kunimura.
After the Obama birth fiasco, the governor should now ask himself what Kunimura asked him then, “Did you learn anything, college boy?”
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