With the production of an apparent birth certificate at long last, Obama shows that he can be pushed up against the wall by an opponent willing to play rough. 

As I wrote a couple of weeks ago, I'm not a fan of Donald Trump.  But if there is one thing that his actions of late have proven, it is that he is able to do what no one else has.  He got Barack Obama to produce a document that he has maintained for years that he had already produced.  He was lying, of course.  The certification document might have been sufficient to get a driver's license in Hawaii, but the State Department would never have accepted it for issuing a passport.  What we now have available appears to be the real thing, and as I'm not a big fan of conspiracy theories, I'm not going to take it any farther. 

What is more important in the context of modern politics is that Obama labeled the interest in his birthplace silliness.  He then got on a plane to attend a taping of Oprah and more fund raising.  You tell me which is silliness; demanding that constitutional requirements be met, or appearing on a TV talk show.  Maybe he should have gone off for a round of golf, instead.  In any event, the real silliness was the failure of Mr. Transparency to do his duty three years ago, and his failure to address the nation's problems today.  After all, he is too busy promoting himself.  And critics disparage Donald Trump for self-promotion.    

Meanwhile, Trump has shown his mettle.  He got results, and turned what some folks thought would be a negative it into a positive.  It would have been easy to say "well, I was mistaken" and look contrite when the document turned up. Instead, Trump effectively pointed out that he did what no one else could; not even Hillary Clinton.  It will be interesting to see what his calls for the rest of Obama's records will result in. 

But what was it that made Trump successful?  The correct answer is probably that he was someone that the press couldn't ignore.  They could ignore Joe Farah at World Net Daily and call him a fringe kook if his name ever came up.  Any other "birthers" could be dumped into the same category; not serious journalists, and so on.  The trouble was that the issue was gaining traction.  Polls were reporting that between 25% and 30% of Americans had serious doubts about Obama's citizenship.  The traction was what made the difference.  He had no choice but to cave because another year or so of this would likely have sunk his re-election bid. 

Trump, as this incident shows is a force unto himself.  He has a knack for gaining the public's attention.  He knows how to turn a supposed loss into a win.  He could write The Art of the Deal because he understands business as well as anyone alive today.  He knows the cutthroat world of "take no prisoners" tactics.  Obama is a rank amateur at that game.  He would never have gone anywhere significant in politics if it were not for the fact that the press made him their darling.  He is a light weight, who isn't anywhere as intelligent as his promoters like us to believe.  His supposed thoughtfulness is actually a sign of confusion and indecisiveness.  The idea recently promoted that he is too intelligent to govern is rank folly.  It is an attempt to excuse his incompetence.  After all, no one but a fool thinks that you can borrow your way to prosperity. 

Rush Limbaugh had it right when he said "Barack Obama is a pop icon." He is a media creation; a supposedly transformative politician who has little or know knowledge of anything except his own supposed genius.   On the other hand, If Trump is a pop icon; at least he has a record of success that Obama cannot equal in ten lifetimes.  Trump has built businesses and buildings.  He became a public figure because of his achievements.  Obama, in contrast, doesn't really know how to do anything except read speeches attend parties and play golf or basketball.  The sound bites of him reading a children's book (chicka boom, will there be enough room?) that appeared on Laura Ingraham's morning show recently are a better reflection of his abilities than his university diplomas.  He is to borrow his own wording, the number one side show and carnival barker in the United States today, as evidenced by 1) the fact that he withheld the certificate for years encouraging speculation as to why, and 2) his continual grandstanding instead of attending to business requires one to doubt his commitment to the job he wanted; he just wasn't and isn't serious. 

But back to Trump.  His actions appear to indicate that he considers himself a serious candidate.  We will see what his intentions are when the current television season ends.  His profanity laced speech in Las Vegas shows exactly how un-presidential his personality is, but at the same time he illustrates two important points.  First, regardless of the manner in which he has done so, he has provided the model for the successful Republican candidate; no more Mr. Nice Guy.  Pushing Obama up against the wall and figuratively slapping him a few times will be more successful than John McCain's kid glove approach.  Secondly, and more importantly, Nature abhors a vacuum.  The same is true for the political environment.  Obama refuses to, and to all appearances is incapable of leading, so the public looks for someone who demonstrates the necessary qualities.  The potential Republican candidates are keeping quiet and doing essentially nothing on the national scene.  Chris Christie, who would be a natural for the job is too busy with New Jersey, so someone else has to fill the gap.  Trump is the only one doing so.. 

Picking a presidential candidate by default is not a good idea.  Yet, until someone else shows some spine a large portion of the public will continue to follow the person who does.  If Conservatives are fortunate we will see some new possibilities emerge.  If not, we will have to expect recycled icons of the past who will likely be unsuccessful because they will continue to follow in McCain's footsteps.