Later On

Klein:

I just watched Brian Williams spend a precious five minutes of his evening newscast on the question of whether Barack Obama is actually American. Let me end the suspense: he is. There is a birth certificate. He was born in Hawaii. You knew that, right? But right-wing nutballs and media giants like Lou Dobbs—whose presence on CNN is a continuing, suppurating embarrassment to the Time Warner multiplex, of which this blog is a teeny-tiny denizen—continue to pound this dead mouse. (Of course, Dobbs has to find new rot to push since his old rot,  his half-crazed, anti-illegal immigrant rants is less relevant these days—according to the NBC news tonight, illegal immigration is way down). Desperation ain’t pretty when it comes in the form of plummeting Nielsons.

Let me tell you what this is all about: The President of the United States is named Barack Hussein Obama. He is the first chief executive of this grand and good nation not to be melanin-deprived. There are a fair number of frightened, ignorant, idiot white folks still prowling the streets. They listen to right-wing talk radio. They show up at Republican town meetings. They can not believe that a man named Barack Hussein Obama could actually have been elected President. I must admit, I relish their discomfort. But I wish they’d go away.