Obama Plays the 'Birther' Card

A sure sign of desperation by Obama to even acknowledge the fringe elements in the so-called "Birther" movement. Of course he could have long ago put this story to rest, but I always suspected he wants to keep some doubt out there so he can portray the right as a bunch of crazed conspiracists. If he had any dignity he'd ignore it.

President Obama criticized Washington's cut-throat political culture at today's National Prayer Breakfast -- including apparent blasts at critics who claim he is a Muslim who was not born in the United States.

"Surely you can question my policies without challenging my faith -- or for that matter my citizenship," said Obama, a Christian born in Hawaii.

Renewing his call for more civility in politics, Obama decried Washington, D.C., as a "tower of babble" -- babble, not Babel -- that "can lose the sound of God's voice."

The vast majority of lawmakers are good people trying to do the right thing, Obama said, and have on occasion worked for the good of the nation.

"Too often, that spirit is missing without the spectacular tragedy, the 9/11 or the Katrina, the earthquake or the tsunami, that can shake us out of complacency," Obama said. Political debates too often degenerate into shouting matches that divide people.

There was only one side that made a political issue out of Katrina and it sure wasn't the Republicans.