Ted Cruz And Birtherism

I have a feeling this will become one of my favorite stories for 2014:

The junior senator from Texas is still a Canadian. But he’s working on it, eh? Born in Alberta 43 years ago last Sunday, Sen. Ted Cruz was unaware of his dual nationality until The Dallas Morning News explored the issue in August. Since then, he said in a recent interview, “I have retained counsel that is preparing the paperwork to renounce the citizenship.”

He expects to complete the process in 2014. That time frame jibes with predictions from Canadian legal experts.  He doesn’t dispute holding dual citizenship. “Not at this point,” he said.

Think about that for a moment: Ted Cruz is not -- at this point -- disputing that he is a citizen of Canada. That means he is admitting he was born in Canada. In other words, he has admitted to having the exact same eligibility problem that Birthers have long fantasized Obama has, namely, Cruz is not a natural born citizen and is thus not eligible to become President of the United States.

Well, it's not the exact same problem.  Canada is, after all, a predominantly white country whereas Kenya -- the country where the Birthers claim Obama was born -- is predominantly a black country.

And that's why I believe I'm really going to love this story in 2014.  No, I don't think it will have any effect on Cruz's run for the presidency.  Indeed, Ted Cruz would be the dream Republican nominee as far as Democrats are concerned.  But it will force Donald Trump and the other Birthers --  who undoubtedly think Cruz would make a great president -- to either abandon the whole notion of Birtherism or admit that it is inherently a racist position when they apply it to Obama.

Or -- and I wish this would happen but it probably won't -- Donald Trump and the other Birthers might feel a need to be "consistent" (i.e., avoid looking like a bunch of racists) and end up actually opposing Cruz on eligibility grounds.

In any event, fun times ahead.