LIKE... APPLE PIE?

As I write the TV's on in the background. There are people on there talking about the President of the USA - about whether or not he was born in the United States. I figure this is due to his being of African descent, as well as of American descent. My bet is it's the African part that bothers the folks who think - want to think - he's not "American."

I wonder if we know what "American" is? Is it the Spanish? After all, in grade school they told us they "discovered America." Or is the Norse, who, later, the teachers confessed, may have come here before the Spanish. Or is the English, who settled the colonies with more gusto than most, took "us" over, ran things, then got shot at a bunch and backed down?

Or is America (which is a couple of continents, actually, not this country) really the natives who were here "first?" You know, those people who already lived here when "we" got "discovered?" They got dubbed "Indians" because somebody who landed here from Europe was confused about their appearance, like... confused with folks from India.

Now lots of folks call them Native Americans because they don't know what else to call them, or what's left of them. The federal government later - much later - apologized to what's left of them after we cleaned them out of their homes and land, a few hundred years back. And then the federal government "let them" build casinos, as if that's a favor, a good thing.

Of course, I digress.

So what is "American?" What does that word mean?

If you read the U.S. Constitution, then look around a little bit, like, at the grocery or maybe someplace not where you live, but at least down the street or in another state or something, you'll see "American" is a bunch of skin colors, a bunch of religious beliefs and, ironically, many with no religious beliefs. You'll see a bunch of sizes - more large ones than anywhere else in the world. You'll hear virtually anything said or read anything written because we're guaranteed those rights.

And you'll see and hear people who still believe "white people" own the place, preferably white "Christians," even though the original Americans were neither "white" or "Christian."

What's so funny and sick is these white people claim ownership of a land they, too, immigrated to. They weren't "first."

I think it's some descendants of these folk who think the president must not be American.

I wonder why, if people are so concerned with patriotism and authenticity in general, and Barack Obama's, specifically, they didn't dispute George W. Bush's credentials: his parents immigrated to Texas from Connecticut. "W" didn't join the Army and instead ran to Alabama. And he went to Yale, right?

And whatabout John McCain? He actually was born out of the country: Panama, on a military base. Some dispute that's "America" as described in the constitution, at least regarding the requirements to be president, which are few - but clear. Imagine if Barack Obama really was born in Panama?

Meanwhile these white people who don't believe the president is American can't "prove it" so they concocted a birth certificate from Kenya wrongly dated and with "Republic of Kenya" at the top of it, when, in 1961, Kenya wasn't a republic, not yet...

But we were. And are. Thank goodness...

I think I digressed again. Not sure. Regardless: guess what? Tuesday August 4 is President Barack H. Obama's birthday. He's 48. I think that's cool. And you know what else? I think he's as American as apple pie or sushi, you pick. And you know what else? I think he really was born in Hawaii, like his real birth certificate says. And you know what else? If he wasn't, I don't care, because I'm really glad he's president.