Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is old enough to be president.  He meets all the citizenship and residency requirements to be president, too.  But I nevertheless suggest that he’s unqualified to be president.

My thesis is this: Barack Hussein Obama is medically unfit for the presidency.

How so, you ask?

Well, it seems quite obvious to me that the man has a hearing problem.  I mean, one of the most important traits of a president is the ability to listen to his advisors and—more importantly—the American people.  And I seriously, seriously believe that something is wrong with Obama’s ears.

Most recently there’s this situation as described by the New York Times:

MISSOULA, Mont. — On the air, Ed Schultz, a liberal talk show host based in Fargo, N.D., is well-known for his blunt criticisms of the Bush Administration and the Republican Party. But Mr. Schultz, a fervent supporter of Senator Barack Obama, may have gone too far late Friday when he called Senator John McCain “a warmonger.”

Mr. Schultz, whose program is syndicated nationally, made the remarks while revving up a group of Obama supporters at a $100-a-head fund raiser at the North Dakota Democratic Party’s convention in Grand Forks. As soon as the Republican National Committee got word of the attack, it issued a statement lambasting Mr. Schultz and calling on Mr. Obama to repudiate the characterization of the presumptive Republican nominee for President.

‘Enough is enough,’ said Robert M. Duncan, the chairman of the Republican National Committee. ‘Senator Obama has an obligation to speak out and publicly reject and denounce — not applaud — the shameful and contemptible remarks made by his surrogates.’

Mr. Obama was not present at the fund raising event when Mr. Schultz, a former conservative Republican turned liberal Democrat who has described himself as a ‘gun-totin’, red meat-eatin’ lefty,’ made his remarks. He was elsewhere in the building and arrived several minutes later, after North Dakota’s three-man Congressional delegation, all Democrats, took the stage , with Senator Kent Conrad speaking on his behalf and introducing Mr. Obama to a crowd of several hundred people.

Mr. Obama did not refer to the incident during a speech Saturday morning to 8,000 people who had gathered at the University of Montana basketball arena. But a spokesman, Jen Psaki, issued a statement that distanced him from Mr. Schultz.

‘John McCain is not a warmonger and should not be described as such,” she said. “He’s a supporter of a war that Senator Obama believes should have never been authorized and never been waged.’

This is, of course, not the first time that an overenthusiastic radio host has created a controversy in remarks that were meant to support his candidate. At a rally in Cincinnati in February, the conservative talk show host Bill Cunningham repeatedly used Mr. Obama’s Muslim middle name, Hussein, made disparaging references to him, and urged the national press, which he said was soft on Mr. Obama, to ‘peel back the bark’ on the Democratic candidate.

Mr. McCain immediately repudiated the remarks. ‘Whatever suggestion that was made that was any way disparaging to the integrity, character, honesty of either Senator Obama or Senator Clinton was wrong,’ he said. ‘I condemn it, and if I have any responsibility, I will take the responsibility and I apologize for it.’

[…]

The flap over Mr. Schultz’s remarks came on a day when Mr. McCain himself was stressing tolerance and comity among Americans, even those who were political rivals.

‘We deserve more than tolerance from one another, we deserve each other’s respect, whether we think each other right or wrong in our views,’ Mr. McCain said in a speech delivered in Prescott, Ariz. He added: ‘Let us remember, we are not enemies. We are compatriots defending ourselves from a real enemy. We have nothing to fear from each other.’

As an example of the tolerance he admires, Mr. McCain cited Barry Goldwater and Mo Udall, who were the deans of Arizona politics when he began his public life in the state over a quarter of a century ago. Mr. Udall was a liberal Democrat and Mr. Goldwater, of course, the father of modern Republican conservatism, but the two men were nonetheless good friends.

‘Their example showed us how to be better Americans, better people,’ he said. ‘I intend to wage this campaign and govern this country in a way that they would be proud of me as I have always been proud of them.’

After the speech, Mr. McCain, speaking to reporters, said that ‘Mr. Schultz is entitled to his views’ but ‘I would hope that in keeping with his commitment that Senator Obama would condemn such language, since it was part of his campaign.’ Mr. McCain. who was a prisoner of war in Vietnam, added that he has been clear about how he feels about war ‘and my experiences with it.’  [Emphasis is all mine.]

So you see?  It turns out that in critical situations Mr. Obama’s hearing tends to fail.

A lot.

Does Mr. Obama really expect us to believe that no one on his staff informed him about Schultz’s introductory remarks?  Or are we supposed to believe that his staff simply didn’t tell him in order to provide him with a “plausible deniability” shield?

Bullshit, I say.

I mean, this is the same presidential candidate that sat in a pew in Reverend Jeremiah Wright’s church for twenty years and didn’t hear anything unusual there, either.

Honestly.  If Obama were president and the phone rang in the White House at 3 o’clock in the morning, I’m not convinced he would be able to hear it ringing.

Technorati Tags: Democratic, presidential candidate, Barack Obama, president, citizenship, residency requirements, unqualified to be president, Barack Hussein Obama, medically unfit, presidency, hearing problem, the ability to listen to his advisors, the American people, Obama’s ears, Ed Schultz, liberal talk show host, Bush Administration, Republican Party, Senator Barack Obama, John McCain, warmonger, syndicated nationally, North Dakota Democratic Party, convention, Grand Forks, Republican National Committee, presumptive Republican nominee, Robert M. Duncan, chairman of the Republican National Committee, reject and denounce, surrogates, fund raising event, liberal Democrat, Congressional delegation, Senator Kent Conrad, University of Montana basketball arena, Jen Psaki, Cincinnati, conservative talk show host, Bill Cunningham, Muslim middle name, Hussein, I will take the responsibility, I apologize for it, tolerance and comity among Americans, political rivals, hearing tends to fail, Reverend Jeremiah Wright, White House, 3 o’clock in the morning

Bookmark: