Donald Trump's 'Birther' Witch Hunt Channels Archie Bunker's Ghost

COMMENTARY | Possible Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump claimed Thursday that he has sent investigators to Hawaii to check into President Barack Obama's birth. In a recent poll of potential Republican primary voters, Trump was tied with Mike Huckabee for second place behind only Mitt Romney, trailing by four points (21 percent to 17 percent). In the real estate mogul's Thursday diatribe on "The Today Show," he squawked to Meredith Vieira, "The world laughs at us. They won't be laughing if I'm president."

Well, level-headed Americans won't be laughing if that happens nor are they laughing now. Because what's even more troubling, only 47 percent of Republicans and 44 percent of tea partiers polled believe that President Obama was born in this country.

What does this tell you about the state of the Republican and tea parties today, where extremist right-wingers are driving the agenda not only on budgetary and social issues, but they are helping in the channeling of the ghost of Archie Bunker through every "birther" rant and rave of the "Celebrity Apprentice" head honcho? That fictional TV character reflected the attitude of many Americans, who have always wanted to keep the White House "white" in more ways than one.

Rather than being passed off as an ego-driven crackpot by potential Republican primary voters, the publicity-hungry Trump is tickling the ears of people who do not want to acknowledge the election results of the 2008 presidential campaign. Further proof of this comes from the notion that from 2001-2009, George W. Bush added four trillion dollars-plus to the National Debt getting America into two wars while giving big tax cuts to the wealthy. Where was the Tea Party then? They were nowhere to be found while Archie Bunker's ghost stayed in the bottle of "All in the Family" reruns.

One can strongly take issue with President Obama and his policies without the continued "birther" witch hunt that has many Republicans and tea partiers foaming at the mouth every time Trump rants and raves on camera. Do these people really think they can take back the White House obsessing over the president's birth while this nation is spinning out of control?