Almost all of the leaders of the supposed opposition to Obama are so incompetent that they actually helped him win the election.

For an example, consider the "Obama is going to bankrupt the coal industry" story which broke around November 1, 2008. That oft-repeated claim wasn't entirely true, thereby allowing the MSM to rush to his defense by "debunking" the story and related claims. In fact, as can be seen at the link, I predicted exactly how that story would end. To compound the idiocy, anyone who pointed out that the story wasn't entirely true was labeled an Obama supporter.

And, all of that had the impact of making the whole story appear fishy when if those leaders had simply told the truth from the beginning it could have had an impact on the election. For other examples, see the Obama opponents mistakes page and this post listing other mistakes.

Now, after the election, some of the same incompetents are still helping Obama. This specific instance involves those leaders of the conservative/Republican establishment who've spoken out against the "Birthers". By doing that, they're helping the Democrats and the mainstream media smear the whole GOP and they also passed up what was a golden opportunity to discredit a large number of MSM reporters. Those leaders aren't smart enough, aren't open-minded enough, and don't have the ability to solve problems creatively. In some cases they're corrupt: they're more interested in appearing respectable to others at their Beltway cocktail parties than they are in telling the truth.

Those leaders have basically done what the MSM and the Democrats wanted them to do: hurt themselves while helping Obama. (For an earlier example of something very similar, see this.)

I'll divide this into three sections:

* Helping Obama, the Democrats, and the MSM
The "Birthers" aren't going away. No matter how much the GOP establishment smears them and tries to distance themselves from them, there are still going to be millions of people with questions (many of whom will have perfectly valid questions). They're going to be showing up at townhalls, calling in to talk radio, posting on blogs and forums, and on and on. Not to mention various state and federal attempts at legislation. And, some of them will say stupid things, such as shouting "HE WAS BORN IN KENYA!" without having any definitive proof of that. And, as soon as that happens, sites like ThinkProgress, Media Matters for America, and the Huffington Post are going to jump on it and try to portray the GOP as home to kooks. The GOP establishment's attempts to distance themselves from the "KENYA!" types are going to mostly fail because Obama supporters - including the MSM - know how to get their side of things out there. So, the GOP has to deal with the "Birthers" in a smarter way (than they're capable of).

* Not even trying to discredit the MSM
As can be seen on the main Obama citizenship page, an array of mainstream media sources have lied and misled about this issue. And, I don't mean simple little lies, but major lies that involve simply making things up. And, determining that those are lies doesn't have to involve any form of "Birther theories". All one needs to do is to be able to distinguish true from false. For instance, it's not a "Birther theory" to note that what someone says is directly contradicted by Hawaiian law or to note that something never happened. You don't have to be a "Birther" to be able to note a very clear factual error, but the leaders can't get their minds around that. Those leaders could say that shouting "KENYA!" without definitive proof is a stupid thing at the same time as they pointed out that, for instance, Ben Smith is a liar or that Spencer Kornhaber or Lee Fang or a host of others aren't telling the truth. Those leaders could accurately present themselves as truth-tellers, but instead are enabling or helping the MSM to lie. Note also that discrediting the MSM would help reduce the impact of the MSM's attempts to use "KENYA!" to smear the GOP; it would be difficult for an Obama supporter to use that against the GOP if they aren't credible to begin with.

* Solving the problem
Unfortunately, solving this issue isn't going to be easy. But, those who want to help need to work to discredit both the MSM and other Obama supporters at the same time as discrediting their leaders by pointing out to others just how incompetent they are. And, by "leaders" I don't just mean those like Michael Steele or national elected officials but also the GOP consultant types such as Mark McKinnon, media figures, and major bloggers such as Glenn Reynolds. Discrediting those folks is in itself easy because how they're wrong is incredibly obvious. The problem is that they have the megaphone and you don't. None of that is impossible, but unless a lot of people decide to actually do something all of a sudden things are probably going to continue as they've been.