by Aaron Webb

Mike Huckabee’s explanation that he “misspoke” about President Obama’s imaginary childhood in Kenya isn’t going to fly. Here’s the key passage:

If you think about it, his perspective as growing up in Kenya with a Kenyan father and grandfather, their view of the Mau Mau Revolution in Kenya is very different than ours because he probably grew up hearing that the British were a bunch of imperialists who persecuted his grandfather.

So does Huckabee think there was a Mau Mau Revolution in Indonesia? Look, it’s clear he was simply parroting D’Souza’s completely batshit thesis, which was hailed by Newt Gingrich and promoted approvingly by Forbes.

And there’s the problem for Huckabee and every other Republican contender in 2012: this Obama/Mau Mau talk is perfectly mainstream in right-wing circles, and fruitloops everywhere else. Ditto death panels, the socialist conspiracy behind climate change, and the looming threat of Sharia law being imposed in the US.

And Huckabee, like any Republican who wins the nomination, is going to have to wink convincingly at the 51% of Republicans who are birthers — while simultaneously distancing himself from the crazy.

That’s a delicate balancing act, indeed — and “misspoke” ain’t gonna cut it.