The only birther argument that has ever made even a little bit of sense to me is the one that says Obama should just order the Hawaii government to release his long form birth certificate in order to lay the issue to rest. The birthers say the document we've all seen, and that factcheck.org corroborates as real, is a "short form certificate," and they claim the "long form" is protected by Hawaiian privacy laws and can only be released if Obama waives his privacy rights. His failure to do so, they say, "proves" that he is "hiding something."
Now, I always assumed that "long form certificate" actually exists, and if it did it would be a simple matter to release it. So why not?
Well, following a link supplied by Old Redneck in his heavily recommended diary last night, I discovered this morning why he won't. Turns out the form doesn't exist.
More on the flip....
This may not be a revelation for many folks here, but it sure was for me. Old Redneck linked to a comment over at Democratic Underground debunking the recent fake Kenyan birth certificate. That DU comment in turn linked to a site called Obama: True and False, but the DU link was a bad one. (This is the good one.)
In any event, navigating around Obama: True and False, I came to this page, posted back on June 6:
True! Hawaii issues only "Certifications of Live Birth" as official Birth Certificates
That page quoted extensively from the Kokua Line, a regular Q&A feature in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, which also appeared on June 6. The lead question that day, apparently unrelated to the birther controversy, was:
What is the state's policy for issuing a "Certification of Live Birth" versus a "Certificate of Live Birth"? My first, second and fourth children received certificates, but my third and fifth children received certifications. Why the difference? The certificate contains more information, such as the name of hospital, certifier's name and title; attendant's name and title, etc. The certification has only the child's name, date and time of birth, sex, city/island/county of birth, mother's maiden name, mother's race, father's name and father's race. Why doesn't the state just issue certificates? When did it stop issuing certificates? Is it possible to obtain certificates for my third and fifth children?
The journalist, June Watanabe, perhaps suspecting she was dealing with a birther or simply wishing to settle the birther issue once and for all, took the bull by the horns:
No, you can't obtain a "certificate of live birth" anymore.
The state Department of Health no longer issues copies of paper birth certificates as was done in the past, said spokeswoman Janice Okubo.
The department only issues "certifications" of live births, and that is the "official birth certificate" issued by the state of Hawaii, she said.
And, it's only available in electronic form.
Watanabe continued quoting DOH spokesperson Okubo to the effect that all birth records since 1908 have been affected by this policy and that the electronic record is what the DOH routinely supplies to satisfy same-day requests for birth records. And here's the kicker:
Asked for more information about the short-form versus long-form birth documents, Okubo said the Health Department "does not have a short-form or long-form certificate."
"The birth certificate form has been modified over the years and decades to conform to national standards and models," she said.
Okubo also emphasized the certification form "contains all the information needed by all federal government agencies for transactions requiring a birth certificate."
When asked directly about the Obama birth certificate we've seen images of, Okubo answered:
"This is the same certified copy everyone receives when they request a birth certificate."
No one will ever convince Orly Taitz or Alan Keyes of the truth -- they're beyond help or comprehension. But if a co-worker asks rhetorically why Obama doesn't release the long form, at least you now have the rebuttal at your fingertips...