By John Wilkes from Eyesonobama.com:
The controversy over the "real" nature of Barack Obama's birth rages on, if only in the back corners of the Internet and conservative talk radio. What's become clear at this point is that the situation is only going to be resolved one of two ways: one side or the other is going to blink.
The controversy over the "real" nature of Barack Obama's birth rages on, if only in the back corners of the Internet and conservative talk radio. What's become clear at this point is that the situation is only going to be resolved one of two ways: one side or the other is going to blink. Either the president will back down and produce some incontrovertible evidence that he was born in the State of Hawaii on August 4th, 1961, or the birthers will become old news, fading into the conspiracy-theorist background with those who still think Vince Foster was murdered, or that the Bilderberg conference is really running America.
Then-candidate Barack Obama released a Certification of Live Birth issued by the state of Hawaii during the 2008 campaign, when the issue was first raised. But "birthers"- as the advocates for verification have come to be known- questioned whether the document is sufficient to prove that Obama's birth took place in the US, as mandated by the Constitution.
Still, the criticism persisted. A senior official for the State of Hawaii's department of records attested to the veracity of the Certification of Live Birth, while other representatives within the state government have gone on-record saying that they've verified that an official Hawaii birth certificate for Obama does, in fact, exist.
Since then, the White House has largely ignored the cries from what had been a fringe group. In the meantime, the issue has inexplicably gained traction, over assurances from multiple sources that public record backs Obama's natural born citizenship. Top advisors for the presidential campaigns of both Hillary Clinton and John McCain admitted to having explored the issue at length during thorough opposition research efforts, but found the claim to have no credibility. Public figures including CNN's Lou Dobbs and Republican Rep. Michael Castle of Delaware have questioned Obama's citizenship in what have become widely circulated viral videos.
The issue puts the White House in an interesting position: they can ignore the issue and hope it goes away on its own by calling it resolved and refusing to dignify further questions, or swat it down by actually producing documentation to prove natural born citizenship.
The former option appears to have been the White House's approach so far. The problem with the second, however expedient it may seem, is that it opens the President to having to answer any question from any fringe group, no matter how ridiculous or incredible, as long as it gets enough public attention. And the mainstream media seems all too eager to give air time to the craziest people, if it will increase ratings.
For now, Obama's best bet may be to continue to disregard the ongoing controversy. A
California attorney/dentist/real estate agent/second degree black belt (really...no
kidding) named Orly Taitz has filed several lawsuits challenging the president's
citizenship in federal court, including one on behalf of a soldier who refuses to
follow an order from the commander-in-chief deploying him to Afghanistan. In the
past week, Taitz- herself a Russian born American citizen who compared Obama's
administration to Nazi Germany during an appearance on The Colbert Report- has
produced a document she claims to be a Kenyan birth certificate for Obama. She says
that she'll file a Proposed Order for Authentication with the federal court to have
the document appraised. Former Bush advisor Karl Rove has questioned he authenticity
of the alleged Kenyan certificate.
The controversy has legal constitutional implications as well, including whether a
citizen may sue a sitting US president over constitutional qualification.