Obama's Certificate

From USA Today:

"Obama releases long-form birth certificate"

WASHINGTON — President Obama, trying to squelch an escalating and distracting controversy, released on Wednesday a long-form birth certificate from 1961 that showed just what he has always insisted: He was born at Kapiolani Maternity & Gynecological Hospital in Honolulu. Even Obama doesn't think the signed-and-sealed document will convince some "birthers" who suspect he was born abroad and therefore might be ineligible to be president. "I know that there's going to be a segment of people for which, no matter what we put out, this issue will not be put to rest," the president said in an extraordinary morning appearance in the White House briefing room. "But I'm speaking to the vast majority of the American people as well as to the press: We do not have time for this kind of silliness. … We've got big problems to solve. And I'm confident we can solve them, but we're going to have to focus on them — not on this."

In New Hampshire, real estate mogul Donald Trump, who has used the birther issue to fuel a possible presidential campaign, bragged that he had "accomplished something that nobody else was able to accomplish" in forcing the document's release. The notion that Obama lied about his birthplace has become one of those persistent conspiracy theories in American political life, from who-shot-JFK to the forces behind the 9/11 attacks. "There is fertile ground for these kind of charges" about Obama, says Robert Goldberg, a historian at the University of Utah and author of Enemies Within: The Culture of Conspiracy in Modern America. "Knowing how Americans love conspiracy theories, this plays into American fears and anxieties, whether about black people or about the world around them." Such controversies are stoked by skepticism about information from the government and other institutions, the vitriol and polarization in American politics, the echo chamber of cable news and the Internet, and even the profusion of movies and TV shows that depict governmental and global conspiracies, Goldberg says. The release of official documents or reports by commissions rarely settle such issues for everyone.

"Assuming it is completely legitimate and the real deal, I think it raises more questions than it answers," he says of the birth certificate, saying the fact that Obama's father wasn't a U.S. citizen also could raise questions about his eligibility for the presidency. And Farah says he wants to see "the original document." It remains in a bound volume at the state Department of Health in Hawaii in files that aren't open to public view. A USA TODAY/Gallup Poll released Monday indicated the issue has been gaining traction. Only 38% of Americans said they thought the president was "definitely" born in the United States; 18% said he "probably" was. Nearly one in four, 24%, said he was probably or definitely born in another country. Nineteen percent said they didn't know enough to say. Those who think the president was born outside the United States tend to be among his fiercest critics."This is a non-issue that, for whatever reason, takes up space that would otherwise be dedicated to the good things that the president is doing. So it makes every piece of sense in the world to try to take the issue off the table," says Singer, a spokesman for Hillary Rodham Clinton when she ran against Obama in the 2008 Getting the long-form certificate required Obama to write a letter to Hawaian officials seeking a waiver for its release. His personal attorney, Judy Corley, flew to Honolulu to pick up two copies of the certificate, returning to Washington on Tuesday. "We're going to have to make a series of very difficult decisions" on federal spending and deficits, Obama said. "But we're not going to be able to do it if … we get distracted by sideshows and carnival barkers." Actually, a weekly analysis of leading news outlets by Pew's Project for Excellence in Journalism found that the economy commanded 39% of coverage the week the deficit plans were released, compared with 4% on the Obama administration and the birther issue.

^ There is still something odd about all this. You do not spend nearly 2 million dollars of your own money fighting not to have to show this and then years later all of the sudden show it. Plus no US State in 1961 would have used the term "African." They would have used the term "Negro." It seems that most people are starting to see Obama for who he really is. He is all talk, but little action and always has some excuse as to why he can't do anything (nothing is ever his fault - even when the Democrats had both houses in Congress.) ^

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2011-04-27-obama-birth-certificate_n.htm