Barack Obama finally releases his birth certificate

  I had no intention of writing about this topic but seeing as this seems to be the “big” issue of the day I feel obligated to write about it. Let me say up front that by no means am I a “birther,” as a matter of fact with the exception of writing about states which may pass legislation which would require candidates to prove their credentials to be president I have written exactly one post on the birth certificate issue, and that post was written in June of 2008 when this was a fairly new issue.

  My position on this issue has been as follows: I believe there are two possible reasons for why Barack Obama has failed to release his birth certificate until now, the first being the fact that he may have something to hide. But even if this is the case I did not feel as if this were an issue that should consume the American public because the man is already the president and as such there is virtually no chance that he would be removed from office because of anything that might appear on his birth certificate. I would much rather focus on the issues and convince as many people as possible that another person would be better suited to lead the American people based on the issues at hand.

 I have always been of the opinion that the true reason that Barack Obama refused to release his birth certificate was the second reason which I will state here: He has nothing to hide but felt as if by not releasing the birth certificate it could provide a distraction and take the focus off the issues at hand.

  What exactly do I mean by this? Barack Obama felt that the “birther” issue was always a way to delegitimize a certain portion of the population who opposed him. As the issue grew within a fringe section of the American people Barack Obama was willing to let the issue fester in order to claim a certain segment of the population was opposed to Barack Obama the man because of his color, and not Barack Obama the president because of his policies. As the days wore on and the Tea Party gained prominence as a legitimate political force, Barack Obama saw no need to let this issue go away by simply releasing his birth certificate–he felt as though this issue could be a political positive which could help to circle the wagons around him in 2012.

  If you were to poll the average American and ask them which political movement was probably most closely aligned with the “birther” movement I would be willing to bet that most people–with the media toeing the line–would state that the Tea Party was most closely affiliated with the “birther” movement. And because people are questioning Barack Obama’s citizenship the media is easily able to equate the “birthers” with racism–and by extension, the Tea Party with racism. After all, Barack Obama is the first black president and those that would question his legitimacy must be racists. Therefor if the “birther” movement was nothing but an offshoot of the Tea Party movement, the Tea Party people could be delegitimized as nothing but a bunch of racists who did not oppose the president for any other reason other than his color.

  The short version of what I just wrote is; Barack Obama found it politically advantageous to keep the “birthers” guessing on his eligibility and that is exactly what he did.

  Then along came Donald Trump and he brought the “birther” issue to mainstream America as well as the mainstream media. Suddenly we had a high profile personality who is not affiliated with the Tea Party in any way shape or form questioning the president’s eligibility and this brought a certain amount of attention–and dare I say “credibility”–to a question that had been previously relegated  to the blogosphere. While Barack Obama–in my opinion–wanted this issue to remain alive in order to both form a distraction in a certain faction of America as well as marginalize the Tea Party movement, it suddenly became a distraction to the president and his agenda and he could no longer afford to continue the ruse.

  With the report that a recent poll showed that only 38% of Americans were certain beyond a shadow of a doubt that Barack Obama was born in the United States, this issue went from being what Barack Obama considered politically expedient to being a political liability and he finally had to come forward with his birth certificate because he saw the potential of this issue turning against him and hurting him in 2012.

  Keeping the “birthers” guessing was a carefully calculated political move since the “birther” issue first materialized and now that  Barack Obama was finally forced to give up and show proof that he was born in America it is time for the people who oppose Barack Obama to stop playing into his hand and start focusing on the issues. There are plenty of reasons why Barack Obama should not be re-elected, and the question of his citizenship is not one of them.