Why does the Birther controversy continue? Two years after the election, many people – some very publicly – are still questioning whether or not Barack Obama was really born in Hawaii. If he wasn’t born in the US, it would make him ineligible to be President and his 2008 election would be the biggest fraud in history.
As for my personal position on the Birthers – I believe that the President was born in Hawaii. I think the rumors and conjecture about him being born outside the US are a lot of useless noise. But I can’t help but notice that the President is intentionally encouraging the controversy, fueling the fires of suspicion. The question that I have is: why?
If he considered this controversy a distraction, wouldn’t he just produce his long-form birth certificate? Assuming he’s being honest about his birthplace, President Obama has it within his power to put this whole debate to bed in one minute. If he’s got in his possession the document the Birthers have been clamoring for, he can end this once and for all without any effort whatsoever. Even if he doesn’t have it, he could have long ago requested a copy from Hawaii and ended this whole controversy.
He didn’t. It is possible that he can’t, but I doubt it very much. I think the real reason is that the issue doesn’t resonate with his base. He’s managed to paint the Birthers as fringe lunatics and racists who can’t stand to see a black president. Why bother to resolve the debate when he can use it to put himself in the posture of a victim?
More importantly, the sensational aspects of the Birther issue crowd out the possibility of news coverage if more pedestrian – and serious – critiques of his presidency. Allowing the Birthers to continue their public rants only serves to further insulate the president from empirical public scrutiny. By dismissing the debate as beneath him, Obama can have his cake and eat it too, politically.
Will the arrival of presumptive-presidential opponent Donald Trump on board the Birther bandwagon and a new book on the subject by Jerome Corsi change Obama’s mind? If The Donald manages to get enough traction on the subject that it could become an issue in the 2012 campaign, I think we may find Mr. Obama suddenly willing to produce the document. But until then, he can downplay the issue and deride its advocates with impunity.
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