The "Birther" Issue

About thirty years ago, I was returning from a trip by car to Tijuana with my wife, father-in-law and infant daughter. As we stopped at the border, a uniformed lady inspector asked us where we were born. She asked me first, to which I replied, "Los Angeles". She then asked my wife, who replied, "Mexico, but I'm a US citizen." She then asked my father-in-law, who said, "Mexico" and produced his green card. At this point, the lady was looking a little perplexed. Looking at our infant daughter in the car seat, she asked, "Where was the baby born?". "Thailand", replied my wife producing our daughter's American passport, at which the point, the inspector showed an expression of utter frustration-and waived us through.

That experience is brought back to me with the controversy of Barack Obama's birth, which is a result of his somewhat exotic parentage-for lack of a better expression. Lately, we have seen a resurgence of the controversy surrounding Obama's birth, which was first raised during the presidential campaign.

Let me say here and now that I am satisfied that Obama was born in Hawaii, so I am not a so-called "Birther". I also think that this is a losing issue among Obama opponents, which not only is a waste of time and effort, but one that discredits those who are Obama critics.

That raises the question; why doesn't the President simply produce an original birth certificate and end the controversy once and for all?

Why should he?

You see, Obama and the Democrats have a winning issue here. How easy it is to let the Birthers do their thing and compare them to the 9-11 Truthers, the Flat Earth Society, the UFO folks, and every other kook fringe out there-and in the process, tell the public that this is what Republicans and conservatives are all about. I wouldn't produce my birth certificate either.

Of course, this goes against the grain of Obama's pledge to be the "transparent president", which he is anything but. It is noted that his college records are also kept under lock and key-much like Bill Clinton's health records were.

So as long as the Birthers publicly question Obama's birthplace, he and his party can sit back and laugh. My advice for the Birthers is to let it go. Obama is the president. Even if he came out tomorrow and said, "Yes, I was born in Kenya", the next question is-so what? Do you think this Congress is going to move to take away his presidency by impeachment?

Let's move on to the issues. They are much more important.