The one and only issue that birthers need to focus on

In response to the brief item the other day, “Obama birth issue not going away,” a reader sent a long e-mail about the birther movement and its various beliefs and theories. I replied:

I’ve read this comment which must have taken you a while to write. I’m sorry, but I don’t want to post it. My reason is this. By throwing in so many aspects of what “birthers” believe,—and some of these beliefs are plainly false, are contrary to U.S. law, and would add massive confusion to the issue, such as the belief that both a person’s parents must be U.S. citizens in order for him to be a natural born citizen—you are inadvertently adding to the picture of a “birther” movement that is out of whack, irrational, and to be dismissed.

This is why it is counterproductive to the rational birther movement to bring in all kinds of theories about where Obama may have been born, who his father may have been, etc. Such theories make the birthers and their theories the focus of attention and the problem. By contrast, there is one issue that makes Obama the focus of attention and the problem: We the American people need to see Obama’s birth certificate. Let us see it. Why has he refused to release it? This is the one solid, undeniable fact upon which the birthers stand, that Obama’s birth certificate has not been released. Birthers who focus on this cannot not credibly be dismissed as nutcases. This is the issue that even some liberals are, despite themselves, and despite their belief that birthers are crazy anti-Obama haters, starting to recognize as a legitimate problem for Obama. That’s why I posted the item about Chris Matthews wanting to see the birth certificate. Opening a discussion on every possible theory entertained by the birthers was the opposite of my intention.

The first article below is VFR’s fullest consideration of the issue, going into what the relevant laws say about the requirements of being natural born citizen. It’s a long article, and it starts out with some incorrect ideas which are corrected. You could skip to the end where the conclusions are reached. But getting there is half the fun.

Trying to clarify the imponderables of the natural born citizen issue [Dec. 10, 2008. VFR’s fullest consideration of this issue. I initially take position that even if Obama was born in Kenya, he would have nothing to fear because of the complexity and indeterminacy of the law; then Clark Coleman shows that Obama really does have a problem and compelling reasons not to let the truth come out.]

Knowing what we don’t know about Obama’s birth certificate [quotes the evasive and misleading statement by the director of the Hawaii Health department.]

McCarthy on the birth certificate and more [Andrew McCarthy at NRO makes it harder to dismiss “birthers.”]

Posted by Lawrence Auster at December 29, 2010 09:46 AM | Send