Well this was a surprise to see in the morning headlines. Sure, CNN was doing an “investigation” into President Obama’s birth certificate to prove Trump and all the birthers wrong. But all they could come up with was the Certificate of Live Birth, which has been circulating around for three years already. Nothing gained.
But now, the White House has released the holy grail for all to see. The long-form birth certificate is now available on the White House website.
Photo of Obama circulated by Clinton staff during 2008 primary election
Doubts regarding Obama’s eligibility have been raised ever since the Clinton campaign looked into the matter during the 2008 Democratic primary. Even though Team Clinton never found anything to proceed with, it didn’t stop them from fanning doubts. For example, Clinton’s staff was caught circulating the photo to the right of Obama in traditional tribal dress. Hmmm…
OK, enough poking at Hillary Clinton. So why did the White House decide it was time to release the long-form?
I have always thought that it played to Obama’s advantage to withhold it. It’s kinda like playing “keep-away” with your opponents: It makes them look silly and helpless.
All I can guess at this point is that the game seems to have gotten out of hand. Maybe it was the shocking poll released in yesterday’s USA Today that indicated only 38% of Americans ‘definitely’ believe Obama was born in the US.
That’s not the kind of broad confidence from the American people that you need leading into next year’s reelection. I think the White House decided the doubts were gaining too much traction and that it would be best to put the issue to rest.
Your theory?
Neil Rosekrans is a founder and partner of StateBrief.com. He has been a guest political commentator for the Arizona Law Channel, NBC's Sunday Square Off and The Terry Gilberg Show on KFYI. Neil earned his undergraduate degree from Cornell University and earned his MBA and Masters in Public Policy, with an emphasis in International Relations, from Pepperdine University.
Neil and his wife, Beth, live in Scottsdale, Arizona. 
It makes sense to release it now. Just as the Republican candidates are in the midst of announcing, many of whom are “birthers” or have at least expressed doubts about the president’s birth in Hawaii, the White House releases his birth certificate. It makes every single Republican candidate look like a moron right from the get-go. Already, if this takes hold in the public’s eyes, the Republicans are starting out the campaign cycle two steps behind Obama. Not to mention the fact that, for a couple days at least, this story should distract people from the gas prices stories, Libya, and a flopping job market. (Since every major news network will be replaying this story over and over again juxtaposed with clips of every known birther public official.) Combine that with the Royal Wedding in the UK… man, people won’t be focusing on the GOP for a week!
Hi Andrew. Ed Morrissey at Hot Air makes a good point that it could have been more advantageous for Obama to have waited until after the GOP primaries to release it. http://hotair.com/archives/2011/04/27/breaking-wh-releasing-long-firm-birth-certificate/
I still think he had to do something now b/c of the amount of traction the issue has gotten recently.
Regardless, he’ll get a bump in the polls out of this.