Birther thoughts

I believe that President Obama is a natural born US citizen, and, frankly, don't care if he isn't. But the controversy around it seems almost deliberately planned to stir up conspiracy theories. Obama has released a copy of the certificate, but some conspiracy fans claim it is faked.

Without going into all the details, here the latest example of something sure to continue the controversy, a statement by Hawaii Health Director Dr. Chiyome Fukino:

"I ... have seen the original vital records maintained on file by the Hawaii State Department of Health verifying Barack Hussein Obama was born in Hawaii and is a natural-born American citizen,"

This statement is pointless, cause, as the article notes, Fukino "issued a similar press release Oct. 31". What would convince the Birthers would be for somebody they respect, like Sean Hannity, to accompany Fukino to look at the original certificate.

"State law bars the release of a certified birth certificate to anyone who does not have a tangible interest."

If the constitutionality of the President of the United States isn't a tangible interest, what is?

Like I said, I think Obama is a natural born US citizen, and don't believe this conspiracy stuff. It's just fascinating to watch. And a bit fun - who doesn't like a good conspiracy theory? At this point, it seem like the left / progressives are enjoying this as much as the right-wing "birthers", cause it may paint conservatives as paranoid conspiracy freaks. And it may fire up the left.

So my conspiracy theory is that the democrats and the left are stirring this up. After all (tongue in cheek paranoid conspiracy fodder warning) Hawaii is a very democratic-leaning state, maybe somebody there is on on this? :-)


Added July 31: Hmm, maybe I'm right. DailyKos continues to push the Birther story.