Obama Releases long form birth certificate

[Kodiak]

From CNN

(CNN) – The White House released President Obama's original birth certificate Wednesday.
The surprise release follows recent and sustained remarks by businessman Donald Trump, among others, that raised doubts as to whether the president was born in the United States.

Obama's birth certificate[PDF]

"This whole birther debate has been really bad for the Republican Party," White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer said. But the discussion is "crowding out the debate" on more important issues and is a distraction, he added.
The so-called "birther" debate is "good politics" but "bad for the country," said Pfeiffer.
White House spokesman Jay Carney is expected to speak more about the birth certificate Wednesday morning.

In an interview with CNN's Anderson Cooper Monday, Trump repeated his doubts and said he had been told the certificate was "missing."
A new CNN investigation revealed earlier this week what most analysts have been saying since the "birther" controversy erupted during the 2008 presidential campaign: Obama was born in Hawaii on August 4, 1961.
While the president has made light of the controversy, the question remained political red meat for some of his critics. A recent CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll showed that nearly 75% of Americans believe Obama was definitely or probably born in the United States. More than four in 10 Republicans, however, believe he probably or definitely was not born in America.
The U.S. Constitution says only "natural born" citizens can become president - a vague clause that some members of the birther movement contend disqualifies Obama because, they insist, he was born outside the United States.
Skeptics contend, among other things, that Obama was born in his father's home country of Kenya.

So apparently it's not as illegal to release as we've been told? I hope this now shuts up the birthers- we've got more important things to do.

[Alyeska]

Obama can release it as he pleases. The state was the one restricted on its release.

[Teebs]

They'll claim it's a forgery or inadequate in some other way, obviously. If it wasn't why would he take so long to release it etc.

Donald Trump seems to have found a new target - Obama's academic credentials. Trump hard Obama wasn't very clever so he wonders how he managed to get into Harvard... link

[Serafina]

Damn, you beat me to it.

And no, it's not "illegal" to hand out a Hawaiian long-form birth certificate. They just do not hand them out - they made an exception because "they got so many requests". Essentially, they got trolled into violating their own policies.

And i'll bet that it won't shut the birthers up. They've been conspiracy-nutjobs for a long time now, motivated by right-wing lunacy and/or racism. Neither of that has changed.

[Beowulf]

Just wait until you see people saying "Sure, it's the long form certificate, but it could still be forged, because it's a copy!"

[erik_t]

I don't know why he bothered to give them the time of day. To anyone who's bought into this nonsense, additional evidence to the contrary is only proof that the conspiracy is even broader and deeper than they thought before.

Lunatic fringes should be ignored, not pandered to. Hopefully this makes any remaining unsure voters realize that the birthers ARE a lunatic fringe, but I am not really holding my breath. There was ample evidence before for anyone who would listen.

[FSTargetDrone]

I've said it before and I'll say it again, I don't think this convinces die-hard conspiracy-minded people and even if it does, why should they be treated as people with a legitimate gripe? Fuck that noise.

EDIT:

So yes, what erik_t said much more elegantly, as his post appeared while I was writing this.

[Sea Skimmer]

Yeah anyone still believing that bullshit after three plus years is never going to be talked out of it, birthers are on the same level as the international zionist conspiracy. I’m pretty sure they all think Obama shot Kennedy from a storm drain when he was two years old anyway.

[CaptainChewbacca]

I said it before; The seemingly 'reasonable' people have said 'Produce X and we will be happy'. Now that he's done that, either they have to let the issue drop or lose all the middle-of-the-road people who thought the story MIGHT be true.

[Serafina]

I said it before; The seemingly 'reasonable' people have said 'Produce X and we will be happy'. Now that he's done that, either they have to let the issue drop or lose all the middle-of-the-road people who thought the story MIGHT be true.

They've been shown Obamas birth certificate three years ago already. Legally, there is ZERO difference between the short and long form.
They are, for all intents and purposes, ticking like creationists: When you show them precisely what they asked for, they make up some new ludicrous demand. Just look at Trump demanding every damn detail about Obamas school career! It's exactly the same tactic, just shifted because the old copy of it became untenable.

[CaptainChewbacca]

They've been shown Obamas birth certificate three years ago already. Legally, there is ZERO difference between the short and long form.
They are, for all intents and purposes, ticking like creationists: When you show them precisely what they asked for, they make up some new ludicrous demand.

Yes, and now that they're being forced to shift their argument this becomes apparent to the masses. It doesn't add to their credibility, it visibly undermines it.

[open_sketchbook]

This proves nothing. Until somebody brings me footage of Obama's birth, with high def video that proves conclusively that his mother's vagina was localed firmly within the United States (via signs, famous landmarks, or celebrities confirmed to be in the United States at the time by other video evidence), I will continue to believe he is a secret comminazi islamic atheist sleeper agent planted by the fey folk to create national socialistic death panels specifically designed to have anyone who has ever read the King James Bible shot by gay soldiers. In the butt.

[Simon_Jester]

They've been shown Obamas birth certificate three years ago already. Legally, there is ZERO difference between the short and long form.
They are, for all intents and purposes, ticking like creationists: When you show them precisely what they asked for, they make up some new ludicrous demand.

Yes, and now that they're being forced to shift their argument this becomes apparent to the masses. It doesn't add to their credibility, it visibly undermines it.

Do you know anyone who has been, or will be, convinced by this? Who wasn't already convinced, and honestly believed "Obama might not be a citizen. I don't know?"

[CaptainChewbacca]

Do you know anyone who has been, or will be, convinced by this? Who wasn't already convinced, and honestly believed "Obama might not be a citizen. I don't know?"

Yes. In Central California there are plenty of 'Well, its odd that he hasn't given his real birth certificate...

Obama voters, many of them, but this is what they needed to see to banish doubt.

[Metahive]

Do you have concrete numbers beyond "plenty"? Anecdotal evidence and the whole shebang, you know.

[Simon_Jester]

Do you know anyone who has been, or will be, convinced by this? Who wasn't already convinced, and honestly believed "Obama might not be a citizen. I don't know?"

Yes. In Central California there are plenty of 'Well, its odd that he hasn't given his real birth certificate...
Obama voters, many of them, but this is what they needed to see to banish doubt.

And have they been convinced by this? Will they be? Or will they move the goalposts and redefine what they "need" to satisfy them that Obama is a legitimate presidential candidate?

Could you check around on this issue, and get back to me, or something like that?

I'll settle for anecdotes here, because I'm asking about personal opinions, and about fairly detailed ones; it's hard to put together intelligent, unbiased polls that tell us that much about someone's opinions in detail.

[Dalton]

For the past three years these douchebags and morons have been moving the goalposts. What makes anyone think that this will be anything different? John McCain saying the believed Obama was a citizen wasn't enough. Being allowed to run for President wasn't enough. The short-form certificate wasn't enough. Independent verification from health officials and the Republican Governor of Hawaii weren't enough. This WILL NOT be enough, because the Birthers function like Creationists: They already have their conclusion, and now they will find evidence to support their conclusion. Anything to the contrary has been forged or manipulated by George Soros, NBC and the Obama Administration.

[Serafina]

Do you have concrete numbers beyond "plenty"? Anecdotal evidence and the whole shebang, you know.

What Simon said. Also, i think CaptainChewbacca is trustworthy enough to be trusted not to make stuff up as he goes along.

I've also known some people who are sceptic about something just because there are enough people questioning/supporting it. "So many people believe in Homeopathy, there must be something to it". "Why would so many people support creationism when it's a blatant fraud". And so on. Yes, it's stupidity born out of ignorance, but it definitely exists. And it can be fixed, at least sometimes.

[Isolder74]

This proves nothing. Until somebody brings me footage of Obama's birth, with high def video that proves conclusively that his mother's vagina was localed firmly within the United States (via signs, famous landmarks, or celebrities confirmed to be in the United States at the time by other video evidence), I will continue to believe he is a secret comminazi islamic atheist sleeper agent planted by the fey folk to create national socialistic death panels specifically designed to have anyone who has ever read the King James Bible shot by gay soldiers. In the butt.

I hope you are joking.

What you are demanding would be completely impossible to put forward without it being a fake. That is just like the 9/11 Truthers demanding crystal clear images of a plane hitting the Pentagon or the planes hitting the WTC. The best one could do with the tech for making home movies at the time would get a very crude film. If any such home movie was shot, there would be little chance it would contain the elements that you are demanding that it contain. The only way it could would be if someone had future seeing abilities to know that the movie would need that stuff in order to prove that.

The movie you ask for can only be done with a staged setup and special effects as it would have to be made now.

[Dalton]

I hope you are joking.

I really can't fathom how anyone could take that seriously.

[Isolder74]

I hope you are joking.

I really can't fathom how anyone could take that seriously.

I know but it's very hard to tell just from text on the internet without the [Sarcasm] tag added on. I've seen Birthers making just that demand.

[Metahive]

Also, i think CaptainChewbacca is trustworthy enough to be trusted not to make stuff up as he goes along.

Trustworthiness isn't necessarily the issue, skewed perceptions can arise through a number of factors, but since Simon said he's content with Chewie's reply I'll retract my demand.

[AMT]

And so it begins... TMZ video link to Trump already questioning the fucking thing.

[eion]

Oh no, the terrible secret has been revealed. Barrack Hussain Obama II wasn't born on a farm or plantation in the U.S. Run for the hills!

*sigh* I really didn't want him to do this because I will be very surprised if it shuts anybody up. Now they'll ask why it's taken so long for him to release this, why can't we be allowed to inspect the original document, etc. It won't stop the birther wingnuts because they aren't motivated by anything besides bald racism.

And the worst part is Donald Trump is crowing over this for his supposed role in this, and that’s the part that really makes me want to vomit.

[CaptainChewbacca]

Also, i think CaptainChewbacca is trustworthy enough to be trusted not to make stuff up as he goes along.

Trustworthiness isn't necessarily the issue, skewed perceptions can arise through a number of factors, but since Simon said he's content with Chewie's reply I'll retract my demand.

I'm afraid it'll have to do, because I was asked about people I specifically know and I can't doccument that.

And have they been convinced by this? Will they be? Or will they move the goalposts and redefine what they "need" to satisfy them that Obama is a legitimate presidential candidate?

Could you check around on this issue, and get back to me, or something like that?

I'll settle for anecdotes here, because I'm asking about personal opinions, and about fairly detailed ones; it's hard to put together intelligent, unbiased polls that tell us that much about someone's opinions in detail.

Being as how its been 4 hours, I havn't had a chance to gauge opinion from many folks. The other teachers at my school (we had a staff development day) are of the opinion of 'Well, I guess that settles it'. If more of these threads show up, I'm sure you'll hear more anecdotes from me.