FuzzNJ wrote:First, he was under no obligation to do anything other than provide what was provided, all was legal and taken care of.
Second, how far would you suggest we let a group of fringe characters control what a President is supposed to do? Should Clinton have shown his **** to the country to show whether or not is had a curve as someone said?
Third, I wish he wouldn't have done what he did today. It makes the idiots look more idiotic. But now that he did, you will see it will not be enough. Conspiracy theories are already out there and people are trying to prove it's a fake saying it has 'layers' and it shouldn't, letters are different, etc. Rush even talked about it today. PDF files create layers automatically, btw.
The reason this issue had legs is because the media was complicit in keeping it alive. If it had just ignored it it would be just what it is, a bunch of fringe nutcases.
I think he only did it today because Trump made such a fuss about it that Obama was losing ground and he doesn't want to sabotage an election. Yes, he does have to prove citizenship - citizenship is required by the Constitution.
If he was truly a "peace and harmony" and "why can't we all get along" sort of guy, he would have stopped the birthers in their footsteps 2 years ago - in my opinion an extremely smart move for him. If I have nothing to hide, I'll freely show proof as quickly as possible to remove all doubt. It would have made the birthers look like morons 2 years ago instead of now (they've gained ground in two years - Obama fueled that gain).
Theories will always exist no matter who is in office. We just have to go back to the last President to see some of the stuff dredged up in those two elections. If I recall, the lefties were so against Bush that reporters were digging for anything and everything to fuel the hatred. Dan Rather lost his job because they were looking so hard they failed to see the information was bogus. So, theories won't go away. I'm just very disappointed Obama didn't kill this issue 2+ years ago and move on - it would have solved a lot. And, we don't truly know what the people would have dug up next (if anything) - that's pure speculation at this point. Either way, it did truly fuel a division in this country and I think Obama could have done it delibertly to divide the party, thus making reelection easier for him. After all, isn't he supposed to be one of the smartest men alive (his books imply as much). I think Obama knew exactly what he was doing.
As far as keeping it alive, I'm guessing it was a big enough issue to keep surfacing. If it had no legs at all and no doubt existed, it would have been labeled a non-story and it would have been killed eons ago.