bcspace wrote:Political master stroke? Why wait so long? At the very least, Obama is guilty of his own accusations of distraction from the "real issues" by spending millions of dollars preventing the same verification required of say, John McCain. Why didn't he just come forward when the Clintons requested the same evidence?
The general public (less than 40% of whom did not believe Obama's claims up to this point) can certainly be forgiven for being skeptical as we now work towards verification; having been stung before by CBS-like forgery fiascos.
As usual, I'm drawn to what I see is the simplest and most logical explanation: Obama probably just thought the whole issue would die a natural death (certainly after he was inaugurated!)
But here we are, two years later, and it started to shape into an actual focus point for the coming campaign! So why release the "long form" now?
Here's why.
There are three kinds of voters:
1. Those who believe Obama was born in Hawaii. Case closed.
2. Those who just aren't sure, and are open to influence from the strong "Birthers" (see #3).
3. The "Birthers". People who, for one reason or another, are strongly convinced that Obama was born in Kenya and thus is not eligible to be President.
Obviously, Obama doesn't need to worry about #1. But does he need to worry about the 2's? Maybe most of them are already conservative leaning, but maybe there are a few who might have voted for him. Maybe all the noise between the 2's and 3's is enough of a distraction that it takes away energy from an Obama campaign.
But with the release of the "Long Form" (the very thing 3's have been begging for for years!), Obama has given very, very strong evidence that will convince many (if not all) of the 2's. But the 3's can't let go, so now they are marginalized and will be further relegated to the fringes of the conservative movement, turning them into disregarded and discredited (and irrelevant) voices in the coming elections. In effect, if the 3's can't get over it and move on, they will be taking themselves out of the political equation, and Obama will have a much larger audience of people receptive to his message (all the 2's).
And if the voices of the Birthers are strong enough to rise in prominence among conservatives, they could relegate conservatives themselves to the fringes of political discourse. Instead of associating "conservatism" with liberty, constitutionalism, and fiscal responsibility, the general public would begin to look at conservatives as conspiracy-theorist crackpots.
That is why this issue must die a quick death.