So the White House today brought it out for all the world to see: the “long form” birth certificate showing that President Barack Obama was, in fact, born in Hawaii. This remarkable attribute is one he shares with many people (including my brother). Wait, did I say “remarkable?” Honestly, what’s remarkable is how much of a media circus the whereabouts of his birth have occasioned. Even Donald Trump, a man who is a walking media circus all by himself, decided to get on the birther bandwagon. Now that’s some long coattails.

Having been brought up in Hawaii myself, and having voted for Obama in 2008, I can’t pretend to be unbiased about this. I believe Obama was born in Hawaii. I think it’s great that Obama is the first president from Hawaii, and I hope he won’t be the last, because Hawaii’s multicultural, multiethnic, but nonetheless very American society seems to me to be a fine place for a President to come from. (And by the way, as a sort of Hawaiian, I feel kind of insulted by the whole thing – there’s an undertone to the birther argument that Hawaii is somehow not really part of the U.S.)

Now, there have been some plausible candidates for Obama’s job who have publicly been raising the issue of Obama’s birth and the documentation thereof, including some who ought to know better (I’m looking at you, Mr. Bassman). And there’s no doubt that because the flames of this made-up controversy have been fanned for so long, many people will say that Obama’s birth certificates are forgeries.

To which I respond with the following question: If you say that Obama’s birth certificates are forgeries, and you don’t have hard evidence, then who’s hoaxing whom?

Keys: politics,Obama,Hawaii