I think Obama was born in Hawaii. He has already put out more evidence than any other presidential candidate that I am aware of. I can see the argument that he needed to prove his natural born bona fides that have nothing to do with race though. How many other candidates were born to a foreign parent and grew up in a foreign country. It isn't like people challenged the citizenship of Jesse Jackson when he was running for president, because there was no reason to think he was not a natural born citizen. Obama had a father from Kenya and grew up in Indonesia. McCain was born in the Panama Canal Zone to a military family, which is easy for Americans to identify with. If McCain had been born to an Australian father and grew up in Chechnya, people might have asked questions about his citizenship as well. In the end, the documentation already provided should have been enough to satisfy everyone on the one hand, and on the other hand Obama should have just released his birth certificate.
Why would you release your birth certificate if idiot like Donald Trump continue to make an issue of it? It's an easy way to make a group of Republicans look like fools. Frankly its a smart political move on Obama's part.
If I was the Republican candidate, I would definitely publish my birth certificate with great fanfare, so I could bring back a little birther magic to the 2012 election cycle. You've got to time it just right though; you don't want to do it too early. Probably not. I doubt any Republican candidate bothers trying to woo the black vote, since it is mostly going to Obama regardless. I do think he wants to present himself as friendly to minorities for the sake of white voters who don't want a racist president. Maybe that's what reflecting in his word choice here -- he's thinking of blacks as a demographic.
Whenever Karl Rove is the voice of reason you have to wonder what the heck is happening in this country.
Granted, every thread in this forum probably has a corresponding Daily Show and/or Colbert Report clip, but here's one from the latter that's particularly relevant: (If you have no sense of humor and only want to watch the "friends with the blacks" part, go to the 4 min. mark) <div style="background-color:#000000;width:520px;"><div style="padding:4px;"><embed src="http://media.mtvnservices.com/mgid:cms:item:comedycentral.com:382615" width="512" height="288" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowFullScreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" base="." flashVars=""></embed></div></div>
