An open letter to Barack Obama

An open letter to Barack Obama

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Posted: August 22, 2009
1:00 am Eastern

© 2009

Dear Mr. President:

I know you must be getting tired of those "birthers" suggesting you might not really be eligible to serve in the highest office in the land.

It must be infuriating.

As your White House press secretary, Robert Gibbs, has pointed out, you have many grave concerns on your mind, and your administration should not be and cannot be distracted from the major issues of the day by demands for something as simple as your original birth certificate and other documents that would shed light on your background.

I have a suggestion about how to shut them up and make them all look ridiculous: Simply instruct your staff to order the release of the following:

The original, long-form birth certificate, not the short-form certification of live birth, which is obviously subject to claims of fraud;
All your school records dating back to kindergarten;
Your Occidental College records and transcripts;
Your Columbia University records and transcripts including your thesis papers;
Your Harvard Law School records;
Your Harvard Law Review writings;
Your scholarly records from the University of Chicago;
Your passport history;
Your medical records;
The files from your years as an Illinois state legislator;
Your Illinois State Bar records;
Your baptism records, if available;
Your adoption records.
Please tell Gibbs and others in your administration and party to stop arguing with those who ask for the release of documents. Just release them! Do it now! Call their bluff!

Now watch the red-hot eligibility story on DVD: "The Question of Eligibility: Is Barack Obama's presidency constitutionally legitimate?"

These document requests are in line with the expectations set by your predecessors. But, remember, you pledged to conduct the most open and transparent administration in history.

Most of these documents will some day be included in your presidential library any way. Why not just release them now and shut up your most vociferous critics and the nosiest journalists?

Let's face it. Your party called for full disclosure of National Guard documents by George W. Bush, even though there was no question of eligibility for office in that case. Though we all know these "birthers" are zealously misguided in their demands, polls are showing their persistent requests are gaining traction among the American people. Many of them now don't even believe you are a citizen – let alone a "natural born citizen," as the Constitution requires.

Think of the campaign money you could save. Records show you have already spent at least $1.4 million fighting lawsuits related to the release of records. This money will be needed in 2010 to keep Democrats running the Congress and in 2012 for your re-election effort.

And don't forget – if these questions are still being asked in 2012, it will make your re-election bid that much more difficult.

Mr. President, we all know the truth is going to come out eventually. It's always only a matter of time. Why not bring it out now and put all these nagging questions and this suspicion behind you?

Gibbs is right. You have too much important work to do to waste time on this. You are losing political capital. You don't have to lift a finger personally. Just authorize one of your many staffers to prepare the paperwork necessary to release all of the above. All it will take from you, Mr. President, is a signature.

You have your hands full right now with trying to promote some very unpopular policies you believe are vital to the future of America. Don't let those ideas be sidetracked by minutia. Do the right thing – the logical thing, the rational thing.

Do it now, before these "birthers" spread their venom any further.