Hawaii already had a state law on the books dealing with things like birth certificate requests: officially, they bar the release of those documents to anyone who does not have a tangible interest. That’s why the state has never released the actual birth certificate of United States President Barack Obama, at least officially. The repeated press releases from the state’s Health Director Dr. Chiyome Fukino and state registrar of vital records saying that yes, Obama was born in America, and yes, we have his birth certificate aren’t enough to stem the tide of requests for said birth certificate, so Governor Linda Lingle is changing state laws to ignore records requests for Obama’s birth certificate.
Seriously, rather than just give in and release the birth certificate–I’d argue that proving the President can legally be president is a tangible interest, if only to get this issue put to bed one way or another–they decided to just change state law to ignore subsequent records requests or inquiries similar to those already honored. If the Certificate of Live Birth the state’s apparently released isn’t enough, just give ’em what they want and put his real birth certificate up online or something (or at least scan the back where the official stamp and proofs are).
Then again, I doubt it matters what Hawaii releases: people won’t trust the government. As for me, I just want this story over. It’s been two years or longer; I’m tired of it.
Tags: Hawaii changes state law to avoid birthers, birth certificate requests, birthers, Barack Obama, Hawaii state law, information requests, Gov. Linda Lingle, Dr. Chiyome Fukino, politics