Birthers need to grow up

In a poll conducted by the Washington Post in April 2010, 14 percent of Americans believed that President Obama was not born in America. Obama’s birthplace has been questioned by many citizens and political figures who wrongly believe that he is not an American by birth. This was a widely debated question because only native-born U.S. citizens are allowed to serve as president under the Constitution. The ridiculous “birther” issue persisted until Obama released the extended version of his birth certificate on April 27, which confirmed beyond doubt that he was indeed born in Hawaii on Aug. 4, 1961.

Although Obama should have released his long form certificate much earlier to tackle the issue head on, his decision to release the certificate now has successfully dispelled rumors and allowed the president to refocus his attention on important national issues, of which there is no shortage of.

Attention seeking rabble-rousers like Donald Trump and Glenn Beck, who stirred up this controversy, failed to understand that they were diverting attention from far more crucial and pressing issues. Newsmongers jumped at the chance to sensationalize the issue and opponents of Obama, like Sarah Palin, used these charges to draw votes away from the president. The use of such base personal attacks by politicians is detrimental to our nation.

Debate over the trivial and illegitimate concern of Obama’s birthplace has detracted from real problems like the budget deficit, health care, unemployment and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Politicians and other citizens had an opportunity to raise and resolve the “birther” issue during the presidential primaries. The fact that Obama is in office proves that he met the basic criteria for being president which undoubtedly includes the Constitutional requirement of being born in the United States.

If Republicans, Teapartiers or any others want to question Obama’s validity or run against him in 2012, the “birther” issue will only hurt their cause because it proves that they waste time on trivial matters, cannot listen to logic and have forgotten that the meaning of politics is to serve the nation. Such easily distracted people will drag our country into deeper trouble and give people the impression that politics is about finding ways to discredit opponents at the expense of leaving glaring national problems unsolved.