Here's a portion of the lead editorial in Thursday's New York Times...
A Certificate of Embarrassment
Editorial
New York Times
April 28, 2011
With sardonic resignation, President Obama, an eminently rational man, stared directly into political irrationality on Wednesday and released his birth certificate to history. More than halfway through his term, the president felt obliged to prove that he was a legitimate occupant of the Oval Office. It was a profoundly low and debasing moment in American political life.
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The disbelief fairly dripped from Mr. Obama as he stood at the West Wing lectern. People are out of work, American soldiers are dying overseas and here were cameras to record him stating that he was born in a Hawaii hospital. It was particularly galling to us that it was in answer to a baseless attack with heavy racial undertones.
Mr. Obama practically begged the public to set aside these distractions, expressing hope that his gesture would end the “silliness” and allow a national debate about budget priorities. It won’t, of course...
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...the birther question was never really about citizenship; it was simply a proxy for those who never accepted the president’s legitimacy, for a toxic mix of reasons involving ideology, deep political anger and, most insidious of all, race. It was originally promulgated by fringe figures of the radical right, but mainstream Republican leaders allowed it to simmer to satisfy those who are inflamed by Mr. Obama’s presence in the White House...
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...It is inconceivable that this campaign to portray Mr. Obama as the insidious “other” would have been conducted against a white president...
Personally, I think this entire matter was, indeed "...a profoundly low and debasing moment in American political life."
Frankly, IMHO (and some Democrats have compensated me for "MHO" when it comes to matters such as this), I would've suggested orchestrating this response a bit differently, and would not have advised the President to go front and center on this matter, personally, opting instead to have others, en masse, calling out the media while they focused upon the distribution of the long-form birth certificate; and, at the same time keeping the President on a schedule that was, simply...presidential.
Then again, I would venture to guess that there are at least 10 or 20 million registered Republicans in this country that are, tonight, deeply embarrassed about their current party affiliation, too. (As for the rest of the GOP, they can hideout in the holes from where they spew this stuff 'till hell freezes over. Or, better yet, let them continue to marginalize their Party straight through November 2012.)
In any event, I've also been around the block enough to know that, at the end of the day and no matter how much we might put them on pedestals, all politicians are just...people...and some matters require casting aside traditional public relations thought because the boss simply wants to deal with it, directly, themself...because some issues are deeply personal, and yes, THAT important to them from an emotional standpoint, that nothing less than confronting the matter head-on will suffice.