Obama, the 'Birthers' and the Anatomy of a False Accusation

Barack Obama's birth certificate says he was born in Hawaii on August 4, 1961. Local newspapers carried announcements at the time. Recent investigations by mainstream media have confirmed that he meets the Constitutional requirement that the president must be a "natural born citizen." Today, CNN aired the conclusion of Dr. Chlyome Fukino, a Republican and former Director of Hawaii's Department of Public Health, who described the so-called "long form" birth certificate stored in a vault in Honolulu. Such "birther" claims may appeal to the right-wing base of the Republican Party, but the repetition of a demonstrable untruth could do more harm to Republicans than Democrats.