What the "birthers" movement really means.

Claims that President Obama is illegal serving as the 44th president of the United States is a ridiculous belief that has shown no merits and has been repeatedly shot down in numerous courts, so why are there still Americans who believe that he is not a citizen of America?

According to some fringe reports, Obama is a British subject because he held Kenyan citizenship (because at the time of Obama's birth, Kenya was a colony of Britain making the children of Barack Obama Sr. citizens of the U.K.). Obama was born in Hawaii to an American mother, so by default, he was a born American citizen but also held citizen ship in the U.K. When Kenya declared it's independance, both Obama Sr. and Obama Jr. were granted Kenyan citizenship, but the Kenyan constitution bars adults from holding dual citizenship, and so on Obama Jr.'s 21st birthday, he lost his dual citizenship, retaining only his American citizenship status.

Other reports go as far as to say that Obama was never born in Hawaii and was an illegal immigrant who had his birth certificate fabricated because it was common practice to do so in 1960s Hawaii.

It seems the "birther" conspiracy has been somewhat renewed because of recent news regarding a soldier who refuses to be deployed because he question's Obama's legitamacy.

Instances like this are damaging to the Republican party. These believers, who supposedly total around 300,000, or .1% of the population of the United States, are pushing their view onto the majority of the party, and opportunistic elected officials are raising these baseless questions. 2008 GOP presidential candidate John McCain was born in the Panama Canal Zone in 1936, but this fact is overlooked by those who are opposed to Barack Hussein Obama. As with the mistake of selecting Sarah Palin as a vice presidential nominee, and the support of idiotic right-wing Christian ideas (such as creationism and intelligent design), the Republicans are inching out rational moderates that decide elections.

Republicans have not taken an official stance on Obama's citizenship, but several elected GOP officials have questioned his birth certificate, such as Alabama Senator Richard Shelby, or the indirect accusation in the form of legislation requiring the presentation of a valid birth certificate to become president, as co-sponsored by California RepresentativeJohn Campbell.

The intelligent thing to do for the White House is to not say a thing in regards to Obama's citizenship and to dismiss the accusations as baseless conspiracy theories, which will effectively damage the reputation of the wacko conservatives who perpetuate such absurdities. Rational Americans would never elect an official who publicly denounces the moon landing or the holocaust, and to brand the "birther" conspiracy as such nonsense will act to counter any attacks made by the right, even lessening legitimate concerns.

Conservatives need to get a grip on reality and rein in their party, and as for the "birthers" out there, Obama's mother was a citizen of the United States of America, so remember this saying:

"Mother's baby, father's maybe.."