Birthers 1, Obama 0

This poor bastard (the president, I mean) can't win for losing (calling Jimmy Carter!). After years of pressure, he finally releases his long-form birth certificate.  Something which he could have done back in 2007, but refused to do because...he just didn't want to.  It took a growing legion of so-called "birthers" - almost a third of the population, apparently - for Obama to realize it was time for him to give in, that he had lost the battle of wills.

The Weekly Standard has a few details, and just enough analysis:

A White House official emails Ben Smith: "I am not going to argue the politics of doing this are good — they probably aren’t. Allowing the GOP primary to devolve into birther mania probably would be better, but the president felt strongly that this was bad for the country."

So in that statement the official reveals what was always apparent: Team Obama thought the "birther issue" was politically advantageous for them. By refusing to release the document, they gave the conspiracy theory just enough oxygen to keep it alive and make Republicans look crazy when asked about it by their constituents

Perhaps the Obama White House really concluded just now the issue is "bad for the country," but it's equally if not more plausible that, contrary to that White House official's statement, Obama finally concluded the issue is bad for Obama.

Yup.  He is just so smart, isn't he?  Feed the beast just enough, but never expect that one day it will bite your freakin' hand off.  And when it happens, blame everyone around you, like the petulant little bitch that you are.  Making a statement to the press after the release of the birth certificate, Obama came off poorly, again:

Saying “we’ve got bigger stuff to do,” the president said he was born in Hawaii. He indirectly called Trump a carnival barker. He said that we will not solve our serious problems if we’re distracted by side shows. He scolded the press and the public for asking about his birth certificate, talked about the debt (never taking responsibility for it) and scolded a bit more. And then he walked out, never taking a single question from the press.
 ...Obama may not have intended to look like he was surrendering, but that’s exactly how he looked today. He looked like he was giving in to pressure, against his will, and couldn’t be bothered to explain his actions leading up to today, or his actions that have made headlines today.

What a douche.  Meanwhile, The Donald crowed like a rooster in a hen house, having become just the latest in a line of mediocrities to have p'wned the president.  At least he knows how to use a press conference to his advantage:

Reacting to the news, Donald Trump is delivering one of the most unusual press conferences in political history, crowing that he’s honored that the president finally released the thing. He says he is “really honored and really proud” that Obama finally released the long form.

Trump then used the press conference to hammer the president for economic policy and the price of gas... A few questions later, Trump berates a reporter, asking him “Are you intelligent?” before explaining why he cannot announce his presidential run before the end of the current season of Celebrity Apprentice. Then Trump said something that is unarguably true.

Trump: “The press is very protective of President Obama. They’re not protective of me, but they’re protective of President Obama.” And then Trump went on to slam Obama’s academic record. So, expect a few weeks of this, and then perhaps we will finally see something from Barack Obama’s college records...

Let's hope.  I'd love to see Obama's backers, whom still swoon over his every utterance, explain away his "C" average.

Meanwhile, it's come to this - the president sharing screen time with a TV reality star, who just happens to be more effective it getting to the truth and getting done:

 Even with an offical long-form birth certificate, Obama has lost this round badly to the "birthers".  If they're the crazy nincompoops that the media makes them out to be, and yet are able to bend the president to their will, well...what does that say about his mental capabilities,exactly?

Not to mention the media's....

Update: Feel the irony:

“We don’t have time for such silliness,” the President said this morning. And then he flew off to Chicago to be on The Oprah Winfrey Show....