I'll answer, but probably somewhat differently than the original poster. I've been following this for a while out of curiosity, and formed different conclusions than some.
The questions I have are:
- 1. What exactly has “the regime” released for His Highness’s birth records?
- 2. Is there any proof, other than hearsay, that he was born in another country?
- 3. If all he needs to produce is a Certificate of Live Birth, why hasn’t he done it?
- 4. Is it possible that this guy is so devious that he likes to have this controversy out there just so that one day he will make “birthers” look silly? With his deceitful mind, I would not put this past him.
- 5. Why do so many conservative commentators refuse to address this? It seems like the majority of them refuse to think that this scenario could be possible and that anyone who thinks it is a possibility is a “whacko”.
The answers from my reading:
- 1. They've released his Certification of Live Birth (COLB) which Hawaii also calls a "short form birth certificate." According to this official Hawaii site, Hawaii only issues the COLB in response to requests for a birth certificate.
- 2. No concrete proof. There are two alleged Kenyan certificates which surfaced on the net, both of which were shown to have significant problems, and one of which was claimed by a prankster. There is an interview with his stepgrandmother through two translators (English to Swahili, Swahili to Luo) where she says she was there when he was born, then on the interviewer stating it back, says that Obama was born in America. This one is particularly tricky because the interviewer asks a few questions where he doesn't distinguish Sr. from Jr.
- 3. There is no requirement that he do so. Hence the Arizona law - that would make it a requirement.
- 4. Yes. It's quite possible.
- 5. Probably influenced by the statement (click link to PDF) of the head of the Hawaii Dept of Health that she has seen his records and he was born in Hawaii. Pretty unequivocal statement to me, although some seem to think there's wiggle room in this.
Regarding your #2 answer, I must disagree with part of it. One Kenyan birth certificate was a forgery; the other does NOT have significant problems. NOT ONE ASPECT of it rules out the possible legitimacy of the document. If you want the full story, see this thread (and set aside a week for reading it):
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2306351/posts