Discussion with a staffer

I had an email exchange with Jon Yoshimura, who works for Senator Akaka of Hawaii. 

I sent him an email about Senate Resolution 511 and the AOL informal survey:

In Senate Resolution 511 unanimously adopted earlier this year, the
Senate affirmed that to be a natural born citizen, one must be the
child of two American citizen parents. Are they going to ignore their
own resolution?

Senators must stand up and address the Obama Eligibility Controversy
on January 8, 2009, or voters will respond by removing them using the
power of the ballot box. After all, an informal AOL poll of over
100,000 reveals that 53 percent of respondents, from every state,
think that Obama eligibility is in question:

http://news.aol.com/political-machine/2008/12/05/hot-seat-obamas-birth-certificate/5

Even more than half of the respondents from Hawaii felt there was a
question about Obama's eligibility.

Here is a special message to all Senators:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APOA5WSUDmE

Senators have to understand that the public expects them to live up to
their oath of office to defend the constitution, or else suffer the
consequences.

and he was quite doubtful:

If you want me to take you seriously, you must stop mistating/ignoring the facts. You said:  "In Senate Resolution 511 unanimously adopted earlier this year, the Senate affirmed that to be a natural born citizen, one must be the child of two American citizen parents."

This is simply incorrect. S.Res. 511, ironically, cosponsored by then-Senator Obama, acknowledges Sen. John McCain's eligibility to run for President as a "natural born Citizen. " It confirms that Sen. McCain was born to "American citizens on an American military base in the Panama Canal Zone," but creates no requirement that in order to be a natural born citizen your parents must both be American citizens.

You also point to a survey on AOL that suggests that a majority of Americans think that the President-elect's eligibility is in question. Besides the fact that this survey is not being conducted in a scientific manner according to accepted polling guidelines, I believe that most Americans believe otherwise and have already come to the correct conclusion that Obama is a natural born citizen. Thus, the only ones responding to the survey are those who are being led to it by individuals and organizations who want to keep the issue on life support. For example, although I am somewhat well read, this is the first I heard of the survey and I wouldn't have come accross it without your prompting.  

Please stop this deliberate campaign of misinformation which preys on the ignorance of those without access to legitimate information...or...if you wish...continue to waste your time.

Anyway, I mean you no ill-will. Thank you for writing me and I hope you find time to have a happy holidays!

Sincerely,

Jon Yoshimura

I responded that

Greetings Jon:

Well Mr. Yoshimura, perhaps you are correct.

I just wonder why President-elect Obama would rather spend considerable sums of money in court, rather than produce the documents that would settle this matter.

He is creating ill will and suspicions unnecessarily and might take office with a dark cloud over his administration. There is no good reason to do this.

Robert Stevens

To which he replied

I agree. He should put this matter to rest.

And therein lies the crux of the matter; the lynchpin. It is not that the AOL informal survey is so compelling or that Senate Resolution 511 contains earth-shattering revelations. It is not that the paternal Grandmother's account is so convincing and her story might not be the result of mis-translation, or confusion, or faulty memory, or senility, or any number of other potential explanations. It is not that the reports of the forensic document experts are completely damning. It is not that the apparent inconsistencies on Obama's Selective Service Registration form could not be explained away.  It is not that there might not be some reasonable justification for Obama not releasing his college and law school records. And so on and so forth.

It is the sum total of all these issues, coupled with one VERY IMPORTANT inconsistency in this entire account:

When Berg called Obama's bluff, Obama did not resolve the controversy quickly and cheaply and easily. And when others have piled on, and things have become even more suspicious, with more lawsuits, Obama has not made all these challenges go away, which Obama could very easily if what Obama has maintained all along is correct. 

The tone of the discussion has become more strident. The amount of speculation has increased. The rumors have spread further and further. 

And all because Obama did not take all the air out of this months ago. 

You have to ask yourself, why?