When Hawai'i became a state in 1959, it permitted residents to apply for birth certificates so that they could get proof of citizenship and age for passports, life insurance, and other legal considerations. There was no restriction on origin or place of birth. With Obama coming onto the scene in Hawai'i in 1961, it is quite possible that he could have been born elsewhere.

Unlike most other states, the current Hawai'ian birth certificate does not show full information about origin of the individual, such as attending physician, hospital, etc. Thus, the birth certificate that Obama has revealed does not prove that he is a "natural born citizen", and therefore the controversy.

Perhaps Hawai'i abridged the current version of the birth certificate because a lot of people didn't actually know where or even when they were born, much less say the attending physician or hospital. The same would probably be true for Alaska.

There is a long form birth certificate on file in Honolulu for Obama, and Obama can obtain a certified copy of it at any time. It seems like a pretty straightforward and reasonable consideration to just get the certificate and post it on the White House web site and be done with it. Anything short of that is going to prolong this needless division.

In the meantime, the prudent, thinking person will continue to ask "What's he got to hide?".