Mitt Romney Vindicated: Don't Focus On Obama's Birth Certificate But Focus On His Poor Economic Record

Today, President Obama released his long form birth certificate after two years of debate over whether or not Barak Obama was born in Hawaii and was a United States citizen. 

2012 candidate Donald Trump may be the person who is most hurt by Obama's release of his long form birth certificate since he was the one who was the most vocal in pushing the issue. 

However, Newt Gingrich was another candidate who bought into the birther issue:

Former House speaker Newt Gingrich, last fall in an interview with the National Review, posited that Obama, whose father was from Kenya, has a Kenyan mindset, echoing the theme of a controversial book by conservative author Dinesh D’Douza.

“What if [Obama] is so outside our comprehension, that only if you understand Kenyan, anti-colonial behavior, can you begin to piece together [his actions]?  That is the most accurate, predictive model for his behavior,” Gingrich said.

However, not all candidates supported the birther issue. Many of them were either timid or gave mixed signals on where they stood on the issue:

"Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour accepts the president’s word about his birthplace, his staff said.

Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty told an Iowa audience, “I‘m not one to question the authenticity of Barack Obama’s birth certificate.” He added a little jab: “When you look at his policies, I do question what planet he’s from.”

When ABC‘s George Stephanopoulos showed a copy of Obama’s birth certificate to Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, who was ambivalent at first, she said: “Well, then, that should settle it. … I take the president at his word.”

Former vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin gave mixed signals in a recent Fox News appearance. She praised Trump for “paying for researchers” to dig into claims of Obama’s foreign birth. But she added, “I think that he was born in Hawaii because there was a birth announcement put in the newspaper.”

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee has dismissed claims that Obama is foreign-born, calling them a distraction. But on a February radio show, Huckabee referred to Obama “having grown up in Kenya,” the birthplace of the president’s father."

There were only two 2012 candidates who gave the most direct and firm rejection of the birther issue. Those candidates where Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania.

Out of all the 2012 candidates, I think Mitt Romney comes out ahead on this issue. 

Many people on the left, middle and right will respect Mitt Romney for being one of two mature candidates who refused to get caught up in the birther nonsense. Even Chris Matthews, who is no fan of conservatives, praised Mitt Romney for being the only serious and straightforward candidate among the many Republicans running in 2012: 

"But he will be a presidential candidate, a proud and serious one and if it's not too old-fashioned to say so, he'll be a man."

Watch Mitt Romney on the Kudlow Report as flatly rejected the birther issue and focused on Obama's poor record as President of the United States. See the clip below:

 

Mitt Romney is right. We should be focusing on the major issues that concerns all Americans which are jobs and the economy. He is absolutely correct that American's should be outraged at Barak Obama's failure to fix unemployment and the economy.