Swell

So President Obama has released his long form birth certificate, which, unsurprisingly, shows that he was born in Hawaii.

Even as he did so, he acknowledged "there would be a 'segment of people' for whom the full document is not enough to settle the issue," but he did it, anyway.

I know I'm just a dirty hippie who doesn't understand politics, but I fail utterly to see the point of legitimizing the Birthers, and thus tacitly legitimizing the rightwing strategy of propping up useful tools who will shriek indefinitely about total nonsense to divert national attention away from issues like the subversion of the social safety net and the erosion of reproductive rights.

Meanwhile, Obama, who has the biggest bully pulpit in the entire world and has the capacity to change the national conversation with a single soundbite, has still not expressed the first iota of concern about every state legislature in the union considering legislation to reduce access to legal abortion.

Giving time and attention to legitimizing the Birthers while ignoring a 50-state all-out assault on (mostly) women is unrelentingly infuriating, particularly given that Birtherism empowers the anti-choice movement.

This sop to the Birthers was not just stupid; it was actively hostile to progressive politics.