The "birthers" have finally succeeded in accomplishing something other than embarrassing themselves. They may have driven the state of Hawaii into shutting off their requests for original copies of President Barack Obama's birth certificate.
The birthers believe that deep in the files of the Hawaii Department of Health lies proof that he is not a "natural born citizen" of the United States and thus ineligible to be president.
Both the Hawaii health director and the registrar of vital statistics have attested to examining Obama's original birth certificate and, indeed, he was born August, 4, 1961, in Honolulu at Kapi'olani hospital.
The word of those two officials is not enough for the birthers.
You would think that if Obama were born in Indonesia or Kenya the proof would be in Djakarta or Nairobi, not Honolulu, but apparently it's more fun to bug the Hawaiians.
The birthers still pepper the department with 10 to 20 e-mails a week demanding the birth certificate, many of them from people who have repeatedly been denied. The department says it's a waste of time and money.
Now the state legislature is considering a bill that would allow the department to ignore repeat requests or to declare a person a pest - the exact words are a "vexatious requester" - and restrict their access to government records for two years.
Some people have a problem with this because they are public records even if they're not as open as the sunshine advocates would prefer. After all, what good are the records if you can't use them to drive a president from office and have him deported?
Many of the birthers, in addition to a strong animus against Obama, also revile congressional Democrats. They should be careful what they wish for.
If Obama had to leave office, the next in line is Vice President Joe Biden. Suppose he didn't want the office, totally out of the question, yes, but, for the sake of argument, say he doesn't.
Guess who's next in line? House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Try saying President Pelosi a few times before sending off the next request for Obama's birth records.
Next in succession is Robert Byrd, the president pro tem of the Senate, but at 92 he's too old and frail to take the office. So who's after Byrd? The Secretary of State, Hillary Rodham Clinton. Think about it.
