Barack Obama's Birth Certificate Stirs Controversy

The latest controversy stirring in the camp of the Democratic Presidential candidate revolves around a piece of paper. Barack Obama has thus far abstained from releasing his birth certificate. While in the past many would say such a small matter is an ultimately unimportant matter, in this case it has caused what seems to be a major ruckus among many voters. With the rumors dispelled earlier in Obama's fight for the candidacy coming back into play, some have become skeptical, nervous, and overall anxious over the Illinois Senator's refusal to release the document.

So why should a piece of paper cause such a major commotion? The main issue revolves around the rumors associated with the Obama campaign's withholding of the document. Among them are questions of the place of Senator Obama's birth and some hidden truth behind the Senator's name.

The first rumor is that Senator Obama was actually born in Kenya. This rumor seems to have originated in an email stating to have some hidden information about the details of the Senator's birth. According to the email, Barack Obama's mother was living in Kenya at the time of his birth. The email goes on to allege that after his birth, his mother took him to Hawaii to register the birth.

The issue was raised on Snopes.com, where claims of his Kenyan birth were quickly disseminated, soon becoming claims that the non-American native was running for President in an attempt to disrupt the framework of the United States. Claims of everything from Obama being some sort of conniving secret-Muslim seeking to destroy America to his being the Anti-Christ became all the rage in online forums and blogs. Yet these claims were quickly disputed, and all but forgotten . . . until now.

Now, with the refusal to release his birth certificate, Barack Obama seems to have rekindled the flame beneath this rumor. The benefit and drawback of releasing the document, then, fall along the same lines: releasing it could either prove these claims true, or quickly and efficiently prove them false.