I know, I know, not one more keystroke should be wasted on the Obama birther “controversy.”  I’ve got nothing revelatory to add to this non-story, but I just want to point out what savvy Obama displayed in handling this.

Kudos to him for dragging his heels on releasing his long form birth certificate.

The common wisdom says that Obama did not dig up the long form earlier because he didn’t want to get his white gloves dirty.

He was above the fray, remember.  He was taking the high road when it came to the politics of smear.  And I do believe that, in spite of the compromises he’s made since taking office, he still is a pragmatic idealist (if that contradiction actually works).

But I also think he’s a wily hustler, thank God, who had the good sense to the let the birther stuff drag on and on until it got closer to re-election season.

Letting Trump, Palin, Beck, Bachmann, et al grab the spotlight and hang onto it was political genius.  Of course he could’ve gotten the form released earlier – he’s the goddamn president of the second most powerful country on the planet – but he didn’t.  This is some serious jujitsu shit we’re talking, using your enemies’ weight against them and all that stuff.

I would bet cash money that Obama’s been sitting quietly in the basement rumpus room of the White House, smiling smugly at his presidential mega-screen TV, watching all the news channels waste time on people who, at the end of the day, are still fringe wingnuts who are digging the Republicans’ grave for them.

Or so I thought.

The only thing that still interests me in this story, besides it being a showcase of Obama’s political savvy, are these two little nuggets:

A recent New York Times-CBS news poll found that 45 percent – FORTY FIVE PERCENT (caps mine) – of adults (NOT SEVEN YEAR OLDS – WE ARE TALKING PEOPLE 18 OR OLDER) believed Obama was born in another country or weren’t sure.

(NOW: EVEN IF I GIVE THESE PEOPLE THE BENEFIT OF THE DOUBT AND ASSUME THAT THEY AREN’T CYNICAL, THAT THEY’RE JUST STUPID ENOUGH TO THINK THAT HAWAII ISN’T PART OF THE UNITED STATES, THAT’S STILL A HELLUVA A LOT OF PEOPLE WHO DOUBT OBAMA’S CITIZENSHIP AND PROBABLY STILL THINK 9/11 WAS AN INSIDE JOB!!!). (excess exclamation points also mine).

Another recent poll, conducted by USA Today/Gallup, found that only 38 percent of Americans thought that Obama was “definitely born in the United States.”

Hang on, let’s do the math – one hundred minus thirty eight equals sixty two.  THAT MEANS THAT 62 PERCENT – OVER HALF – OF POLL RESPONDENTS BELIEVE THAT OBAMA MAY NOT HAVE BEEN BORN IN THE UNITED STATES.  SUDDENLY I’M PINING FOR THE GOOD OLD DAYS WHEN “ONLY” 45 PERCENT OF THE FOLKS OUT THERE WERE EITHER A) RACISTS USING THE BIRTH CERTIFICATE ISSUE FOR COVER, OR, B) AGAIN, PEOPLE WHO ARE DUMBER THAN A BAG OF HAMMERS.

Either way it’s scary, and it’s scary numbers like these that led to Obama flying his own personal attorney out to Hawaii to get two official copies of the more-detailed certificate, which show that Barack Hussein Obama II was born at 7:24 p.m., on August 4, 1961 at Kapiolani Maternity and Gynecological Hospital in Honolulu.

I’m 100% sure he didn’t want to do it, but 62% of crazy is still a lot of votes to worry about.

My next cash money bet: I give Trump a week max before he finds some “expert” to “prove” that this document is forged.