Eyeing what's behind birther controversy

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama's surprising release of his Hawaiian birth certificate Wednesday might have been aimed at more than heading off what he called a "sideshow," political analysts said.

By personally defending his U.S. citizenship at a White House briefing, Obama might be trying to pry apart an image some opponents have created of him by packaging together his background, race and politics.

While businessman and would-be presidential candidate Donald Trump took credit for forcing Obama's hand, some analysts noted the president requested the "long form" birth certificate the day after a New York Times/CBS poll last week showed nearly half -- 45 percent -- of Republicans think he was born in a country other than the United States.

"That poll raises the interesting issue that this is a potential concern for the White House," said Meena Bose, a presidential scholar at Hofstra University.

Though urging caution, most of the analysts interviewed saw a link between Obama's status as the first black president and questions about his birth.

Franklin Gilliam, dean of UCLA School of Public Affairs, said, "This is the first president to my knowledge who has been asked to prove his birthright and therefore his citizenship."

Of those raising the issue, he said, "They don't think they can attack his racial identity, or they don't think they can attack it directly. They get around it by attacking his citizenship."

Stanley Feldman, a political scientist at Stony Brook University, said his studies find that it is often difficult to determine the effect of race in politics.

"I do think his race and his name are contributing factors in making this issue so salient," Feldman said. "If he was white, if his name was not Barack Obama, it would be harder for people to put the story together in this way."

Feldman said some Republicans early on challenged the citizenship of GOP presidential candidate John McCain, who was born in the Panama Canal zone, but that blew over quickly.

Obama said he was acting to remove a distraction so Washington can address serious issues such as the deficit, but he also might reap political benefits. The new documents could put established Republican leaders who don't question Obama's birth at odds with the tea party members who do.Claremont McKenna college politics professor John J. Pitney said Obama gives a temporary boost to Trump.

He said, "It might serve the president's purposes to make Donald Trump the face of the Republican Party" -- a wealthy man "whose catch phrase is 'You're fired.' "