In February, Sarah Palin said the “birther” issue – whether President Obama was really born in the U.S. – was a “distraction” from more important issues.
Over the weekend, though, Palin defended real estate mogul Donald Trump’s recent attempts to raise doubts about Obama’s citizenship, saying:
“I appreciate that the Donald wants to spend his resources on something that so interests him and so many Americans, you know more power to him.”
Perhaps fueled by Trump’s rise in the polls, former Alaska governor’s remarks on Sunday seems to signal a shift in her opinions on the “birther” issue.
“Obviously there is something that the president doesn’t want people to see, that he sees going to great lengths to make sure it isn’t shown,” she said.
“And I think that’s perplexing for a lot of people.”
The issue is perplexing from either perspective.
“It’s kind of ludicrous at this point,” Dr. Chiyome Fukino, the former director of Hawaii’s Department of Health, said in a recent interview with NBC.
Fukino says that he has reviewed Barack Obama’s birth certificate more than once and said that “birthers” and other doubters will never be satisfied.
Even Bill O’Reilly has called out Trump for his grandstanding, while others, such as John Legend, have alleged that “birther” allegations are racist.
What do you think? Was Obama born in the U.S.?