BIRTH CERTIFICATE RELEASE AS 11-DIMENSIONAL CHESS

Politico's Playbook has an explanation -- unsourced, but plausible -- of at least some of the thinking behind the release of President Obama's birth certificate:

MARGINALIZING TRUMP was one purpose of the White House birther blast. Democrats feared that Trump could be out there saying crazy things, splattering President Obama, while the real Republican candidates would be able to talk about their own messages rather than attacking, and therefore look less partisan by comparison.

I said something somewhat similar a couple of days ago:

I also think the rise of Trump has deprived other nutjobs -- Bachmann, Cain, Santorum, Gingrich -- of media oxygen. They can't get traction as an alternative to Romney; Trump has -- and then he's probably going to withdraw from the fray.

Team Obama and anyone else who fears the election of a Republican president in 2012 should want the other crazies to get more attention; the alternative is a grind-it-out win by Moneybags Mitt -- who could then beat Obama in a general election posturing as a "sane" Republican, even though, if he becomes president, he's just as likely to turn into a 50-state Scott Walker as any of the crazier-seeming Republicans.

So, yeah, it may be a good idea to try to hobble Trump, or at least try to make him seem less worthy of so much attention from the mainstream press. Time for the other nuts to grab the spotlight.