I disagree with Hecht on this one. If today's release of Obama's long-form birth certificate ends up allowing Donald Trump to "look like he put the screws to the president," I think that's actually great for the president.

It's only in Obama's interest to let a guy who 64 percent of Americans say they will "definitely not" back for president become the most powerful voice in the Republican primary.

I also don't see this release as legitimizing the nutjobs who spent years building an elaborate, obviously false conspiracy theory around the lack of a long-form Obama birth certificate.

Who knows exactly why the White House chose this day, of all days, for the release (word is Hawaii officials just last night sent the long form over) but from where I sit, the timing only helps Obama. The higher the heights of conspiracy theorizing, the greater the fall.

Or, to put it another way: Obama loves a rope-a-dope move, and this could be his most patient and large scale roping of dopes to date.

And sure, a lot of birthers will still resist all evidence and logic in order to cling to the idea that Obama isn't an American. At this point, though, it just makes them look all the more crazy.