>True - but at the same time there is no question that there are those that do oppose him because of race. The argument about where he was born in the best example - here you have people questioning the legitimacy of his presidency. The inability for him to be able to appoint federal judges for such an extended amount of time that it can result in shutting down part of the government is another prime example.

I've already said before that he could have mitigated some of the "birther" talk by producing sufficient documentation during the 2007-2008 period. (And as Marcia and others have pointed out, remember that the birther talk can be traced back to the Clinton camp).

He waited until spring of 2011 to produce his long form (and remember, it was pressure from the Trump camp that led to that). I think there is merit to the theory that he didn't release the information during 2008 because of the number of people who had been misled into thinking he wasn't born in the U.S..

As for the federal judges issue - I hate to say this, but you can pin a good amount of the blame on Harry Reid. Reid sat on certain bills (even ones with support from moderate Democrats) because he basically wanted to protect Obama from having to veto them. Reid then pulled that stunt with the so-called "nuclear option" in late 2013. Reid was warned by insiders that if the Dems lost the Senate, the Rs would make the Dems pay dearly. You can argue about whether it's revenge - and I won't disagree with you - but the fact is that some of this can be pinned on Reid's conduct.