That’s right. John McCain, in addressing questions about his birth, showed a reporter his birth certificate, and it identified the name of the hospital where he was born.

How about it, Senator Obama? Will you do the same? Will you show reporters a hard copy of the version of your birth certificate that identifies the hospital where you were born?

A reporter recently directed to a May article in the Washington Post entitled McCain’s Birth Abroad Stirs Legal Debate.

A few facts reported by WaPo in that story jumped out because they illustrate how McCain and Obama have handled the same question in opposite ways.

McCain was transparent. Obama has been secretive.

Pay attention to the words...

…One person who disagrees with that premise is New Hampshire resident Fred Hollander, who has filed a suit in U.S. District Court claiming that the Republican candidate is “not a natural born citizen.” In an attempt to prove his argument, the 49-year-old computer programmer filed a subpoena last month seeking McCain’s birth certificate.

The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees citizenship services, declined to hand over copies of the document, saying the subpoena was improperly served.

In his autobiography, “Faith of My Fathers,” McCain writes that he was born “in the Canal Zone” at the U.S. Naval Air Station in Coco Solo, which was under the command of his grandfather, John S. McCain Sr. The senator’s father, John S. McCain Jr., was an executive officer on a submarine, also based in Coco Solo. His mother, Roberta McCain, now 96, has vivid memories of lying in bed listening to raucous celebrations of her son’s birth from the nearby officers’ club.

The birth was announced two days later in the English-language Panamanian American newspaper. A senior official of the McCain campaign showed a reporter a copy of the senator’s birth certificate issued by Canal Zone health authorities, recording his birth in the Coco Solo “family hospital.“

Let’s review the facts reported by the Post...

1. Sen. McCain wrote in his autobiography that he was born in the Panama Canal.

2. A citizen filed suit in Federal Court, and asked to see Sen. McCain’s birth certificate.

3. Citing a procedural error, the Dept. of Homeland Security refused to provide it.

4. But John McCain’s campaign volunteered to show a hard copy to a reporter anyway, and that document named the hospital where McCain was born.

5. There is also a newspaper clipping confirming his birth.

6. Roberta McCain, the Senators 96-year-old-mother, provided further verification when she told a story about giving birth to her son.

Now let’s look at the facts of Barack Obama’s situation...

1. Sen. Obama wrote in his memoir that he was born in Hawaii (or did he go that far?).

2. Thousands if not millions of citizens have asked to see Sen. Obama’s birth certificate. None of those people to my knowledge have yet filed a lawsuit.

3. Sen. Obama dodged the request for months.

4. Finally, Sen. Obama published an image on a website that is meant to be his Certification of Live Birth (COLB) from the State of Hawaii. The reference number is blacked out, and to the naked eye, ALL of the markings required to make it a certified document are absent.

5. The COLB form proffered on the Internet by Sen. Obama is used by the State of Hawaii as an abstract of one’s original birth certificate. The abstract includes only bare-bones information: names of the child and parents, city, county, dates, etc.

6. The COLB form does NOT include detailed information from the original birth certificate, such as the name of the hospital, doctor’s signature, parents’ occupations, parents’ signatures, etc.

7. Prior to 2001, the State of Hawaii’s COLB formed included most if not all of the information from the original birth certificate.

8. Sen. Obama, by showing a recently dated COLB, would apparently have us believe that he does not possess an older version with more detailed information.

9. There are conflicting reports about the hospital in which Sen. Obama was born.

10. Sen. Obama has yet to show a hard copy of his birth certificate (not even the short COLB form) to a reporter.

11. No newspaper clippings have been produced verifying Sen. Obama’s birth.

12. Although the Senator’s mother is no longer living, his maternal grandmother (in her 80s) is alive and lucid by all accounts; yet she has been made “unavailable” by the Senator’s campaign.

13. Questions remain unanswered about the authenticity of Sen. Obama’s birth certificate and thus the facts related to his birth.

So, what do you say, Senator Obama? Are you willing to be as responsive as your Republican opponent in showing reporters a hard copy of your birth certificate that identifies the hospital in which you were born?

Or will one of those curious citizens have to file a lawsuit to see it?

If someone does file a lawsuit in federal court, and asks to see a copy of Sen. Obama’s original birth certificate, or a complete facsimile of the original that includes a hospital name, I am sure that the litigant will not make the same error when serving a subpoena to the Department of Homeland Security.