Continued questions about Barack Obama's birth certificate demonstrate that the major parties  need  to  institute a requirement  that  those who want  a party's nomination should first have to undergo a full scale FBI background check before seeking the nomination.  Such a requirement would insure party members had all necessary information before choosing candidates. 

Israel Insider, a major online newspaper in Israel, is claiming that the birth certificate Barack Obama is using to claim  to have been born in Hawaii is a forgery.   Analysis indicates   it might be  a modified version of his half-sister Maya Kassandra Soetoro's birth certificate.  You may recall that online experts exposed a forged document Dan Rather attempted to use to discredit George W. Bush four years ago.

If the claim is correct, it would not necessarily mean Obama wasn't born in Hawaii.  He could have simply have used her birth certificate instead of obtaining a copy of his own.  I don't know why he would do so, but it is a possibility.  Perhaps there is some type of adverse information on his birth certificate.

Obama's citizenship is potentially questionable because his parents were not both U.S. citizens as was the case with John McCain's parents.  Being born to a mother who was a U.S. citizenship would not automatically have conferred  U.S. citizenship because his father was not  a U.S. citizen.  Being born  in  the United States or  their possessions would have eliminated  any question.  The laws in effect at the time were complex and his mother's extended residence outside the U.S. would have worked against him.  

The citizenship question is important because the Constitution requires presidents to be a "natural born citizen"  but does not define the qualification.

The Democratic Party should request  Hawaiian authorities and/or the FBI to investigate to determine if there is a valid birth certificate on file for him.    Past elections indicate that the truth will eventually come out.  Democrats need to find out the truth before they nominate someone who might be using an invalid document to claim eligibility to run for president.  Nominating an ineligible presidential candidate would  probably  give the election to Sen. John McCain, regardless of whom Democrats chose to replace Obama.
 
Democrats had to replace vice presidential candidate Thomas Eagleton in 1972 after it was belatedly discovered he had been treated for depression.

Presidential and vice presidential candidates have no secrets.  Anything questionable in the their past will likely come out  like  George W,. Bush's DUI arrest when he was young.   A background check would insure that party members would know about such problems before choosing a nominee.
 
The issue in this case can be resolved easily if Obama will authorize Hawaii to show a copy of his birth certificate to the media.   For the future, the parties need to have background checks.