Many people assume that Barack Obama has publicly released his birth certificate. That's false for two reasons:
1. The "birth certificate" shown on his website is a "certification of live birth" ("COLB").
2. More to the point, all he's publicly released is a picture of that COLB.

To help explain the difference between an object and the picture of that object, would you accept a picture of a $100 bill in lieu of an actual $100 bill?

If someone claims they own a Ferrari and, when challenged, they send you a picture of them standing next to a Ferrari; is that proof of ownership? If, when challenged again, they upload a picture of the pink slip, is that proof of ownership? Of course, neither are. They could have taken the first picture at a dealership, and the second picture could have been modified, could have been taken after the car had been repossessed, and so on.

That doesn't mean that what's pictured on Obama's site has been modified. Once again: I'm not claiming that Obama has posted a modified picture or that FactCheck is lying. I am only claiming that a picture on a webpage is not conclusive proof.

To help clear that up, let's imagine this conversation at the library:

Clerk: "To give you a library card, we need your birth certificate."

Obama: "Sure, just look on my website, there's a picture."

Clerk: "What?!? We can't accept a picture. We need the actual paper certificate, and then we'll need to verify it with the issuing agency. Otherwise, how do we know you didn't modify that image?"

Obama: "But, I'm famous! I'd never do anything like that!"

Clerk: "With all due respect, you have a habit of lying and doing things the 'Chicago Way'. The media is even worse, actively lying and covering for you. I'd like to trust you, but I can't. We need the actual paper certificate. Personally, I don't think you'd be so bold as to do something like that, but then again it's not like there aren't a lot of fake pictures on the internet. That doesn't mean yours is a fake, but there's always that possibility. You're asking me to trust you, but we go on facts around here."

Obama: "But, Hawaii issued a press release confirming my certificate!"

Clerk: "See, now you're trying to mislead. If you go read the full text of their 10/31 statement carefully, you'll see that they never said anything about what's on the certificate. They only said they have a certificate on file. They didn't say that what they have on file matches what's on your site. They didn't even mention your website or the picture in their statement. They only talked about what they have on file. If you disagree, quote the specific part of that statement in which they verified that your picture matches what's on file."

Obama: "Well, it's here somewhere... I know it's here... OK, well, now, OK... OK... .... ...... Hmmm..... OK... er.... er... hem... er...haw... Now, look, CNN says there's nothing to this. Isn't that good enough?"

Clerk: "CNN???? Are you trying to make me laugh? We need the actual certificate and we'll need to verify it."

Obama [on phone]: "David, the library is giving me a hard time. I need you to send in reinforcements. How many sockpuppets can you send here right now?"