“If you use the BC issue as your first point of attack, and it turns out that he really was born in Hawaii, you’ve lost what little credibility you have”
In a legal brief, this isn’t an either-or proposition. In a legal brief, you would start with the point that place of birth has not yet been definitely established and point to the evidence supporting that claim and argue for a remedy to redress that problem (e.g., subpoena the LFBC) on grounds that birth outside U.S. would definitively establish he wasn’t NBC—a matter on which there would be no legal dispute.
You then would turn to your “next line of defense” which is that “even if it were demonstrated that BHO was born in Hawaii” he fails the NBC test on grounds that both parents weren’t citizens. You can even acknowledge that his paternity has not been established beyond all reasonable doubt and that the original LFBC would help resolve this issue too. After all, if Frank Davis were his father, then proof of birth in Hawaii in conjunction with proof that Frank Davis was a U.S. citizen would suffice to establish NBC status. Thus, there end up being 2 independent reasons to secure the LFBC: to confirm place of birth AND to confirm paternity. But in this second argument, you would place most weight on Obama’s own claim that BHO, Senior is his father, in which case the available record demonstrates convincingly he was not a citizen. Hence, by Vattel and others, you can establish Obama fails the 2 citizen parents test. This argument would of necessity have to explain why Wong Kim was ruled incorrectly or has been misinterpreted etc.
Any reasonable court is not going to let their skepticism (or your failure to prove) the first point “contaminate” their ruling on the second point. If this were a purely political matter to be decided by public opinion then I would concur that the credibility issue might need to be given greater weight. The reality in light of Obama’s obstinance is that this matter can ONLY be resolved in a court of law. Having stonewalled for 2 years, Obama has no incentive to reverse himself now, especially if the evidence shows he fails the NBC test for either reason.