Would anyone have predicted that we would have a POTUS who obstinately refuses to identify himself, as the Constitution stipulates, and simultaneously have a Congress that fears to protect and defend it?
Everyone is scared to death of the blow back of revealing who he is and that he might not even be Constitutionally qualified.
They are hoping he will just go away and they can wash their hands of the whole mess.
My guess is that he was never expected to win, he was just to be a bludgeoning tool in subsequent elections after he lost to Hitlery about how racist America is.
Politicians are cowards by nature. They love to take the path of least resistance. To toot my horn on or about June 30th, 2008, I predicted this issue would not go away (FR post) until it was resolved no matter how long it took.