If that certificate is a forgery, they would have to invent a number so it would appear valid. Since the numbers were almost certainly assigned sequentially (e.g. a September birth would have a higher number than an August birth), their phony number would have to fit into that sequence. The forms may have been pre-printed with the serial numbers, and used as needed. At the end of the year, the old forms would have been discarded and a new batch with the new year would have been used.
The form needed to have the embossed seal and signature for validity, the number by itself did not do that.
What is critical about the serial number is that it had to be unique.
By using a the black rectangle (under the meaningless claim of “privacy”), rather than a phony number, they avoid the possibility of someone appearing out of the woodwork clutching a valid certificate with the same number as Obama’s forgery.
That would sink his candidacy faster than the iceberg sank the Titanic.
LOL! And here I was, thinking obama just wanted to protect his anonymity...!
you're right of course.