Mark is right about that IF the sole political meaning of the birther movement had to do with proving that Obama is ineligible to serve and, therefore, removing him from office.
As any political analyst worth their salt should know, however, the "birther" issue is a proxy for a deep and wide, in fact, pervasive skepticism about this President's background --- to wit, his non-American mentality --- in general.
If that generalized skepticism uses the birther label to express itself, so be it. But this means that analysts are severely missing the point if they think birtherism is solely, or even primarily, about showing a birth certificate and getting Obama out of office. Nothing could be further from reality.
For many, it's about expressing the fact that they truly wonder if this dude is, culturally, an American at all (regardless of where he was born or what his citizenship is).
For others it is also appalling to discover that there is no public process for determining, challenging and remedying eligibility issues. This must be fixed.
So it really depends on what the definition of "gets us anywhere" is.
In crass political terms, of course the birther issue helps Obama's opponents, whoever they are. It intrisically blares every scrap of distrust of Obama that is out there, regardless of whether that distrust is related to a birth certificate or not. It screams out that the nation has made a huge mistake. It shouts from the mountaintops, "Who the hell is this man and how did he get to the White House?" Not just birthers are asking that question, Mark.
No serious political analyst would suggest that the fact that such questions are still asked about a sitting president --- baseless or not --- is a neutral political phenomenon.