I'm perfectly willing to believe that he was born in Honolulu. I don't believe he meets the "natural born citizen" requirement for a different reason--his father was not a citizen of the US when he was born. But the legal explanation for why he is not a "natural born citizen" is too hard for most people to understand--and 90% of lawyers are Democrats (rough estimate) and they would spout sophistries to obscure the legal issue.
The media is trying to make this into a major issue in order to help Obama--to allow them to portray his critics as crackpots and to divert attention from other issues.
The MSM is trying to protect Obama and themselves. The objective is to prevent further inquiry into the issue by demonizing those who ask legitimate questions. Obama could end it all by just producing the long form of the birth certificate, which we have been told over and over again by Hawaiian government officials and the Obama administration. The majority of the public has questions about Obama's birth narrative. They want to see the document. The MSM would lose all credibility if it is found that the long form certificate provides information that will shock the country. It would, ipso facto, demonstrate that the MSM did not do its job.
For Obama, it may be a distraction in getting out his own message. I see no problem in going after Obama on his policies and on his personal narrative. We can walk and chew gum at the same time. Were the SBVFT a distraction for Bush or Kerry? If I recall, the Kerry campaign froze like a deer in the headlights for more than three weeks. They were on the defense and never recovered. Rove, McCain, and Bush criticized the SBVFT, but they saved the GOP's sorry ass.