“Birth certificates if I recall can be requested if pay some fee. They are not sealed.”
BCs in Hawaii ARE private (probably to prevent identity theft) - certain other documents such as marriage certificates are not.
The ONLY way to receive a copy of a BC in Hawaii is to be the person in question, or to be a relative of the person in question (after that person has died).
A relative has to produce documentation that he is related and ALSO a certified Death Certificate of the person in question.
The State of Hawaii then verifies the information.
The “sealing” of Obama’s BC is probably a ruse - no need to seal something others can’t get ... but they probably mean that they locked it in a safe.
From what I know about Hawaii, they have some really strict privacy laws. I am not really familiar with Hawaiian laws. Things is, I have seen sites like 1-800 US Seach, where you can pay a fee to get their birth certificate, crime records, and various other stuffs about a person. You can get it from any other person.