The latter can't be won without fighting some of the former. I asked once before, but I'll rephrase... which battles do you believe are worth the effort?
Ultimately the only battles which are effective are ones which end in persuasion of people to one’s point of view, outlook ideas etc.
So, unless conservatives can convince others that conservative values and ideals about governance are better than liberals’, there is no point to any of the so-called ‘battles’.
The birthers are counter-effective in this regard. Not only do they not persuade others toward conservative values, they put them off ... and they put off other conservatives as well.
Even if they ‘win the battle’ of the birth certificate, they haven’t advanced conservatism. If, however they used all that energy to persuade others’ that Obama’s values, proposals, policies etc are bad for the country and bad for individuals ... then each person persuaded is a battle that was ‘worth the effort’.