[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbStYaQESuw]The Obama campaign’s reaction to Mitt Romney’s joke about no one having asked to see his birth certificate is the latest phase in its effort to distract Americans away from the two main issues they care about – namely the economy and jobs.

So far President Obama’s campaign has been one big red herring aimed at getting voters off of his trail.

It’s new ad titled “America Doesn’t Need a Birther-in-Chief” accusing Romney of “embracing unfounded conspiracy theories” is no exception and once again shows that the President wants to wage a campaign of distortion and distraction to win in November.

“Embracing unfounded conspiracy theories, distracting from real issues. America doesn't need a Birther-in-Chief,” the ad says.

Romney’s effort to show a little humor during a campaign stop Friday near Detroit has as much to do with his views about whether or not the President was born in Hawaii or in Kenya as would comments from Jay Leno or Jimmy Fallon during their monologues.

In fact, the presumptive GOP nominee forcefully disputed claims that Obama was born in Kenya when he was asked about it by CNBC’s Larry Kudlow in April 2011.

"I think the citizenship test has been passed. I believe the president was born in the United States. There are real reasons to get this guy out of office," Romney said the day after he formally announced that he's exploring a run for the White House. "The man needs to be taken out of office but his citizenship isn't the reason why."

The Obama people are even so insecure about the birth certificate issue that they put a mug up for sale on BarackObama.com with the President’s purported birth certificate on it. Gotta wonder if they will start putting his birth certificate on milk cartons too in order to remind Americans he was born in America.

A wise campaign strategist would have ignored Romney’s joke because acknowledging it give credence to those who believe in birtherism and because it is a non-issue.

The birth certificate issue is part of a larger problem with President Obama because he has placed everything about himself and his past into forbidden territory – territory that the media would never grant a Republican president. His transcripts and radical past cannot be talked about.

But the whole birth certificate issue pales in comparison with the half-truths the campaign has been pushing on abortion and Bain Capital.

Most recently CNN’s Anderson Cooper called out DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz for distorting Romney’s stance on abortion in cases of rape and incest.

Then you have the Obama campaign refusing to explicitly condemn the pro-Obama Super PAC Priorities USA for running a false ad claiming that Romney killed steelworker Joe Soptic’s wife and Obama Deputy Campaign Manager Stephanie Cutter accusing him of being felon.

One can only conclude that desperation has set in at Obama campaign headquarters in Chicago, and it is going to throw everything at Romney, including distortions, to win.