We know we speak often of Texas Gov. Rick Perry. We know those evaluations are seldom, if ever, positive. The truth is, if it weren’t for the things he says with shocking regularity, we wouldn’t have such a fine foil for talking about important issues. His most recent comments of controversy, that he doesn’t have a definitive answer to President Barack Obama’s place of birth, provide us with that foil yet again.

To his credit and our reassurance, Perry clarified his comments, saying of Obama’s birthplace that “It doesn’t matter. He’s the president of the United States. He’s elected. It’s a distractive issue.” This time, Perry is hitting the nail on the head with a respectable quantity of pragmatism.

Obama won the 2008 election with 9.5 million more votes than Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. He carried 28 states to McCain’s 22, and won with the support of more than two-thirds of the Electoral College. Constitutional issues are very important, but absent proof that he was born outside the United States, what is clearly the will of such a high proportion of the electorate and the rest of our political system should win out.

We remember the short presidential campaign of Donald Trump, who often focused on his doubts about Obama’s birth in Honolulu. Those claims were the source of most of the attention he garnered. How many of you remember Trump having an actual idea of his own that wasn’t stated in broad, generalized terms? Talking about constitutional issues, which are matters for the judicial courts to decide once cases reach them, only dims the lights that illuminate policy issues that actually affect people.

Meanwhile, as fringe Republicans worked to undermine a duly elected president’s constitutional legitimacy, Obama at least attempted to put forth ideas about the direction policy should take during his time in office. To his credit, he ignored discourse that had no bearing on the political measures he proposed and worked toward solutions that would protect the environment in which we all live, deliver a minimum standard of care to the sick, preserve the stability of our financial institutions, and put Americans back to work.

This is America, and people are innocent until proven guilty, right? Unless someone comes forth with contrary documentation, then we should take our president — the highest officer of our republic — at his word.

But maybe journalists should continue asking candidates the question: Where was Obama born? The answers to questions like these show the candidates’ priorities and how much they buy into irrelevant conspiracy theories.