Unstamped certificate suggests Obama may not be "natural born" US citizen (Updated 6/26)

Israel Insider ^ | June 26, 2008 | Reuven Koret

[Red Steel]

UPDATE 6/26:

Janice Okubo, in response to an Israeli Insider question on Tuesday, would not confirm nor deny whether she had told a St. Petersburg Times reporter whether she had said the birth certificate was "real", citing the statutory stipulation that "Hawaii state law (HRS §338-18) prevents disclosure of information contained in vital statistics records except to those people who have a direct and tangible interest in the record as defined by statute." This would, however, seem to negate the propriety of any disclosure by her of confidential information.

Jim Geraghty of The National Review Online, following up on this Israel Insider report, said he had contacted Okubo:

"I spoke to Ms. Okubo late Wednesday afternoon, and she said she had seen the version of Obama's certificate of live birth posted on the sites. While her office cannot verify the information on a form without the permission of the certificate holder (Obama), she said "the form is exactly the same" and it has 'all the components of a birth certificate' record issued by the state. In other words, she sees no reason to think the version posted on Obama's web site and Daily Kos is not genuine."

"The 'embossed seal' in question is, she said, probably on the back of the document provided to Daily Kos, but not visible (as in another certificate posted on Israel Insider for contrast). She thinks the difference in visibility can be attributed to the pressure used when applying the seal."

Geraghty's interpretation of Okubo's comments is inexact and tendentious. First, her observation that "the form is the same" is not contested, here or elsewhere. No one is doubting that the form that appears on the various websites (including this one) is a replica of that used for valid certificates. Therefore Geraght's interpretation that follows "In other words" is clearly his own conclusion, not hers.

Indeed, Okubo confirms to Geraghty that the image is lacking the "embossed seal" (and the official signature) that are required for the certificate to be valid. While "she thinks" that the difference in visibility might be attributed to varying "pressure," she admits that she does not know and has not seen the original.

Contrasting the purported Obama image with the DeCosta sample, it is hard to imagine the embossed seal and signature being of such light pressure that they would become completely invisible. An inked date of June 6, 2007, in reverse, does come through. But in any event, Okubo's confirmation that the premsumptive birth certificate is lacking the required stamps makes it all the more imperative for Obama to release the original paper certification, the only valid kind, and not an easy-to-photoshop electronic facsimile thereof. It should not be hard to produce, since Hawaii provides for family members to request them.

Even though Geraghy notes that Obama "initially refused to provide his birth certificate," he has suggested that it is "rather unlikely" that Obama was born in Kenya, since it would require that the candidate and his family do a lot of lying. In fact, there were reports of Kenyati relatives claiming he was born there, and there is the mysterious disappearance of his grandmother, who may indeed know something about this subject.

After all, being born in Hawaii is part of the "family legend" and it would be unreasonable to expect this to vary from interview to interview, especially when a non-Hawaiian birth would invalidate Obama's run for the presidency.

It is indeed hard to believe that Obama could have gone through his life without having to prove that he was an American citizen. But the credulity with which the mainstream media has automatically accepted as valid the image that appears on the radical left Daily Kos blog and on the Obama campaign's polemical "Fight the Smears" website makes it clear that many have been unwilling, now and in the past, to demand proof of an authentic document. They prefer to accept on faith that the candidate or his campaign would not lie about such a thing, assuming he has nothing to hide and no motive to lie.

But until the certified paper birth document is produced -- either by media pressure or a legal challenge in any state -- the fact remains that Obama has not proven that he is a "natural born citizen" eligible to be President according to the Constitution.

[Colonel_Flagg]

and there is the mysterious disappearance of his grandmother, who may indeed know something about this subject.

Last time I look, Hussein threw her under the bus in his "race" speech. Perhaps they ought to look there.

[Red Steel]

I meant to say "accused" the Obama campaign. See post #15. If the Obama people now come up with a better image(resolution) of the same document, with all the certifying markings, which proves it's valid. And then they try to make political hay by accusing bloggers of smear tactics over his birth certificate.

My question to them, the Obama campaign, is why didn't they do that in the first place? Why did they take soooo long? Are you guys incompetent or are you guys using deceptive tactics? It sure appears you guys are being deceptive. I know they knew about the controversy that is simmering on the web about the birth certificate, which brings me back to the first question, why did they take so long?

[Red Steel]

LoL!

[Gondring]

You think you can make that stick...? Or will it be, “we released a scan of the legitimate document...but look at the paranoia in these people, that they hounded me to go out of my way to submit to their ridiculous demands, in their hopes to distract me from my campaign of change...”?

[Gondring]

Funny...if they went to the trouble to get a fake Hawaii certificate, do you think they wouldn’t just fake embossing?!?

[esquirette]

Once I went to get a certified copy of a death certificate and the clerk prepared it in front of me. They had the paper under lock and key at the vital records office. I remarked that I thought that was odd, and she responded that the plain paper goes for hundreds on the street.

I am wondering if just a bit of plain vital records paper somehow escaped Honolulu. It is just too strange. No signature. No certification.

[Political Junkie Too]

I'd believe it given the state of illegal immigration today. At first thought, I wonder what kind of illegal immigration an island state in the middle of the Pacific Ocean might have, but the paper could be sent to the mainland for forgery of birth certificates. I wonder what the market demographics would be for forged Hawaiian birth certificates? I'd think it can't be Hispanics, because I don't recall Hispanics making up a large part of the Hawaiian population. Would it be Polynesian/Asian immigrants faking Hawaiian birth certificates?

-PJ

[Red Steel]

I don't no if I could make it stick, but I'll argue it for all its worth.

paranoia in these people

Paranoia? On the contrary, the questions about the irregularities that appear in your birth certificate that your campaign published online are reasonable, especially since you are running for president.

[Red Steel]

Funny...if they went to the trouble to get a fake Hawaii certificate, do you think they wouldn’t just fake embossing?!?

A 1,000 dollar question.

[wideminded]

and there is the mysterious disappearance of his grandmother, who may indeed know something about this subject.

She appears here ... for a whole 4 seconds.

[Red Steel]

Arrg.

no = know

[Gondring]

So you think you can make that stick, while people haven’t really batted an eye at the delay in dumping the Rev Wright? Especially if it comes out that the certification is valid?

[Milligan]

You forgot about the Illinois State Senator Race.
Obama had Alice Palmer and two other opponents taken out of the election by challenging all of their petition signatures.

He ran unopposed.

[Red Steel]

Look, Obama playing the victim about his birth certificate is not going to be decisive in him winning the election if he produces the genuine BC document. It will only be a blip among many other issues that will pass by. The sky will still be blue. If he's lying about his birth certificate, his campaign will be in big trouble.

If more pertinent information becomes available about the Obama's birth certificate , I will post it.

[Political Junkie Too]

Keep reading. I updated the post later on.

Thanks for noticing, though. More people need to know.

-PJ

[Milligan]

She is a Democrat most likely.
I’m sure she doesn’t want to get elected out of office for messing up Messiah’s chances to get to the WH.
What would you do?
I do the same thing.

So you would call that a conflict of interest because of her political loyalities.

Legal authority should intervene.

What is wrong to investigate?
If we were wrong...we are wrong...at least we got to the bottom of the problem.

This is how I feel.
I’m a taxpayer.
I will be paying Obama’s salary and retirement package.
I have a need to know.

[Gondring]

It’s embossed.

[Red Steel]

I don’t see it.

[Red Steel]

What would you do? I do the same thing.

I'd do the right thing. No job is worth one's integrity.

[Gondring]

My two-minute throw-together reply.

First of all, get the highest resolution version. Then zoom in, to the area above the reversed date stamp.

Photobucket makes my bitmaps into jpgs, but this should illustrate where to look for the faint marks of the embosser--which you don't see elsewhere on the document. I've circled a portion in red.

Could it have been Photoshopped? Sure! But rather than blow this out of proportion and cry "Wolf!" let's be cautious.

And...I didn't even just edit the originals, but did this from screenshots...and I didn't try to size and overlay the embossing seal. I'm leaving those exercises to others.

Here's an example seal: