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(Obama) Born in the U.S.A. (says National Review)
National Review ^ | July 28, 2009 | The Editors

Posted on 07/28/2009 5:29:21 AM PDT by reaganaut1

Pres. Barack Obama has a birthday coming up, a week from Tuesday. We hope he takes the day off—or even the whole week, the briefest of respites from his busy schedule of truncating our liberties while exhausting both the public coffers and our patience. The president’s birthday comes to mind because we recently spent some time looking at a photograph of his birth certificate, being held by Joe Miller of Factcheck.org, who took the time to examine it. President Obama was born on August 4, 1961, at 7:24 p.m, in Honolulu County, Hawaii, on the island of Oahu. The serial number on his birth certificate is 010641. Baby Barack’s birth was not heralded, as some of his partisans have suggested, by a star in the east, but it was heralded by the Honolulu Star, as well as the Honolulu Advertiser, each of which published birth announcements for young Mr. Obama.

Much foolishness has become attached to the question of President Obama’s place of birth, and a few misguided souls among the Right have indulged it. The myth that Barack Obama is ineligible to be president represents the hunt for a magic bullet that will make all the unpleasant complications of his election and presidency disappear. We are used to seeing conspiracy theories from the Left, for instance among the one in three Democrats who believe that 9/11 was an inside job conducted with the foreknowledge of the Bush administration. We’ve seen everything under the sun blamed on Dick Cheney and Halliburton, and Rosie O’Donnell has given us much mirth with her metallurgical expertise, while Andrew Sullivan has beclowned himself and tarnished the good name of The Atlantic with his investigation into the “real” parentage of Trig Palin. Most notable, the Iraq War summoned the craziness in a big way, and there are those who still shudder over their espressos at the mention of the Carlyle Group. And there is a fair amount of crossover between those fixated on Obama’s birth certificate and the 9/11 “truthers” — lawyer Phil Berg, for instance, is a player in both worlds. There is nothing that President Obama’s coterie would enjoy more than to see the responsible Right become a mirror image of the loopy Left circa 2003.

The birth-certificate business is not a uniquely conservative phenomenon; the allegation that Obama was born in Kenya seems to have originated with a Hillary Clinton supporter at a blog called The Blue State. Either way, this fantasy is not particularly widespread within the conservative movement, but it has attracted enough interest that it needs to be addressed.

The fundamental fiction is that Obama has refused to release his “real” birth certificate. This is untrue. The document that Obama has made available is the document that Hawaiian authorities issue when they are asked for a birth certificate. There is no secondary document cloaked in darkness, only the state records that are used to generate birth certificates when they are requested.

If one applies for a United States passport, the passport office will demand a birth certificate. It defines this as an official document bearing “your full name, the full name of your parent(s), date and place of birth, sex, date the birth record was filed, and the seal or other certification of the official custodian of such records.” The Hawaiian birth certificate President Obama has produced—the document is formally known as a “certificate of live birth”—bears that information. It has been inspected by reporters, and several state officials have confirmed that the information in permanent state records is identical to that on the president’s birth certificate—which is precisely what one expects, of course, since the state records are used to generate those documents when they are requested. In other words, what President Obama has produced is the “real” birth certificate of myth and lore. The director of Hawaii’s health department and the registrar of records each has personally verified that the information on Obama’s birth certificate is identical to that in the state’s records, the so-called vault copy. Given that fact, we are loath even to engage the fanciful notion that President Obama was born elsewhere, contrary to the information on his birth certificate, but we note for the record that his mother was a native of Kansas, whose residents have been citizens of the United States for a very long time, and whose children are citizens of the United States as well.

The attention paid to President Obama’s place of birth is not unprecedented. In fact, it may be the only thing President Obama has in common with Pres. Chester Arthur, whose opponents whispered that he had been born in Canada. A number of unsuccessful presidential candidates—George Romney, Barry Goldwater, and Lowell Weicker among them—actually were born outside of the United States (in Mexico, the Arizona Territory, and Paris, respectively) to American parents and thereby into American citizenship. If the conspiracy theorists have evidence that President Obama went through the naturalization process, let them show it. But there is no such evidence, because this theory is based on unreality, as two minutes’ examining the claims of its proponents reveals. The hallmark of a conspiracy theory is that a lack of evidence for the theory is taken as yet more evidence for the theory. Indeed, the maddening thing about dealing with conspiracy hobbyists of this or any sort is the ever-shifting nature of their argument and their alleged evidence: Never mind the birth certificate, his step-grandmother said he was born in Kenya! (No, she didn’t.)

One of the unfortunate consequences of this red-herring discussion is that there are plenty of questions about Obama’s background and history that we would like to have answered. In spite of two books of memoirs, there remain murky areas in his biography. And when it comes to those college transcripts, count us among those who’d love to know whether Dr. Bailout ever took an advanced economics class and how he performed in it.

Barack Obama may prefer European-style socialized health care. He may consider himself a citizen of the Earth and sometimes address his audiences as “people of the world,” as though he were born not in another country but on another planet. Like Bruce Springsteen, he has a lot of bad political ideas; but he was born in the U.S.A.


TOPICS: Editorial; Front Page News; News/Current Events; US: Hawaii
KEYWORDS: birthcertificate; birthers; certifigate; obama
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To: reaganaut1

“The director of Hawaii’s health department and the registrar of records each has personally verified that the information on Obama’s birth certificate is identical to that in the state’s records, the so-called vault copy.”

So his father’s race is listed as “African” on the original vault copy?

If everything is so peachy-keen, release the long form for all of us to see.

Hey, Mister Transparency, release your records (all of them). We want to know who you actually are.


101 posted on 07/28/2009 6:06:20 AM PDT by Smokeyblue
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To: Hugin

“an example of a long form birth certificate. . . ?”

/////

One has been shown on FR about a zillion times. Where have you been? The actual long form from Obama, with name of hospital, name of attending physician, signature of attending physician, would satisfy me.


102 posted on 07/28/2009 6:06:27 AM PDT by Genoa
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To: reaganaut1
Obsession with Obama's birth certificate is a distraction from opposing his agenda.

I agree with you.

The mystery surrounding so much of Barack Obama's life is unsettling. If we had a news media at all interested in objective truth, perhaps we would have much less to be unsettled about.

No matter. Obama is the President, and will continue to be until at least the next election. As conservatives, we need to move on to the task of opposing his disastrous and dangerous agenda. That battle needs to be pressed forward with both clearly-voiced principles and an appeal to the fundamental goodness and common sense of the American people.

In that effort we are a political minority, waging a guerrilla war, and doing so without clear leadership. I think it only wise to pick our battles carefully and attack forcefully where the enemy is weakest, not where he can outflank and entrap us.

I remain suspicious of the birth certificate issue. But I love my country and want it back enough to let that issue die - in favor of a strategy that will more likely guarantee a favorable result.

103 posted on 07/28/2009 6:06:28 AM PDT by andy58-in-nh (You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life.)
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To: reaganaut1
It has been inspected by reporters, and several state officials have confirmed that the information in permanent state records is identical to that on the president’s birth certificate

IOW, the BIRTH CERTIFICTATE exists, but nobody has seen it except for some bureaucrats in Hawaii. Well just how hard would it be for the document itself, (which is a document of unique historical value) to be released for inspection by those who have made a demand, in court, for the inspection of it? Why has Obama expended millions of dollars fighting the ability of the courts to inspect the document?

This ain't over reaganaut1. I don't know where Obama was born. He very well may have been born in Hawaii, but there is something Obama is hiding. The lack of curiosity by the MSM is most telling. Obama is an enigma, from his place of birth, to his adoption papers in Indonesia, to his school transcripts, to his thesis, to his mysterious ability to attend private schools with large tuition requirements and no visible means of support.

A man without a biography except for two written by him.

OK, the MSM has declared Obama a "Natural Born Citizen". OK, well who's his daddy? Really?

104 posted on 07/28/2009 6:06:30 AM PDT by P-Marlowe (LPFOKETT GAHCOEEP-w/o*)
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To: GreenLanternCorps

Post #77 contains the relevant law at the time. She was simply not in the country long enough to qualify her son to US citizenship if he was not born in the US.

Hawaii issued BC’s to children born outside the state/country. A fact they do not deny.

Only the long form indicates if he was born in Hawaii or elsewhere. Not the computer generated record provided to the media.


105 posted on 07/28/2009 6:06:36 AM PDT by DB
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To: leilani

I would say one way to clear this up is the movement started in a number of states where any candidate for President must prove his natural born citizenship in order for him to receive any votes. If that is done, Obama will have to prove to all the states that he is a natural born citizen before the 2012 election.


106 posted on 07/28/2009 6:07:03 AM PDT by Old Teufel Hunden
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To: Dr. Ursus

Health care, tax and kill and immigration are at the top of my list alongside these endless czars...and all of my attention are on killing the ones we can kill, like (hopefully, health care, tax and kill and immigration). ;)

That doesn’t mean I won’t pay attention if and when something comes to light on this other issue though like this whole address thing.

I can multitask.


107 posted on 07/28/2009 6:07:06 AM PDT by PowerPro (2009 - Conservative Revolution Reborn (Go Palin!))
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To: 1rudeboy

no it does not mean natural born


108 posted on 07/28/2009 6:07:23 AM PDT by manc (Marriage is between a man and a woman , nothing else-- end racism end affirmative action)
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To: reaganaut1

Once again the National Review lets down the conservative movement. Lowrey is a naive boob. Goldberg is unreadable. And when will he apologize to Ann Coulter?


109 posted on 07/28/2009 6:07:45 AM PDT by y6162 (uish..)
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To: 1rudeboy

Yes! That’s its! Ignore facts such as he is not a natural born citizen as the Founding Fathers understood it because citizenship came through the father when the Constitution was written. Obama’s father was Kenyan. The media will love you.


110 posted on 07/28/2009 6:07:54 AM PDT by DJ MacWoW (Make yourselves sheep and the wolves will eat you. Ben Franklin)
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To: aviator

Actually, where the mom had been traveling is beside the point. She could not have been a U.S. resident long enough even if she had gone nowhere.


111 posted on 07/28/2009 6:08:34 AM PDT by Genoa
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To: Old Teufel Hunden
Obama would have to be born in the U.S. in order to be a natural born American citizen.

No. At the time the Constitution was written, citizenship was conferred by the father. Obama would be a citizen the same as an anchor baby but not a "natural born citizen" as his father was Kenyan.

112 posted on 07/28/2009 6:10:29 AM PDT by DJ MacWoW (Make yourselves sheep and the wolves will eat you. Ben Franklin)
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To: reaganaut1

So I guess, now, that every conservative who does not believe the birthers as well as Ann Coulter and National Review are liberal hacks who have been taken over by the Obama cult.

The birthers believe that the world has been taken over by pod-people. Everyone else has been hypnotized by the Obama cult and only they see the truth.


113 posted on 07/28/2009 6:10:35 AM PDT by awake-n-angry
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To: AlexW
The whole objective of the birther movement is to force Obama to release his REAL birth certificate.

Is that all? No wonder the birthers can't get any traction. What comes after? Impreachment proceedings? Good luck with that.

If anything, the birther movement should work to ensure something like this doesn't happen again. But they're not.

114 posted on 07/28/2009 6:10:59 AM PDT by 1rudeboy
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To: Houghton M.

“Certification and Certificate are exactly the same thing. Period.”

No, it is not.
Certification is an abbreviated document to say that a
certificate exist.
It does not necessarily validate any of the information
from the original.

The one that I recently got from Tennessee, to apply for social security, is a copy of my original CERTIFICATE, photocopied onto a CERTIFICATION form.

All the birthers want is a copy of the hospital issued form that list the hospital and signed by the mother and doctor. THAT, and that only would be proof.

http://i519.photobucket.com/albums/u358/zczc3185/Birth_cert_coats_7c.jpg


115 posted on 07/28/2009 6:11:08 AM PDT by AlexW (Now in the Philippines . Happy not to be back in the USA for now.)
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To: Maceman

Where do people get that he’s spent $1 mm fighting this? I never hear that except on this site. How do we know that? Also maybe he would fight it because he really has shown everything he has to show and knows nothing will satisfy and the lawsuits keep coming.

Look at Palin. She keeps getting sued and the fact that she has to spend lots of money defending herself (she says so) doesn’t mean she is guilty.


116 posted on 07/28/2009 6:11:25 AM PDT by BobMV
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To: reaganaut1

Per Article 2, Section 1 of the U.S. Constitution, one must be a natural born American citizen to serve as President. Barack Obama is NOT eligible for the Presidency because he is not a natural born citizen. The law that applied during the time of Obama’s birth (in effect from December 24, 1952 to November 13, 1986) stated- “If only one parent was a U.S. citizen at the time of your birth, that parent must have resided in the United States for at least ten years, at least five of which had to be after the age of 16.” Obama’s father was a Kenyan citizen (a British Colony) and his mother just 18 at Obama’s birth...” (thus, she would have had to have been 21 in order for Obama to be eligible). John A. Bingham, primary framer, 14th Amendment, states- “Every human being born within the jurisdiction of the United States of parents not owing allegiance to any foreign sovereignty is, in the language of your Constitution itself, a natural born citizen.” Obama himself has stated that he is the son of a Kenyan- Kenya being a foreign sovereignty. Thus, Obama is not a natural born citizen even if he were actually born in Hawaii.


117 posted on 07/28/2009 6:12:38 AM PDT by real_patriotic_american
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To: Will88

same here
I still do not know but the more I looked to put this to rest the more I had questions
from his own family saying he was born in Kenya and seeing him
from a place in Kenya right now as I type saying this is where he was born...

What really gets me is that an Army officer said show it and he refused thus letting the officer not go on deployment.
Then there was granny

He went to visit her AFTER she came out of hospital but this was the time when the courts there were looking at this and he wanted it all sealed.

Then after the campaign he doesn’t go to the funeral.

Now that trip was very shady and brought many questions.

All he has to do is show the thing but he keeps fighting it

WHY?

Not one left wing sheep or one person in the media can answer this with a decent answer.
Instead he lets an officer not go on deployment.

People like OR. say he checked it.
Well how did he do that by looking at that piece of paper on bozo’s website.
No use sitting there and denouncing others when there are questions not being answered.

I just wish I had the money to go to Kenya and take a camera.
I’d go to the place the Kenyans say is his birth place and apparently there is family members cashing in on this so I’ll ask them too if they saw him born there.

What is the betting that if I got all this on camera the media would still refuse to show it but I wonder if you tube would


118 posted on 07/28/2009 6:14:14 AM PDT by manc (Marriage is between a man and a woman , nothing else-- end racism end affirmative action)
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To: villagerjoel

“I think Obama is letting this stew, and when it becomes big enough, they will release it, and make all these people look stupid, burst their bubble, and make anyone who criticizes him fit into the category of “those crazy birthers” from then on”.

...interesting thought you have! This would accomplish 2 things for BO. Make the “crazy birthers” and most conservatives look stupid AND allow him to continue his agenda on the basis of...we can’t tell you HOW this’ll work. Just that it’ll work. He’ll garner a trust factor that could last long enough for a 2nd term and who knows...office for life.


119 posted on 07/28/2009 6:14:28 AM PDT by albie
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To: 1rudeboy

“Is that all? No wonder the birthers can’t get any traction. What comes after? Impreachment proceedings? Good luck with that.”

I have no idea.
The purpose of my post was to correct your nonsense.
The moon is not an island of Hawaii !!!!


120 posted on 07/28/2009 6:15:00 AM PDT by AlexW (Now in the Philippines . Happy not to be back in the USA for now.)
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