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.
Certification and Certificate are exactly the same thing. Period.
That jumped out at me too. They can't even get basic facts straight and they're trying to convince "birthers" that they're crazy!
RNC Political establishment to the rank and file.
“First you guys want that regular gal Palin nominated and now you insist on evidence and facts. Not this **** again, go away and let us show you how to rule and be politically expedient.
That possible reason is that the WH can use the issue itself to marginalize his opposition and paint them all as kooks as a means of providing effective cover for an agenda far more damaging than having a guy with a foreign-born father in the oval office. Straight out of the Alinsky playbook, yall.
It's become impossible not to notice that this issue bursts through the background chatter in the MSM every time BO & the agenda he's trying to push through while he still can gets in trouble. He could end this issue right now by presenting his BC to the Supreme Court if he wants - but he doesn't because it's far more valuable to him if he keeps it concealed. Check out the front page news on FR & count how many articles are on this issue as opposed to nationalized health care. It's working, even here.
Ann Coulter & the National Review would I'm sure agree that a huge flaw in our system has been exposed by the WH's shenanigans on his BC. We don't seem to have a mechanism in place to ensure requirements by candidates for & winners of the office are met. But they understand that this issue is being exploited by Axelrod & Company RIGHT NOW to deflect attention from the really damaging stuff they're trying to accomplish here. Ross Perot used to call this tactic "gorilla dust" - gorillas kick up dust into their opponents' eyes in order to divert attention from what they're really doing. THERE is your conspiracy, freepers: right under your noses.
Barack Obama isn't going anywhere. He could completely remake the US system & our very way of life while we're all obsessing about long form BC's & the meaning of "natural born" & obscure comments by BO's relatives and all of these other wastes of bandwidth which are ultimately inconsequential things. Ann Coulter & the National Review & others who are now considered RINOs around here (& just who isn't these days?lol) want you to keep your eyes on the REAL ball, people, not on the BO WH's own cynically generated gorilla dust.
According to some on FR, yes. Their basis is the cut and pasted newspaper announcement which doesn't say where he was born, a short form bc that's been proven a forgery and then they post copies of when he threw his name in the hat where all he had to do was check a box that says he's a citizen and sign his name.
Kansas
“and if he was born in Hawaii, then he is “natural born.”
Errr. you said he could be born on the moon and still be a natural born citizen.. Make up your mind.
The whole objective of the birther movement is to force Obama
to release his REAL birth certificate.
Three words...... WILD GOOSE CHASE...
The democrat clowns in Hawaya could produce a birth certificate for Foghorn Leghorn if they wanted to.. Its about sending some of the "conservatives" on a trip after wild geese.. It worked too.. You know make them too busy to deal with the socialization of America..
Interesting...I had not heard that his parents never actually resided at that address. That is curious for sure...
Yea, right, McLame and Grahamese, et al are doing such a good job of opposing OdumbO, we don't want to confuse them.
Not true,I have both.I could not get a passport with a certification of live birth from the passport office unless I was born abroad.
I am in America but have family in the UK.
When my son was born I put an article in the paper in the UK.
Then there is the other reason.
She wanted her son to be an America so she could come back here with him.
She did not want him to stay in Kenya.
So she gets the announcement in the paper and says he was born there in HI to the authority and says it was Doc who delivered him but they did not know his name.
Bingo on her return she tells the officials this and she gets the B/C
Fact is I do not know if he is or not but all he has to do is show the thing instead of keep fighting it.
Why does he fight it?
Why does two of his own family say that they saw him born in Kenya?
Why are the Kenyans convinced that he was born there and they have his birth place for tourists to see?
How did he get to Pakistan in 81 because you could not have an American passport back then.
Why is ALL his records from the past sealed and refuses to talk about them
Remember how he loved his granny
Remember how he stopped the campaign so he could see her AFTER her hospital visit and stay
This was the same time he flew back when the court was looking at this issue.
He loved her so much he goes AFTER hospital and NEVER GOES TO THE FUNERAL
How is that Hawaii is the governing body that defines the Constitutional term ‘natural born citizen’? They are not. There is no precedent legally for how this term is defined.
This is exactly why I have been saying for the past week that the Obama birth certificate issue is secondary to the real issue of how is the term ‘natural born citizen’ defined. Because the democrats, and the MSM are now going to try to force upon the country their own definition of ‘natural born citizen’ which will include people born with a non-citizen parent and dual loyalties.
I have been calling members of Congress and the media to point this out. There should be a Court ruling on the legal definition of the term ‘natural born citizen’. We need to get this aspect of the issue out there. This is a legal question based upon the already established fact that Obama’s father was not an American citizen. It is a Constitutional issue and not a conspiracy theory or an accusation.
“”If I’m shown a real long form BC of Bammy’s, I WILL shut up.......til then.....RELEASE THE HOUNDS!!””
AMEN! Yesterday was the first time I’ve ever seen FOX reporting any part of this - Bret Baier at 6 pm (very short)and O’Reilly at 8. Glenn Beck has said he WON’T talk about it - don’t know about Hannity.
A lousy, measly piece of paper is all we’re asking for.
NO they're not. Certificate of Live Birth is the document and term used by Hawaii on for their long form for years. The Certification of Live Birth is the computer generated form that is often issued now.
But, the Certificate of Live Birth was issued in 1961 when Obama was born. And two state officials say they have seen the original, or the vault copy.
Dear Kathryn,
There has never been a President who has not had two American citizen parents. Obama has already admitted to being born with dual citizenship and that his father was a Kenyan / British citizen. This alone raises the legitimate legal question as to his eligibility for President. From my understanding the Court has never ruled on this clause of the Constitution.
The Constitution states:
“No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States.”
Of course McCain’s eligibility was challenged and the statement was repeated throughout Congress that he had two American citizen parents so he was a ‘natural born citizen’.
Is Obama a ‘natural born citizen’?
Of course there is also the issue of Obama’s birth certificate but really that is secondary to what is already known about him and that is that he had dual citizenship at birth and his father was not an American citizen.
Can someone from NRO who knows the law comment on the definition of a ‘natural born citizen’? Can any foreigners baby if born here be eligible for President regardless of their possible dual loyalty to another country?
Hopefully you will respond.
Thanks,
(From an e-mail I sent)
being held by Joe Miller of Factcheck.org,
Oh.
Well, then THAT certainly nails it for me. Nothing like a partisan biased shill for Zero to set my mind at ease.
Unseal the freakin records, dammit.
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.
That's all I'm looking for too. I don't think we'll ever see it because I don't think it exists. All I want to see is some documentation that proves he is, as he claims to be, a natural born US Citizen. As I understand it, the "short form" or "certificate of live birth" could (at that time) be obtained in Hawaii even if you were born elsewhere. Therefore the short form is not sufficient documentation to prove natural born citizenship status.
Along with obama's full "long form" birth certificate (if it does exist) I want to see the records of his youth unsealed. As a citizen I demand to know a little bit more about the President. Particularly a President whose ideals seem to be so at odds with a majority of Americans, and whose policies are significantly changing America (not for the better) into a socialist / fascist state. What is known about obama's youth is troubling, indicating he may not have been claiming US Citizenship. The documentation of this needs to be brought forth, or refuted.
Until these serious questions are answered to reasonable satisfaction, I believe the "birth certificate" issue will continue to dog obama. In particular, there are contradictory stories and statements surrounding the issue - the kind you might expect if people were struggling to get their lies right. "I've seen his original birth certificate..." "...all long form paper documents were destroyed..." "He has a copy of his original birth certificate..." "...no, his original birth certificate cannot be located..." All statements made by people who purported to know... Obviously someone (probably several some-ones) is/are lying through their teeth.
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