CNN President Jon Klein declares Obama birther story 'dead'

CNN/U.S. President Jon Klein told staffers at the cable news network Thursday night that the supposed controversy regarding the legitimacy of President Obama’s birth certificate is a “dead” story after anchor Lou Dobbs drew attention for raising the issue repeatedly on his radio program.

The website TVNewser reported today that Klein sent an e-mail to staffers of “Lou Dobbs Tonight” just as the program went to air, informing them that CNN researchers had determined that Hawaiian officials discarded all paper documents in 2001. A long-form birth certificate with details about the doctor who delivered Obama no longer exists, they reported. The shorter Certificate of Live Birth noting Obama’s birth on Aug. 4, 1961, that has been made public is the official record.

“It seems to definitively answer the question,” Klein wrote, according to TVNewser. “Since the show's mission is for Lou to be the explainer and enlightener, he should be sure to cite this during your segment tonite. And then it seems this story is dead -- because anyone who still is not convinced doesn't really have a legitimate beef.”

In his show Thursday, Dobbs did note the explanation from Hawaiian officials, though he went on to devote another segment to the topic, interviewing CNN contributor Roland Martin and Rep. Ted Poe, a co-sponsor of a bill that would require future presidential candidates to produce their birth certificates.

Here's Dobbs' opening:

“President Obama promised transparency and openness in his administration. Yet, he's chosen not to release his original birth certificate or a copy of it. And a number of Americans are asking, why not? The left-wing media has attacked me because I simply asked the question. Meanwhile, the state of Hawaii says it can't release a paper copy of the president's original birth certificate because they say the state government discarded the original document when the health department records went electronic some eight years ago. That explanation, however, has not satisfied some critics.”

In the segment, Dobbs stressed that he has said repeatedly that he believes Obama is a citizen, something that he said his critics in the “left-wing media” ignore.

But he continued to press the question of why Obama has not shown a long-form birth certificate. “When this could be dispelled so quickly, and -- and simply by producing it, why not do it?” Dobbs asked.

-- Matea Gold

Comments

[cokids]

I said,"You WANT to question his legitimacy....and nothing's gonna change that! " and should have added, "which is probably why he refuses to release the info." He knows you will just look for another reason to try to discredit him! To give you the time of day is to give credence to your foolishness!

[jgmurphy]

Are you folks seriously entertaining the concept that BARACK OBAMA IS NOT AN AMERICAN??? The man has been in public life and held office for over a dozen years. He was in the Illinois State Legislature, he got to be Senator, and then ran for President. Why would he suddenly NOW not be a citizen? Surely his identity had to have been verified at some point during all of the years he has been in politics. Really, you guys are grasping at straws.

First show me George W. Bush's discharge papers from the TANG.

[David]

Long form birth certificates are not maintained, generally, by state governments, but by the municipality where the person was born.

[Marc]

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=104599

"Obama's online 'birth cert' misses 'proving' eligibility
'There are some documents that say things that aren't true'"
Posted: July 20, 2009 9:42 pm Eastern
By Bob Unruh © 2009 WorldNetDaily

The "Certification of Live Birth" posted online and presented by Barack Obama as documentation of his reported Hawaiian birth doesn't "prove" his birth alone, according to government officials interviewed by WND.

According to State Department officials, such a short-form birth document might be accepted as documentation of a U.S. birth for a passport if it meets certain requirements. Their conclusion is that the law is "complicated."

And state officials in Hawaii independently told WND that such documents are issued only when certain standards have been met.

Robert Klein Engler, who writes at Chronwatch-America.com, said he called the State Department to ask about obtaining a U.S. passport with only a "Certification of Live Birth."

"I was told flat out, 'No!'" he told WND.

Engler wrote, "'Birthers' are those who believe that the absence of solid proof about where Obama was born leaves many with reasonable doubts. … Even though White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs won't admit it, I bet he suspects as others in the current regime also do, that Barack Obama was born in Kenya and is not a natural born U.S. citizen."

"There is also no conclusive proof that Mr. Obama was born on U. S. soil. He may have been born in Kenya and may at one time have been a dual citizen of both the United States and Kenya," Engler wrote.

Ron Polarik, who holds a Ph.D. in instructional media specializing in computer technology such as printers, scanners and digital imaging, has posted a YouTube explanation of the problems he sees. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDIVEfVGLBQ

His conclusion is that there has to be a significant reason for a political candidate and campaign to go to the lengths he described.

"Obviously, there's something very critical to hide, or they wouldn't have spent the million dollars in legal fees to prevent the release of his original birth certificate," Polarik told WND.

[CaliforniaCultureIsEnlightenment]

You birthers are so funny! I swear, how many of you guys believe in a flat earth? That the moon landing was faked?

What's sad is that the real reason you delusional folk hang onto this myth is that you really can't stand that a black man is president! It burns you up doesn't it? That not just a black man, but a child of immigrants, that lived overseas, is president.

Because deep down you only view White people as worthy of citizenship, don't you?

[Denise]

The Obama birther story is not dead just because Jon Klein said so. He just doesn't want it discussed any longer on CNN. The issue is not settled because the President can't provide proof. Guess we'll just have to rely on other news sources for further information.

[LA]

I have never really watched Lou Dobbs because I prefer to watch Fair & Balanced media (Fox Cable News) - (I like to hear TRUTH)... but I agree with him that all obama has to do is show the PROOF - a legal birth certificate and this issue will go away. If obama doesn't show the proof, then he obviously wants the story to go on and on and Josh Klein wants to it go away. Obama - do it for Josh Klein so he can honestly say; the story is DEAD... Until then it LIVES! America wants to know and better yet, has a "Right" to know if our leader is following the constitution. This is something that should have been proven in the "Pre-Qualification" stages of running for president and apparently over-looked? Hummmm? Check out www.worldnetdaily.com for daily updates & truth about the issue.

[Brain-dead media]

The issue is dead - like CNN's integrity! Or the LA Times being unbiased.... No BO records - no place of birth, no school records, not college records, no grants or records on financial support for Harvard or Occidetal.....not release of his thesis, no bar records.... gee....now we're supposed to believe the integrity, jouralistically challenged CNN's report..... NOT!!!!

[Joe]

Actually Strawboss, Obama is not the first to have his eligibility questioned. For instance, Barry Goldwater's eligibility was questioned because he was born in Phoenix, AZ in 1909 - some 3 years BEFORE Arizona became a US state, thereby calling into question whether he was a "natural born" citizen. Also, in fact, Mr. Obama's opponent in the 2008 general election, John McCain, had his eligibility questioned because he was born in the Panama Canal Zone, and not on "US soil." In fact, if you do a Google or Yahoo! search of the topic, you will see many articles arguing why Mr. McCain is constitutionally ineligible to serve as President of the United States. Accordingly, Mr. Obama is not receiving any "special" treatment.

As to THIS story, things getting more and more strange. On the one hand, Mr. Klein indicated that he was told that all paper records, such as Mr. Obama's birth certificate, were destroyed by the State of Hawai'i in 2001 and thus, the "short form" is all that is available, but, on the other hand, in October 2008, the Hawai'i State Director of Health released a statement to the public declaring that, due to statutory restrictions, Mr. Obama's original birth certificate could not be released without his consent (which he still has yet to give), nonetheless the Director had "personally seen and verified that the Hawai‘i State Department of Health has Sen. Obama’s original birth certificate on record in accordance with state policies and procedures." Here's a link to the story in the Hawaii Reporter: http://www.hawaiireporter.com/story.aspx?d285c0ee-1fb9-4b5f-81bd-2d77864bd7c4

So, which one is it? Is the original on file, or was it sent to the shredder in 2001? If it went to the shredder, was it preserved on microfilm? Also, if the original is on file (or even a microfilm of it) what does it say about where Mr. Obama was born? My understanding is that the "long form" will have much more information than the "short form" Mr. Obama has released. For instance, I understand it would show the name of the hospital where he was born and the name of the doctor who delivered him. If I ran that hospital, I'd rename the maternity ward after Mr. Obama. That would be great PR. Imagine too if the doctor was still alive (Mr. Obama is not THAT old after all) how cool it would be to speak to the first person to actually lay hands on the man who would go on to become our country's first African American president? If I was Mr. Obama, I'd invite the guy to the White House for a beer.

[ScottyDog]

There was a Senate Hearing demanding to proof that John McCain was a natural born citizen and was eligible to run for President.
How come Barry Soetoro aka Obama got a pass?
Some state run "journalist" should ask the following question at the next press conference:

Mr President when will you release your long form Birth Certificate and will you release your sealed college records?
If not why not?
(they should have asked this before the election)

[paul]

Here is one of the reasons why his citizenship is in question. In 1981, while in college, Obama himself said he traveled to Pakistan for 3 weeks. At the time US citizens were banned from travel to Pakistan. If he was a US citizen and had a US passport he could not have gone to Pakistan. So the question is, what country's passport did Obama use to get into Pakistan in 1981? And if he used a passport from another country, presumably he was a citizen of that country or he would not have gotten a passport from it. I believe he was a citizen of Indonesia since he was adopted by an Indonesian as a youth and may not have ever changed his citizenship to the United States, which if he had would have made him a naturalized US citizen and ineligible for the US presidency but not for US Senator.

[old1]

Want the truth? Just Google "Natural Born Citizen" - Not "naturalized citizen", "native born citizen", "native citizen", or simple "citizen". N A T U R A L B O R N C I T I Z E N. Born of Blood and Soil. The Blood of both American Citizen parents and born on American Soil. Just like our founding fathers who themselves were not Natural Born being born overseas, born British Citizens or had British Citizen parents, Obama is not Natural Born. His father was not an American but was a British Citizen due to Kenya being a British Colony in 1961. The British Nationality Act of 1948 caused his new born son to be born a British Citizen at birth. Anyone born to a non American Citizen parent or born a Citizen of another country can never be considered a Natural Born American. Knowing they were not Natural Born our founding fathers added the language "unless you are an American Citizen at the time of the adoption of this Constitution" to Article 2. Section 1. paragraph 5. of our great Constitution to allow them to become President even though they were not Natural Born. This language is no longer valid being no one alive was a citizen when the Constitution was adopted 222 years ago. With a non American father, and being born a British Citizen, Obama Jr. is not eligible to be POTUS. In November no one knew what Natural Born really meant, but it looks like everyone is learning the truth finally. We need to elect a President, we don't have one right now.

[Greta]

When in the military or seeking a position in government where top secret information will be available, you have to go through a top secret background check. Not sure why when a person files to run for president of the country, which has to be clearly one that the most secret information is available including the ability to send of nuclear weapons, that a background check is not mandatory. The government has requirements that must be met to be a president or senatory or to serve in the house. Seems like it would make sense to have this included so that it is verified by the FBI. If this were done, this situation would not be an issue. I think one running for president should have all the information about them in the open which seems to be something of an issue for this president and that fuels doubts.

[wheresthebirthcertificate]

Is the issue of Obama’s birth cer­tifi­cate a moot point? A certificaTION of Live Birth (COLB) does NOT carry the true LEGAL status of a Birth Certificate (BC) of Live Birth. Some people seem to feel that our Con­sti­tu­tion mat­ters, and then the “State-Run Media” seems to feel that the Con­sti­tu­tion should be trashed as “old” and out­dated. The Con­sti­tu­tion states as “Supreme LAW of the land” …

1774 – 1789, the Con­sti­tu­tion of the United States of Amer­ican: Article II Sec­tion 1 Clause 5 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.” …

Legal def­i­n­i­tion of a Nat­ural Born Cit­izen from the …
FIRST CONGRESS. Sess. II CH 4. 1790 (approved March 26, 1790)
…ceed­ings thereon; and there­upon such person shall be con­sid­ered as a cit­izen of the United States. And the chil­dren of such per­sons so nat­u­ral­ized, dwelling within the United States, being under the age of twenty-one years at the time of such nat­u­ral­iza­tion, shall also be con­sid­ered as cit­i­zens of the United States. AND THE CHILDREN OF CITIZENS OF THE UNITED STATES, that may be BORN beyond sea or out of the limits of the United States shall be con­sid­ered as NATURAL BORN CITIZENS; PROVIDED THAT THE RIGHT OF CITIZENSHIP SHALL NOT DESCEND TO PERSONS WHOSE FATHERS HAVE NEVER BEEN RESIDENT IN THE UNITED STATES: …

“Birth Abroad to One Cit­izen and One Alien Parent in Wed­lock: A child born abroad to one U.S. cit­izen parent and one alien parent acquires U.S. cit­i­zen­ship at birth under Sec­tion 301(g) INA pro­vided THE CITIZEN PARENT WAS PHYSICALLY PRESENT IN THE U.S. FOR THE TIME PERIOD REQUIRED BY THE LAW APPLICABLE AT THE TIME OF THE CHILD’S BIRTH FIVE AFTER THE AGE OF FOURTEEN ARE REQUIRED FOR PHYSICAL PRESENCE IN THE U.S. TO TRANSMIT U.S. CITIZENSHIP TO THE CHILD.”… according to the State Depart­ment (http://travel.state.gov/law/info/info_609.html).

Obama’s father was from Kenya under British colo­nial rule & his Amer­ican mother was 18 years old and she did not sat­isfy the 5 year phys­ical pres­ence res­i­dency require­ment to pass on US cit­i­zen­ship to Barry Soe­toro aka Barack Hus­sein Obama. Obama cannot be, as a state of nature, con­sid­ered a born cit­izen of the United States, when he was born British. Obama was both a British cit­izen at birth via The British Nation­ality Act of 1948, and became an Indone­sian cit­izen nul­li­fying any pro­tec­tions of the 14th Amend­ment of the Con­sti­tu­tion when he was ADOPTED by his step-father. Obama’s sister was born in Indonesia & she has the exact same COLB and is NOT nat­ural born which Obama may not be either. He has gone by the name Barry Soe­toro when he attended school in Indonesia, where the Muslim school he attended indi­cates in his records reveal Barry Soetoro’s cit­i­zen­ship listed as Indone­sian – this is a fact. Mr. Obama com­mitted per­jury on Supreme Court doc­u­ments and his bar doc­u­ments as he stated under oath that he has never gone by another name. The Supreme Law of the Land aka the U.S. Con­sti­tu­tion legally requires that to be eli­gible for the Pres­i­dency one must be a nat­ural born cit­izen and without dual cit­i­zen­ships & Obama does not law­fully meet the require­ment & is there­fore inel­i­gible for the Pres­i­dency regard­less whether or not he pro­duces a BC or COLB. In 1961 Hawaii, it was pos­sible to obtain a birth cer­tifi­cate based on the affi­davit of a family member. This was a long standing prac­tice in Hawaii. Sun Yat-sen (emperor of china) was able to acquire a Hawaiian birth cer­tifi­cate via affi­davit despite being born in China. http://www.scribd.com/doc/9830547/Sun-Yatsen-Certification-of-Live-Birth-in-Hawaii

I have quoted the “Law” and doubt the press will freely pub­lish the legal facts in regards to this matter… so much for freedom of the (sickophantic/sycophantic) press when com­ments are cen­sored under the guise of being mod­er­ated. Be trans­parent & show us all the doc­u­ments to include Obama’s long form birth cer­tifi­cate with the name of the hos­pital and name of the delivery doctor!

[Allen]

There were questions about John McCain and he produced a copy of his full birth certificate showing he was born in the Canal Zone. BO has not produced his and he has spent over $900,000 fighting its release. Contrary to Klein's statement Hawaii has said today that they did not destroy the original records. I really do not doubt that Obama was born in Hawaii I just want to know why he is hiding his birth information just like his academic record. Something smells terribly and will continue to stink until the source is found.... in other words Obama cleans up the record.

[Fretboard]

I don't think this will put an end to Lou Dobb's contiual legitimization of the birther movement. He needs to be fired.

Lou Dobbs Is An Idiot!

http://www.loudobbsisanidiot.com

[Ronald B. Massey]

I see no reason whatever for Barrack Obama to withold his birth certificate. It gives the appearance of impropriety.Most jobs nowadays require a birth certificate. It makes one ask "What is he trying to hide"? Show the birth certificate so we can get on to important issues. This is a problem that must be resolved ! ! !

[Duke]

ONE SIMPLE QUESTION TO ANSWER>

WHY IS IT SO HARD TO ANSWER ???

WHY CANT WE ASK ???

LET'S SEE THE DAMNED BIRTH CERTIFICATE, OBAMA.......

EITHER YOU ARE OR YOU ARENT !!!!!!

WE DIDNT VOTE IN A KENYAN !!!!!

[Vicki Russell]

Just because one person says it is a "dead story" does not 'make it so' ! There are a great number of people who still want to see an Original (and not tampered with) birth certificate of 'Barry'.

[Dr Hulda Clark]

To being the president of a state it is compulsory for him to always speak the truth and media has the right to tell people that how the president is working and media has not to interrupt in his personnel matters.

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