Mystery solved*: Barack Obama was American-born

(UPDATE: Alan Keyes stoked the Obama birth certificate controversy anew in February 2009. See Ticket coverage here.)

*Except, of course, for the conspiracy theorists out there.

One of the subtexts to the presidential campaign so far has been speculation by haters of both Barack Obama and John McCain that neither is eligible to be president because neither was born in the U.S.

In the case of McCain, he was born to U.S. citizens in the U.S.-controlled Panama Canal Zone while his military father was stationed there. McCain's Senate colleagues pooh-poohed the idea that disqualified him, and lawyers are wrestling over it, but we doubt that a challenge on those grounds will get far.

In Obama's case, there has been rampant online speculation that his birth certificate is forged or altered somehow. Well, the folks at FactCheck.org say they have seen the certificate, touched and vouched it -- Obama is as American as baseball, apple pie and, these days, burritos, pasta and kung pao chicken.

So that should settle it ... unless ... wait ... the people at FactCheck.org use computers, with keypads, that have the letters r-e-z-k-o on them, which just happened to spell the name of one of Obama's disgraced former backers ... and they were in Chicago to see the birth certificate at ... Obama headquarters ... CONNECT THE DOTS, PEOPLE!

--Scott Martelle

Photo: Francine Orr/Los Angeles Times

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Comments

[Tim]

It doesn't matter.

Obamahaters will just completely ignore the topic of this article and spout some rumors they heard about Obama's church/friends/taxing. And of course these rumors will all be lies.

[Isaiah]

Are u stupid guy? u connect the dots in ur brain i think u are missing a couple of screws...if u need some assistance call the Mccain campaign they have experience with fixing loose screws

[Mitchell in NY]

Of course none of this is really about where he was born. It's about continuing a narrative that Obama isn't really American enough. You know, the guy with the strange name, African-American, etc....

"Obama: It's the Name, Stupid"
http://msa4.wordpress.com/2008/06/13/obama-its-the-name-stupid/

[coolrepublica]

The problem with this vouching for obama is that the press is behind it. I hate to break it to the press but most people don't trust them.

These are the people who did not care to investigate John Edward and his mistress story. The same people who keep telling us that John McCain is not well defined after 25 years in the public arena, but can't lift a finger to actually investigate Obama.

Obama may very well have been born in the U.S but the fact that we are supposed to take the press' word for it means that this vouching by factcheck is null and void.

[McCain is Bush]

This will be a big disappointment to racist bloc voters out there. Now they must invent something new to spread around.

[Andrew]

Brilliant post, Scott. Unfortunately, there are some people out there for whom the vague emails going out about Obama will be enough to deter them. But if they're so easily swayed, I'm not sure there's much you can do to convince them otherwise.

[Jess]

What everyone keeps forgetting is that being born in the country in question isn't the only way to make a person a natural citizen of a country. This goes for Obama and McCain. McCain was born to parents who were both U.S. citizens in Panama. He's an American citizen. Obama was born in Hawaii, but (for you lovely haters out there) even if he was born in Kenya, his mother was a U.S. citizen, as well as his father (though a citizen through naturalization, not natural born), which makes his a U.S. citizen. Good grief. This man's "americanism" has been questioned enough. What is it about him that makes him un-American, un-patriotic, and unacceptable? Why don't people man up and say what it really is - it isn't for any real reason than the fact that white people still don't trust black people, or even half-black people. Bottom line. This is just yet another attempt to discredit a capable candidate. If he was born on the moon to parents who is an American, he automatically has American citizenship. Squash it.

[richardsh]

This doesn't "solve the mystery". It only adds to it. The ONLY way that Obama can end this as an issue is for him to direct the State of Hawaii to make his birth certificate publicly available to anyone who wishes to view it.

Since Factcheck is holding the document always at an angle in the photographs, there is no way to determine if this is the same document used on Fight the Smears. It's amazing to me how stupid some people are that they would accept this BS (Barry Soetoro) on it's face.

Obama is unfit to be president. It's just that the media is too stupid to realize that. I can't believe that I still have a subscription to this idiot rag called the Los Angeles Times. Just for the record, the only reason I do is for ads!

[dave]

'it is easy to take liberty for granted, when you have never had it taken from you.' - dick cheney

there seems to be overwhelming evidence, that both obama and mccain, do not qualify as native born americans, as would be the constitutional requirement. but what do they or their handlers, care about the constitution, or the people of america?
but if the people don't realize that even without that, their character and actions, their voting records and their lies, disqualify them many times over, who's to wake them up? if their own conscience can't do it any longer, it's impossible. and if they choose to turn in their birthright, and the fruits of liberty, for the poisoned crumbs of cradle-to-grave monitored slavery - this is their free choice, but their last one for a long dark time.
if the people don't choose to act as mature, responsible citizens, to reclaim their rights, their country and their future - they will lose, no matter what their vote. and if they vote into office, someone for good reasons excluded by the constitution, it is the mandate of the people to destroy it.
the legitmate and qualified candidate for president to uphold and defend the constitution, the liberties of the people, and the sovereignty of the nation, is RON PAUL.

'it is easy to have liberty taken away from you at any time, when you take it for granted.'
- RON PAUL
(constitutional republican candidate for president)

[D.G.]

there is a way to check. there is an 'artifact' on the kos image that is not on the factcheck image. it is underneath the 'e' in certificate. easily seen on the enlarged image. check it out.

http://images.dailykos.com/images/user/3/BO_Birth_Certificate.jpg

http://www.factcheck.org/UploadedFiles/birth_certificate_3.jpg

[Ann]

August 21, 2008 Attorney Philip Berg filed suit seeking injunction against Barack H. Obama.
Judge Surrick denied the injunction against Barack Obama but said there were issues that he would look at soon. MY GOODNESS. I've read the injunction and it appears CLEAR that if any of the issues are correct then Mr. Obama is clearly deceiving the American Public, and he has apparently lied without any question on legal documents.

WHAT KIND OF A JUDGE IS WORKING HERE. This candidate COULD fail to win because of the uncertainty hanging out there, so you would think logically that the paperwork that proves that he has US citizenship can be produced, or Indonesia citizenship, or Kenya citizenship and that when Obama moved back to the US documents that show he regained his citizenship. All of this paperwork must already exist as he is a SENATOR from ILLINOIS. Why would any Judge not want to clear this matter up for Mr. Obama's sake, and for our country's sake. Just let this issue continue to grow!

[Still Not Convinced]

The so-called birth certificate that is depicted on Obama's campaign website is NOT the ORIGINAL birth certificate, so it proves nothing. This is just a form onto which some information has been typed. Even if it is a "Certified" "official" document released by some agency in Hawaii, it is NOT THE ORIGINAL, so it proves nothing.

Americans deserve to see the ORIGINAL birth record so we can know whether this candidate is legally qualified to run for President of our country.

[snarkista]

Here's the problem. If Obama has a legitimate birth certificate from Hawaii, why is he only releasing it to Factcheck or Smears? How is it that the Democratic party could have so utterly failed to vett Obama in this way. Why release such vital information to non-governmental entities? Take the time to read up on this, even though the mainstream media is completely whitewashing or ignoring the QUESTION. If it's a no-brainer...be clear about it, produce the real deal and let's move on. What makes me concerned is the lemming-like way this really vital issue is being handled...in that it's NOT. Put your party loyalties down for an hour and educate yourself on the argument at least. Here are 2 good places to start- don't dismiss them because they aren't the KOS or the Huffpo...the former has touted as genuine a known forgery. I'm just saying wake up and read...and see if there isn't a concern here. Do we really want this fight to be fought after January?
http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/obamas_birth_certifcate_forgery/
http://web.israelinsider.com/Articles/Politics/12959.htm

[Louise Fribance]

If there isn't any truth to Obama's non-american birth, how can this lawsuit by a Democrat go through?

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Obama Sued in Philadelphia Federal Court on Grounds he is Constitutionally Ineligible for the Presidency

by Jeff Schreiber
America’s Right.com

A prominent Philadelphia attorney and Hillary Clinton supporter filed suit this afternoon in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania against Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, the Democratic National Committee and the Federal Election Commission. The action seeks an injunction preventing the senator from continuing his candidacy and a court order enjoining the DNC from nominating him next week, all on grounds that Sen. Obama is constitutionally ineligible to run for and hold the office of President of the United States.

Philip Berg, the filing attorney, is a former gubernatorial and senatorial candidate, former chair of the Democratic Party in Montgomery (PA) County, former member of the Democratic State Committee, and former Deputy Attorney General of Pennsylvania. According to Berg, he filed the suit--just days before the DNC is to hold its nominating convention in Denver--for the health of the Democratic Party.

“I filed this action at this time,” Berg stated, “to avoid the obvious problems that will occur when the Republican Party raises these issues after Obama is nominated.”.

Berg cited a number of unanswered questions regarding the Illinois senator’s background, and in today’s lawsuit maintained that Sen. Obama is not a natural born U.S. citizen or that, if he ever was, he lost his citizenship when he was adopted in Indonesia. Berg also cites what he calls “dual loyalties” due to his citizenship and ties with Kenya and Indonesia.

Even if Sen. Obama can prove his U.S. citizenship, Berg stated, citing the senator’s use of a birth certificate from the state of Hawaii verified as a forgery by three independent document forensic experts, the issue of “multi-citizenship with responsibilities owed to and allegiance to other countries” remains on the table . . .

[Dinah Finley]

The Obama Birth record that is being shown is just an abstract of the original. application to register a birth. What we need to see is the original application. They are kept on microfilm by the Hawaii State Department of Health. The application has his mother and father's ,age, place of birth , and thier signitures.

[Joseph]

It is amazing that when the Drudge Report broke the story of the stained dress, all President Clinton's defenders screamed "It's just the internet -- you can't trust that!"

Now the same people are saying we should accept these obvious forgeries that are "just on the internet".

If Obama cannot produce a certified copy of his original birth certificate, which he apparently cannot, he is clearly unqualified to serve as President under the Constitution. But, of course, Democrats do not care about the Constitution.

[Ken]

First, I'm not an Obama "hater". That being said, what FactCheck.org printed is rather loose.

* The birth certificate is an obvious duplicate, and I'm assuming state-produced since it has the seal and signature. As a politician, I'm sure that he couldn't pull in a few favors to get that done. I'd feel more comfortable seeing the "long" form (the original).

* They offer as "evidence," which is supported here, that a birth announcement in a Hawaiian newspaper is somehow relevant to where he was born. As I recall, his parents were in Hawaii before his birth, traveled to Kenya, and then returned to Hawaii. Wouldn't it make sense to announce it in Hawaii? And according to accusations the return to Hawaii was after his birth, which is the whole point of all of this.

[Dan]

I have do my own research on this, I obtained a known to be real hawaiian birth certificate and conpared it with the one posted on Obamas site. IMO- it's a fake for the following reasons.
**It does not have the embossed State of Hawaii Seal in the center.
**It does not have the embossed signature at the bottom center.
**It does not have any fold marks, all certificates are mailed and can not be picked up in person.
**It shows his race as "AFRICAN", in 1961 it would have said "NEGRO"
**The security boarder does not match

See for yourself at http://www.maui411.com/obamabirthcert.html

He MUST clear up this issue before he is nominated or McCain will win by default, if he can't produce the original, he can not be confirmed by congress period!
Dan

[dave]

mccain, who equally does not qualify as a 'native american citizen,' cannot win. so the legitimate republican candidate, representing the core majority, upholding traditional values and principles, and the sovereignty of the nation, rather than the neocon fringe (represented by mccain) that has hijacked the party, will win by default. it is very fortunate that he is also the most qualified candidate in this race by far, and has the viable solutions to america's most fundamental problems. his name: RON PAUL.

[jackejoe]

There is only one problem with Factchecker.org, it is part of the Annenberg foundation. A foundation in which Barack H. Obama was a board member along with William Ayers.
There is a conflict of interest in them doing the "CHECKING" on behalf of Obama. This means that he needs to allow an unbiased 3rd party do the checking of the certificates.
Personally, I only care about the laws that are in place.
If Barack H. Obama is indeed a citizen, then great. It should NOT be a far stretch for him to prove in court that he is indeed a citizen of the United States. There is indeed a lawsuit against Obama. And I am sure that he may have to face these charges in court.
This also includes the possibility of him having dual citizenship in which there are ramped claims and reports.
Either which way, the LAWs of the United States must prevail and take precedence over personal feelings.

[Bret McDanel]

Dan said: "mccain, who equally does not qualify as a 'native american citizen,'"

I think that there is a small aspect you and many others are forgetting. The law at the time of Obamas birth required that his mother spend 10 years in the US before giving birth, 5 years had to be after the age of 14. She was 18 when she gave birth, as a result she could not confer "natural born" status *if* he was not born in the country. As I recall McCains parents were older and thus its likely they could if the law was the same when mccain was born.

Further Indonesia requires that you renounce your other citizenships. At the age of 20 Obama traveled to pakistan on an Indonesian passport, meaning at that time he was not a US citizen, he would have had to renounce his citizenship. This is a formalized procedure and it wasnt until well into the Clinton years that they started ignoring default standard renouncing (Indonesia may not qualify under even this depending on how they do it).

So at the very least he would have to be *naturalized* to be a citizen today (unless the US just ignored it because they never knew which may also happen, why he should at least prove that he got his citizenship back after renouncing it).

Btw I am a native american citizen, McCain/Obama may or may not be a natural born citizen, there is a difference :)

[joppienp@tampabay.rr.com]

As listed, Barack was born in Hawaii to a woman that could not be legally married to his father, because he was still married to another woman. In most states, the race of the mother (in this case white) is the listed race of the infant. So, it looks like Barack didn't want his birth certificate made public because he is listed as "white" on the certificate. tsk tsk.

[Douglas Preston]

The date-stamp which appears to be on the reverse of and showing through the document above the phrase "...the fact of birth in any court..."

As I examine the date-stamp is reads:

JUN -6 2007

Although not legible, there appears to be a circular impress above the date-stamp on the reverse of the CERTIFICATION.

This would seem to be the "issuance date" of this CERTIFICATION. It is obviously a modern reprint using contemporary printing technology.

To pretend this is an original historical document is to waste the effort.

[curious]

If Senator Obama birth certificate shown on the NY Times web-site is real, why does it state that his father's race was "African?" The term African American was not used popularly until the late 1970's and 1980's. Official government verbage in 1961 would have stated that the Raceof the Father being Negro or Arab, not African.

Wether or not Obama is a US citizen is not the point, the birth certificate revealed as the official certificate of live birth is Typed using a COMPUTER with Arial or Helvetica type faced NOT available in 1961! Ooops, didn't the DNC learn from the forged military files of Bush?

[Reagan]

My brother was born in Honolulu in June 1961 which would be 2 months before Barack was born there. My brothers birth certificate looks completely different than this. Weird.