The 44th President of the United States of America was born in Kenya? Huh?
Conspiracy theorists, and what the media has classified as "birthers" believe that President Barack Obama in a natural born citizen. If you are not familiar with American politics, then this probably doesn't make any sense to you. Why should this matter? Well it matters because if you are not a natural born citizen, you cannot serve in the highest office of power.
Where did this conspiracy come from? Well, first you have to look at the evidence birthers present:
1) He has not presented a birth certificate.
-During his campaign, this rumor was flying around so he presented a certificate of live birth. While this isn't an actual birth certificate, it was issued by the state of Hawaii where President Obama was born. This is not good enough for birthers, they want the real thing. He still to this day has not presented it.
2) A Kenyan birth certificate proves he was not born here.
-A Kenyan birth certificate was uncovered "proving" that President Obama was born in Kenya and not Hawaii. It later came out that the certificate was a fake.
3) His grandmother said he was born in Kenya.
-President Obama's grandmother came out and said he was born in Kenya in an interview. Birthers believe that right there it is obvious he wasn't born here. But not so fast, the interview was cut short supposedly, and there is more to it. She wasn't actually saying he was born in Kenya.
There are even birth announcements from a Hawaiian newspaper when he was born. But then again if President Obama would just release the real thing, this could be put to rest. Since he hasn't, the conspiracy still goes on.
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Re: "so he presented a certificate of live birth. While this isn't an actual birth certificate..."
ReplyDeleteWho told you that? It is wrong.
The Certification of Live Birth is the official birth certificate of Hawaii. Thousands of people use it to get their US passports every year. It is the REAL thing. In fact it is the only thing. Hawaii has not sent out or given out long form birth certificates to anyone since the short-form Certification became the official birth certificate in 2001. That is what Hawaii sent to Obama in 2007, and that is what it sends to everyone.
Obama's Kenyan grandmother NEVER said that he was born in Kenya. She said repeatedly in the full taped interview (which birther sites deliberately cut short, as you note) that Obama was born in Hawaii "where his father was studying." And, birther sites do not note that there was another interview, with the Hartford Courant, in which Obama's Kenyan grandmother said that the first that her family in Kenya had heard of Obama's birth was in a letter from Hawaii.
Obama has shown the official and only birth certificate of Hawaii, and three officials confirmed the facts on it, and there were notices of his birth in the Hawaii newspapers in 1961, notices sent by the government to the newspapers (which they did for all births in Hawaii, and not for births outside of Hawaii).
First, the Certification of Live Birth is a birth certificate. In fact, it is the official and only birth certificate that Hawaii issues. Thousands of people use it to get their US passports every year.
ReplyDeleteSecond, Hawaii does not now and never has allowed a birth certificate or a birth document of any kind to be issued that says on it "born in Honolulu" unless there was proof that the child was born in Honolulu. Obama's birth certificate says on it "born in Honolulu," and that is the fact that THREE Republican officials have repeatedly confirmed.
And, there were notices of Obama's birth in the Hawaii newspapers in 1961. And these were not ads. Hawaii newspapers did not accept birth announcement ads in 1961. They only published the birth notices sent to them by the Hawaii government, which sent them out only for births in Hawaii, and not for births outside of Hawaii. And the Hawaii government could be fooled by a claim of a birth outside of a hospital because in those cases it demanded witness statements.
AND, Obama's Kenyan grandmother never said that he was born in Kenya. She said repeatedly in the taped interview that he was born in Hawaii, where his father was studying. And she said in another interview that the first that her family in Kenya had heard of Obama's birth was in a letter from Hawaii.
This is certainly a ridiculous conspiracy. Even if he was born in Kenya, I do not see how this would effect his ability to be president. If anything it would bring a more humanitarian approach. I believe most of these claims are rooted in racism.
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