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That Birth Certificate Thing . . .

Updated on June 11, 2013

Let me say right up front that I am no fan of Barack Obama. In fact, I believe he is one of the worst presidents in the history of the country. That said, I have never been too excited about the Obama birth certificate issue. It seems to me there are more than enough reasons not to vote for his reelection. The issue, however, stubbornly refuses to go away. The latest incarnation is the Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio investigation into the authenticity of the long-form birth certificate released by the White House. Before I address that, I want to go over some claims made in an email that claims the certificate is a forgery which has been making the rounds.

That email makes three claims (bear in mind that President Obama was born in 1961):

1. The birth certificate lists “Kenya, West Africa” as his place of birth, but Kenya was not even a nation until 1963. Before that, it was called British East Africa.

2. On the birth certificate released by the White House, the listed place of birth is "Kapiolani Maternity & Gynecological Hospital". This cannot be, because the hospital(s) in question in 1961 were called "KauiKeolani Children's Hospital" and "Kapiolani Maternity Home", respectively. The name did not change to Kapi'olani Maternity & Gynecological Hospital until 1978.

3. The birth certificate lists his father’s race as “African” but in 1961 black people were listed as “Negroes.” (One version of the email claims the document lists Obama as “African-American” but that is false.)

These claims had me going for a while until I checked with Snopes.com which maintains that these claims are spurious. Snopes states that, even though Kenya did not exist as a nation state prior to 1963, it was commonly referred to as Kenya in official documents even before 1961. The “African” appellation was used for blacks born in Africa such as Obama’s father. In addition, the hospital was referred in documents as "Kapiolani Maternity & Gynecological Hospital" prior to 1961.

Okay, I suppose one might take issue with the “African” terminology and the name of Kenya, but let’s give the president the benefit of the doubt.

So along comes Sheriff Arpaio with the results of his investigation declaring the birth certificate is a computer-generated forgery. Now, Sheriff Arpaio is under investigation by the Justice Department for “abuse of power” and “racial profiling.” These charges are, I believe, groundless and politically motivated but they certainly prove the sheriff has an ax to grind against the Obama administration. (I could write a separate article about the current administration’s refusal to protect our borders, but that has been covered extensively.) Anyway, the jury is still out on the forgery claim. (I have not seen a copy of the full report but I have read story after story in the “mainstream” press debunking it.)

I have to think, in spite of the probability that the president was born in the United States, what if it turns out he wasn’t? What would happen? Would he have to be impeached? At the very least, he would be ineligible from running for a second term. So we have three possibilities: 1 - he is impeached and removed from office because of lying about his citizenship; 2 - he is banned from running for a second term; or 3 - the controversy contributes to him losing his reelection bid.

Given the president’s performance thus far, in my opinion any of these possibilities would be a good thing, citizen or no citizen.

Donald Trump - Champion of the "Birther" Argument
Donald Trump - Champion of the "Birther" Argument | Source

UPDATE - 10 DEC 2012

It looks like President Obama's eligibility to hold his office is being questioned again - this time by a court in Alabama. For more info, go here: http://www.wnd.com/2012/12/2nd-bite-to-challenge-obamas-eligibility/

Update - 11 June 2013

The photo below has been showing up recently on the internet purporting to be Obama's Kenyan birth certificate. Once again, you be the judge!

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