The release of President Obama’s “long-form” birth certificate has not satisfied many so-called birthers who question the conditions of the president’s birth and his eligibility to hold office. Here is a roundup of the new conspiracy theories cropping up in response to the White House release:
It still says ‘Certificate of Live Birth’
Noun-adjective ordering is apparently a problem for Sharon Guthrie, legislative director for a Texas state legislator who has introduced a bill requiring proof of citizenship from presidential candidates. She tells Slate.com:
“What I’ve seen online, what they produced today, still says certificate of live birth across the top. . . . We want to see a ‘birth certificate’. . . . The one that we have that says ‘birth certificate’ is from Mombassa, Kenya, with his footprint on it. He has still not produced an American birth certificate.”
Guthrie is referring to a document included in a lawsuit filed by dogged birther Orly Taitz, a document even broadly sympathetic blogs like WorldNetDaily have reported as a fraud.
Obama is still a dual citizen, and thus ineligible for the presidency
Speaking of WND, the site run by avowed birther Joseph Farah is reacting cautiously to the White House release, arguing that even if the document is genuine, it doesn’t answer questions about whether Obama had dual citizenship through his father, and whether that Constitutionally precludes him from being president:
If the document proves valid, it could answer the questions raised by those who have alleged he was not actually born in Hawaii. But it also could prove his ineligibility because of its references to his father. Some of the cases challenging Obama have explained that he was a dual citizen through his father at his birth, and they contend the framers of the Constitution excluded dual citizens from qualifying as natural born citizens.
Joseph Farah, editor and chief executive officer of WND, the only news agency that has waged a relentless investigative campaign on questions swirling around the Obama’s eligibility for nearly three years, was elated at the turn of events.
“We’re gratified that our work has begun to pay off,” he said. “The certificate of live birth is an absolutely vital foundation for determining constitutional eligibility of any president. We look forward to reviewing it like so many other Americans do at this late date. But it is important to remember there are still dozens of other questions concerning this question of eligibility that need to be resolved to assure what has become a very skeptical public concerning Barack Obama’s parentage, his adoption, his citizenship status throughout his life and why he continues to cultivate a culture of secrecy around his life.”
The PDF released by the White House contains multiple “layers”
Multiple Photoshop and image analysis buffs — mostly amateur, and comprising both birthers and non-birthers — have pointed out that the PDF document released by the White House contains multiple image “layers” superimposed atop each other.
The argument here is that the multiple layers are evidence that the document has been purposefully doctored. Our tech guru Nate Goulding writes about why that is almost certainly not the case here.
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Obama’s father’s race is listed as “African” not “Negro” as it would have been in 1961
So-called “birther queen” Orly Taitz told TPM that while the release is a “step in the right direction” she is still suspicious of what she says is anachronistic language on the birth certificate:
“Look, I applaud this release. I think it’s a step in the right direction,” so-called “birther queen” Orly Taitz told me in one of her many media interviews this morning. “I credit Donald Trump in pushing this issue.”
But she still has her suspicions. Specifically, Taitz thinks that the birth certificate should peg Obama’s race as “Negro” and not “African.”
“In those years … when they wrote race, they were writing ‘Negro’ not ‘African’,” Taitz says. “In those days nobody wrote African as a race, it just wasn’t one of the options. It sounds like it would be written today, in the age of political correctness, and not in 1961 when they wrote white or Asian or ‘Negro’.”
If these early reactions are any indication, birtherism is not going away any time soon.
So 3 of the biggest birthers and their hundreds upon hundreds of followers are not convinced ... yawn ...
90% of the folks that where suspicious just wanted to see an official certificate ... they now have ... Trump will accept it (since he forced it out into the open) and move on to other documents ...
Trump is playing a media game and now he has sucked Obama into it ... there is now blood in the water and Trump is energized ...
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseDaniel - the Dual Citzenship concern has nothing to do with a conspiracy but with the Constitution:
"If a person born with dual allegiance can be President, then I don’t see the difference between a citizen and a natural born citizen. To become naturalized as a US citizen, one must at least swear an oath of allegiance to the US by renouncing all other allegiances. But a person such as Obama, who was born with dual allegiance is apparently not even required to renounce all previous allegiances under oath.
The BC was a conspiracy theory. The dual nationality issue is a legal question. Obama always controlled the issue of whether or not he would produce the BC. But the legal issue was never under his control. So he exercised as much control over it as possible by allowing the birth certificate to fester casting a huge shadow over his dual allegiance. Well played, sir."
by Leo Donofrio, Esq.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThis article is pathetic for what it does not explicitly say: birtherism is a crank theory that every intelligent person has an obligation to refute. If this article were about a crazed liberal conspiracy theory, one can imagine Mr. Foster would be far more willing to reject it emphatically.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseConspiracy theories by their nature can never be satiated--there's always another layer to the onion.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseObama Sr. wasn't an American Negro though, he was an African from Africa.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse"“In those years … when they wrote race, they were writing ‘Negro’ not ‘African’,” Taitz says."
Oh, for crying out loud! His father *WAS* an African!
Isn't this one of the basic tenets of the true 'birthers' - that he was born in Africa? But, somehow, the birth certificate should treat the father as if he were American?
As far as the 'dual citizenship', I'm not worried about *dual* citizenship, so much as that he went to school as if he was not an American (assuming those claims are true). *That* would seem to be a proper point of debate over whether he was still a citizen, not whether he was 'natural-born'. (I'm not saying it makes him illegitimate, but it is something we should consider clearing up for future eligibility considerations.)
I'm interested in the 3 day delay between birth and the form being signed. Was this common then? Was the mother in the hospital that long, normally? (Probably true.)
As far as the form goes, I have two questions:
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse--What is the rest of the form off to the left? The black lines run off toward the binding or something (that curl is what you get when scanning a document that is bound in some fashion).
--And, why is this on that weird green background? It curls with the page scan - except where it also frames the document. It's like they decided to put a larger background behind it. That is going to make people suspicious. (OK, it is going to give suspicious people something to explore.)
@Rook: Oooohhhh. I see what you did there......
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWow,these people are relentless! Have any of them ever SEEN a birth certificate before? Mine, from San Francisco, is also titled "Certificate of Live Birth." When I picked up a certified copy a few years ago, it was superimposed on official looking green paper, much like Obama's, from the really garbled photostat and microfiche of the original, which I'm sure is long gone. I'm guessing if I were to copy that to pdf, it could be taken apart in "layers." My guess on the African thing is that the registrar went by the fact that Obama's father was, in fact, from Africa -- he was not what we now refer to as an "African American," and which in those days would have been referred to as a "Negro." There -- mysteries solved!
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseMr. Foster somehow managed to miss the main point the (somewhat) more reasonable birthers hold.
The Constitution requires the President be a "natural born" citizen, but this term is not defined either in the Constitution or definitively in a Supreme Court ruling since. Only the less intelligent birthers, IMO, ever claimed he wasn't a citizen, only that he was not a NBC.
There are a number of theories of what NBC means, but the two most common are probably:
1. Born in the country of two citizens. NBC is a subset of citizens at birth. By this standard Obama is not a NBC and is not eligible to be president.
2. Natural born = native born = citizen at birth. By this standard Obama is fully eligible.
Personally, I go with #2, but the arguments for #1 and other definitions that might exclude Obama are not all obviously fallacious.
I would very much like to read an analysis of this issue by Ponnoru or someone else who is equally sharp. For the most part it has just been ignored by the media and I think that's unfortunate.
BTW, I'd like to thank the President for (finally) releasing this document.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseAt the risk of stoking the fires of the absurd discussion - after all, only Obama benefits when the birthers make their allegations - allow me to ask what may be the most pertinent question:
Assume that Obama isn't a naturally born US citizen. He was born in Kenya, scientifically in a Honolulu laboratory, or if you're of the left he descended down from the heavens to save us all. Whatever, he got here in some way that would disqualify him Constitutionally. And it's finally somehow discovered. What next?
The US Supreme Court can do a lot of things but they can't try and impeach a sitting President of the United States. Only Congress can do that via a trial in the Senate. Does any birther honestly believe that the United States Senate would accept Articles of Impeachment from the House and then proceed to remove Barack Hussein Obama II from the Presidency with barely 21 months left on his first term?
Furthermore, how long would it take to proceed from where we are right now to the point where the US Senate would vote to impeach him? Isn't it a better use of our time to focus on his record and defeat him at the ballot on Nov 4, 2012? If we don't, we could all quite literally be right here on April 27, 2013 discussing this same issue with Obama just beginning his second term.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseAs far as the green security paper - it actually *doesn't* curl with the page scan. It is what the microfilm scan was printed on. Thanks, RoC, on the other post.
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I don't agree with this statement from Brennan:
"birtherism is a crank theory that every intelligent person has an obligation to refute"
I see no reason to refute this at all. The lefty intelligensia (there's an oxymoron) didn't waste a second refuting the troofers. Why? Because the dissent of the troofers added volume to the crescendo of criticism hurled at George W. Bush. And it worked too.
so I say let the birthers continue to raise their concerns. We don't have to align with them but there is no reason to refute them either. Let them say their say. It is a page from the lefty play book and I know that the liberals hate it when we use their tools and techniques against them.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThe talk radio and chain email types will never let this die.
The utterly insane Leo Berman of my great state of TX is doubling down -
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Between this garbage and the ridiculous Fox- driven Easter nontroversy, I cannot believe NR will not condemn Fox and Talk Radio.
WFB had the courage to de-legitimize the Birchers and crazies and realized it was bad for the movement.
These guys hit the nail on the head.
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Unfortunately we are starting to look as foolish as the late 60's left. Sigh.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseLook, I'm satisfied that Obama is a natural born American citizen.
Yet isn't it passing strange that "African," a place of origin, is used for race? I've known a few whites from South Africa who, also were "African" but would not have been so listed on a birth certificate.
It would be interesting to see any other birth certificates that Hawaii issued about that time for other parents from Africa who happened to be black.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseRegardless of what a few hard core "birthers" might think, this should dispose of the issue. The number of people who were really convinced that Obama was Kenyan was always pretty small, so the fact that this may not persuade all of them still leaves a small group. But the plausible basis for the issue being significant was the much larger group that thought the question was legitimate and wondered why Obama hadn't released the long form if he wasn't trying to hide something. That group was fairly prominent and included a number of GOP officials. Now when they are asked about birtherism, they can just point to the birth certificate without having to explain why it was odd it hadn't been produced.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseAt this point folks, who cares?! The only way to stop Obama-care and prevent an economic nuclear bomb, is to defeat Obama. Obama is STILL our best candidate to go against next election. What, do you want Hillary to run in his stead if you are successful? She stands a MUCH greater chance of winning.
As far as I can see, there are only 2 ways Obama can defeat a Republican in 2012. 1, Trump runs and an independent. 2, we sit around and squawk about things that the general public doesn't care much about.
Everyone is nervous about the economy and debt. That's really ALL we should be focused on at this point. We should be hammering that home at every opportunity. The birther thing has done as much damage as it will do to Obama at this point, and it's time to focus on his real weakness, which is the economy, taxes, and his deficits. Those are the keys to winning in 12. So I say to the conservatives in the MSM and National Review, after today, it's time to ignore this issue. It's DOA.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse"I'm interested in the 3 day delay between birth and the form being signed."
We're talking about a time before the electronic age, and even now it can take that long. I know that my wife did not sign off on the papers with the hospital registrar with the births of a few of our kids until her discharge date, which would have been two days after the actual birth. The registrar then had to send the paperwork along to the county, which probably added another day to the process.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseGWB: The Indonesian citizenship thing is a non-issue. By US law, nobody can sign away another person's citizenship. His mother did not have the right, nor the legal authority to sign away her 5 year old son's citizenship. Only Obama himself could do that, and then only once he had reached the age of majority. I don't know if that would have been 18 or 21 back then.
As to the three day delay, remember this in 1961. Computers were only found in really big office buildings and the desktop was still 20 years in the future. Every thing was being done by hand and on paper. Paper which had to be physically moved from one office to another. 3 days does not strike me as anything unusual for the period.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseRegarding the dual citizenship issue.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseIt's not an issue since he doesn't have one.
Yes his father was officially a British citizen and Britain considers the children of all legal marriages of British citizens to be automatically citizens.
The problem is that Obama's parents were never legally married. The dad never divorced his previous wife. Polygamy is illegal, even in Hawaii.
DatDude: The 60's left may have looked foolish, but they won.
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