Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Aloha, Presidential Birther Cranks: President Born in the USA!

As of this morning, the far-right Tea Partiers and their  latest champion, Donald Trump, no longer have a wedge issue to call out President Obama.  (Unless, of course, for the die-hards who will still pretend  this document is a nefarious trick and that the President was Kenya-born.) 

Now they are forced to argue the issues and support their draconian plans to cut Medicare and balance the budget by giving another huge tax break to the  top two percent on income earners (and many just plain "receivers") in the country. 

 
Below: reprint from "The Daily Telegraph" (UK):






Barack Obama hits back at 'birthers' and releases birth certificate

Barack Obama has moved to quash "birther" conspiracy theories alleging he was not born in the United States by releasing his long-form birth certificate.

Mr Obama said he was bemused over the conspiracy theories over his birthplace, and said that the obsession over the "sideshow" issues was a distraction in a "serious time".

"We're not going to solve our problems if we get distracted by carnival acts and sideshow barkers, We do not have time for this kind of silliness, we've got big stuff to do, I've got big stuff to do," he said.

Earlier, Jay Carney, the White House press secretary, said: "The president feels this (controversy) is bad for the country, that it is not healthy for the political debate."

Mr Obama's 2008 presidential campaign had previously released a shorter regular birth certificate issued by Hawaii authorities after conservative critics and pundits fanned rumors that he was not American-born.

The version released by the White House on Wednesday was a copy of a long-form, original document made at the time of his birth and kept since in official records in Obama's native state.


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/barackobama/

59 comments:

  1. I rather liked his comment this morning, "I know that there are some people for whom this issue will never be settled. However, I'm speaking to the vast majority of Americans - those who aren't going to be swayed by sideshow performers and carnival-barkers."

    (The only thing he left out was, "you know - those who Stayed Awake in Class..." There'll be the morons who call him on 'talking down' to Americans - but know what? It's a good thing he did. It's past time that we separated the morons from the rest.)

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  2. Now Donald Trump is calling for President Obama's college records. Some people just can't stick to the issues, maybe because they don't understand them.
    When will folks realize that Donald Trump is a reincarnation of P.T. Barnum?

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  3. I am sure they will say it is a forgery and will be continuing there outcry's

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  4. Obama made it pretty clear with his comments ("...I'm speaking to the vast majority of Americans...") that he was not interested in engaging in a battle of wits with the collective unarmed opponents of the wing-nut and moron-fringe.

    Those people will never be satisfied until he's gone.

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  5. There has never been any doubt in my mind where he was born. The constitutionality of the debate is or should be at the time he was born in Hawaii the law said he was not natural born because of his mother's age and the fact that his father was foreign. In 1986 the law was passed that made anyone born on US soil was considered natural born. The question in my mind was did that law go retro.

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  6. The criteria that one must be born on US soil in order to stand for president is ridiculous. There must be countless people whose parents brought them into the country while they were still a baby. If they have lived there ever since, taken out US citizenship, then they will be as American - think like an American (some may wonder if this is a good thing) - as the person whose mother had the forethought to be already there when she gave birth.

    In any case, fools who keep dragging up the birth issue are entirely racist.

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  7. Actually, no it's not.

    It's a part of our Constitution - "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; neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty-five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States." (Article II; Sec. I)

    The Supreme Court has held that the sui generis rule of English Common Law applies by way of definition of the 'natural born' statement - and that it is up to each individual state to apply that law by way of granting citizenship. (In other words, anyone born in any of the States or trust-territories is a citizen by birth).

    In sum, there are specific birth and residency requirements.

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  8. This is incorrect.

    See my comments to Iri's statement.

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  9. Just because something is part of an outdated constitution does not make it less ridiculous.

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  10. What does race have to do with legality? Mc Cain was born in Panama on a military base. and he went to congress to make sure he was legally natural born citizen. i wonder why Obama did not do the same thing. It would have nipped this crap in the bud.Not all doubters are racist.

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  11. Again; incorrect.

    The subject was brought up by Democrats in both the Senate and the House; it was generally discussed, but Congress did not give him any kind of 'pass' - Congress cannot legislate the validity or invalidity of an issue regarding the Constitution - that is the province of the Supreme Court.

    Title 8; Sec. 1403 of the U.S. Code states than anyone born in the Canal Zone from 1904 forward are 'declared to be citizens'. The term 'natural born' is not used, which might indicate that there is a 'hierarchy of citizenship' due to the terminology.

    This is legal hair-splitting which never got to the 'birther' stage because McCain was never elected. However, there is actually more legal question as to McCain's citizen-status than there is of Obama's.

    See here and here for more detail.

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  12. "...because of his mother's age" (???)
    Oh, please, tell me you're kidding. Let's question more & more & more...is Obama really a MAN? Is it possible he's a transsexual? *Scramble for medical/health papers*
    O, & wasn't there that time when he LIED in the first grade to protect his buddy about borrowing the teacher's ballpoint? Does he change his socks every, or every other day?
    Just STOP this idiocy!
    Keep in mind that no other president in history was questioned about his birth. No other president was black.
    Now, this idiot is taking credit for the long form, but still questions its authenticity..

    Does his mouth remind you of anything? Never mind. I'm a lady. I just call him a Blow Fish.

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  13. Sorry, that was my deletion. I wasn't successful in posting the picture.

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  14. One more try, & then I'll give up. You all know what he looks like, anyway.

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  15. I was thinking of the PT Barnum connection just this morning Jacquie. Trump is a huckster at the end of the day--a buffoon. How dangerous this buffoon will become is up to the voters in the upcoming GOP primaries.

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  16. I think that's where many of the tea party set are going, Fred.

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  17. Too bad they lack the honesty to admit that.

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  18. Incorrect Tess.

    Obama's other was an American citizen and Hawaii in 1961 was as American as any place you or I were born. See Will's remarks to avoid further confusion.

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  19. It's true Lucija.

    Pure idiocy. This is the political equivalent of kneecapping somebody. Let's debate the issues-Paul Ryan's draconian "Path to Progress" versus the more subtle and less toxic approach Obama takes.


    In the 1970's I saw some on the Left overplay their hand. Now the Conservatives have finally done the same, after 30 years.

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  20. Or are just lazy political hacks, Iri Ani, or both.

    It is strange that this is the first time in modern American history that citizenship for a President has even been questioned.

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  21. Exactly Doug. Which is why questioning the birthplace of this particular president does become a racist act. Nobody questioned the location of Bush's birthplace or Clinton's etc etc. At least not that I ever heard of.

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  22. No they did not Iri. You have ot go back to the 1820's to find anything in American history remotely close to this in presdential politics. And I think we both already agree why its cropped up now.

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  23. A bully with a big mouth. Actually the funny thing is that Trump had in the past supported moderate GOP and even Democrats from what I've read.

    I wonder if he (Trump) just feels like what he has isn't enough. It's somewhat reminiscent of William Randolph Hearst (the real-life character from Orson Welles great movie "Citizen Kane".) He tried to run for President a few times about a century or a little less ago as I recall, each time from a different political party, including one independant party financed from his own money. He started out as a reformer of sorts, then became a reactionary. He failed miserably at all attempts.


    As Hearst's multi-millionaire father, George, said, "if my boy wants cake, he just keeps at it until he gets cake." To put it bluntly, time is running out for this guy and he really wants to jump the queue I think and makes himself some kind of weird savior. If he were a poor man, he'd be a suitable case for treatment in my opinion.

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  24. Know what I think? I think he wants to appeal to the far right in order to get nominated. This just might be a good strategy.

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  25. Funny, I clicked on this blog earlier and was told it wasn't there. Now i come back, and it is! You a magician Doug? lol
    Anyway, I can't figure out why, after all this time, he gave credence to this bs. Now you know, The Donald is going after President Obama's school records, his college ones. He doesn't think President Obama was smart enough for the Ivy League colleges he went to. Plus, the birthers still aren't satisfied. Seems some of the letters are different, it looks like some erasure marks on the paper, yada yada yada.
    Anyway, I think he made a mistake this time, and I think it was a dangerous one. Donald Trump just "trumped" the president 'cause now HE'S taking credit for the birth certificate being shown.
    Bad move, Mr. President!

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  26. Smilja says: Ik Ik Ik
    Brilliant editorial comment.

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  27. A good strategy indeed, judging by the fact the media is still covering him like he's a national figure.


    It's a shame in our political campaigns that the best strategies are often the most cynical.

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  28. I think Obama took a risk in opening this issue up to this extent, but likely it will be a temporary hit.

    But by doing what he did this issue will fade out faster so in the long run I think , Jacquie, its a good move. Just not one that will pay off quickly.

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  29. I'm not alone among people over here in finding the whole thing a bit bemusing. In fact something I don't understand is why the President even needs to be an American. Maybe it's a cultural thing, but I don't get why it's important if he's the right man for the job?

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  30. Ian -- see above. It's in our Constitution.

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  31. I admit it does seem an antiquated requirement, Ian.

    It still is in our Constitution as Astra pointed out. Rather odd really given the number of foreign-born Americans who have come to this nation by choice rather than birth and done well in personal success, public office and the military.

    One of those things people talk about trying to repeal but it never happens.

    And don't even get me started on the Electoral College! :-)

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  32. Yeah, I understood that... I just think it's a strange stipulation for a country which has such a strong ethnic mix historically. Don't get me wrong I'm sure there'd be the same sort of criticisms if a non-Brit sought to be Prime Minister... just as there was when we first appointed a non-Englishamn to manage the English football team!

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  33. Aha! - we have that one coming up next week when the country has its first poll on whether to change the voting system in my lifetime.

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  34. No, I knew you weren't being critical Ian--not that there's anything wrong with that.


    This might be a good time in the USA to have a serious debate about amending the birth requirement for our presidents...but somehow I doubt it.

    Yes, I remember hearing about the row over the football team.

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  35. Yes, that's one I'm watching as well.

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  36. I don't get it, either. In the Constitution or not. Let's face it. The GOP governors in 'some' States are violating the Constitution all the time. The question, (ludicrous as it is), is...when is it okay to violate the Constitution & when not? Go figure.

    I'd leave this country in a heartbeat if I weren't disabled. (Which makes it even worse, of course, as the GOPS want to get rid of any program that might help someone like me.)

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  37. Well, that really makes all the difference, doesn't it?

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  38. Doug, that & the Supreme Court are my biggest beefs. I know that my reasoning is valid, but of course, I'm only blowing in the wind.

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  39. I feel the same way, Lucija. It's very frustrating

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  40. Cue Bruce Springsteen (if it isn't a fake of course).....I'm more worried about which planet our politicians come from than which country they claim to represent, personally speaking naturally

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  41. That's true, AA. I think the very first political blog I ever wrote was based on a short story a friend of mine wrote for a university student magazine, in the style of Kurt Vonnegut. It was about politicans exiled from a planet on the other side of the galaxy who come to earth in a space ship and proceed to lead humankind...nowhere.

    The aliens' answers to social problems are as ineffectual as the earthling leaders already on the job. In the end they are given positions writing down half-baked ideas in books at some political think-tank, and are soon forgotten.

    It's one thing to criticize someone in my mind for his words and deeds, that's fair game. But this whole domestic he's-not-one-of-us crud smacks to McCarthyism and the knee-capping tactics of bullies and the fools that crave a big lie to justify their flight from reality.

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  42. Perhaps that's what really happened?

    "The aliens' answers to social problems are as ineffectual as the earthling leaders already on the job. In the end they are given positions writing down half-baked ideas in books at some political think-tank, and are soon forgotten."

    I love it!

    I 'ventured' in to Yahoo comments the other day, (bad, bad, very bad stupid thing to do)! Some guy said he'd discovered with some software (maybe his head) that the long form is a fake, & expert investigators have now agreed with him; Obama owes us an explanation! There's no shortage of such fools.

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  43. Here I think you refer to the so-called Tea Party Doug whose urgent desire for oversimplification is all that seems to unite them.

    Where Mr Obama was born is less important than why he is what he is today in my view. I suppose the anti-globalist in me can see the argument that if the president of America is not actually an American this could cause difficulties with national identity issues and the question of what America is and where does it actually end (if anywhere?).

    It could be that America is a global brand so it doesn't end anywhere and therefore anybody can be the president in a sort of universalization of manifest destiny even a lowly Mongolian goat herder, or a son of an MI6 agent from Hawaii can hold the highest office on earth.....why not? God Bless America and all that sails in her....the reality seems to be that the aliens have already landed. In future we may have to communicate in runes Doug?

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  44. You know, the more I think about what you wrote, Lucija, the more it makes sense. Some scientists believe organic life travelled to earth via a meteorite, so whay not what passes for political philosophy crashed somwwhere and gave us what passes for government today?

    There are some deadheads who would think the "birth certificate" issue still has merits. They are desperate people. I would like an explanation why no one went to jail for overvaluing all those worthless mortgage-backed bonds that tanked the economy? I'd like to know why Goldman Sachs and others pay out an average of 690,000 dollars in compensation while the average American home owner has lost forty percent of the equity in his house in the last threee years? I'd like to know why the media focuses like a laser beam on dolts like Donald Trump?

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  45. That is correct, AA. I'm no tea partier. The "paranoid style in American politics" (to quote Richard Hofsteadler, who wrote an interesting book with that title in 1964) arises with the frequency of the tides. This is its latest manifestation. I apologize.

    The idealism behind spreading the "American brand" all over the earth is the source of a lot of America's woes I'm afraid. That our "alien" leaders--whatever the dodgy background of their parents and the House of Bush is another example-- often behave like our National Security State is its own benign interplantary space patrol. And our human wreckage is not as bad as the human wreckage of our enemies is the cognitive dissonance of empire, and all current and former occupants of the White House in my memory suffer from it.

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  46. You know I was teasing, of course.

    "I would like an explanation why"....
    Oh dear. I have so many questions about so many things that will never be answered, they're putting me to sleep.

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  47. Yes.

    The matter of what makes politics generally work in America--money in large donations over a citizenry improperly coursed in public affairs--is one system that no upstanding extraterrestrial life form would endorse. ;-)

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  48. Ne'er a truer word writ Doug. One man's cognitive dissonance is of course another man's doublethink, but it all amounts to the same thing in reality. The problem is the big lie, the inescapable consequences of living by deception and artifice is like the Sorcerers Apprentice's syndrome, taken on a life of its own and out of control.

    Perhaps in the case of the White House we are talking about the Br'er Rabbit syndrome where 9/11 is the Tar Baby and Rupert Murdoch is Br'er Fox News.... but in my view this Big Lie is the generator for such delusions that it is both the cause and the consequence of the present situation, starting as 'doublethink' it has now crossed the floor of rationality and become full blown sound the klaxon horn, cognitive dissonance.

    Unfortunately the only cure is a revolutionary one, the institutions of the state and the media are now fatally tainted in my view they are no longer fit for purpose.

    That is why the War On Shopping is fighting a pitched battle with Greater Bilderbergia right now.... fight psychosis with psychosis I say, after all it has always worked in the past!

    Thanks for your concise analysis Doug it says it all.

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  49. Well put AA.

    It seems even harder to find a semblance of rationality in public discourse. Events like long distance push-button war and terror alerts clothed in secret details bring people to embrace fears, symbols and false totems of power to circumvent the higher centers of their brains. What is needed is a peaceful revolution within people's minds, a reawakening of the expectation of reason and honesty from our elected leaders and a clear deliniation of whom they answer to. (This will, sadly, come across as psychosis to many so infected by the likes of Murdoch, Roger Ailes and their global argosy of tabloid bilge.)

    For starters, a decade of this 'great game" business is in southwest Asia is enough for me. "Support Our Troops", as one bumper sticker I saw on a car put it, "Bring Them All Home Alive."

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  50. As you know I wrote on this and as well my own personal experience with Trump. He is not the cloth nor within the realm within my thoughts of what which is neither of the nature nor of the manner that was one other that those that create this tabloidism mentality. The president never needed to opt down to the level of Trump. As, Trump has had his own economic problems. Doug that is extreme, and I really feel that the onus was not on Obama. You saw my post and Trump will never give an apology but he literally made a big slip with this one. As he said it was a service to America. I think these are the things, which are taking us away from what is important, and it's much like a Bill Orielly running for President - which really is what many would consider extremism within the state of a nation. If President while in term has to tend to the likes of Trump, I don't know how he can do his job. As there are more important things of concern. Hawaii has always had that method of declaration of birth.

    Perhaps Hawaii shall now adopt a new plan? Yet here again is where money is used in areas that there are no needs. This is why I mentioned that perhaps Canada is what the past America was. I don't think Canada is what America should be but this is where countries of the likes of Canada don't have their leader that needs to waist time on matters such as Donald.

    I don’t know one American if the average person even cared about this till some felt the need to pay to be able to focus on this. It's not the America I knew. People I don't think cared about this but it was pushed on people. Money could be spent in a much better manner if you ask me. I would think that within any country there is better time spent on important matters – not areas as of such.
    Again I will state I was raised in America and within the only other democractic country which I have lived in these things don't happen. Said with respect...

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  51. Surely the whole issue should be what America has allowed Obama to become. If the fact he was born else where were to come about, doesn't it prove the words of the American dream are right, that a man can rise from no where to become President of the United States of America.

    "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free. The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!" From that if you reach your hand out and embrace all it offers you, maybe, just maybe, you too can become president. Ah, yes, the stuff of dreams.

    Greater is the story that opens before me, greater is the task I assay. Vergil's Aeneid.
    Maybe not in the same context he said it, but it fits. Obama didn't get where he is now sitting picking fluff out of his navel.

    Personally, I like him.

    God save you all from Donald Trump!!!!

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  52. The media here too often seems to focus more on superficial matters, Jack. Trump makes good "copy" because he is loud and opinionated and has strengths at drawing media to him. At the end of the day, this whole birth certificate mess is a huge distraction form real national problems.

    Just to be forever against some leader or some policy to me is not a sign of a potential leader.

    If the Canadian media is generally less likely to be sucked into covering blowhards like Mr. Trump, well, more power to them.

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  53. I think what Obama has become is far more important than what territory he was born in, Cassandra, and as I said earlier the idea that an American President has to be born in US territory is anachronistic and not worthy of the finer aspects of the US Constitution, which includes the Bill of Rights and the willingness of past generations Including Obama's grandfather in World War II) to lay down their lives to help defend the rights of people in other democracies from fascists and others who would remove the consent of the governed from the equation of government.

    Barack Obama did work hard to get where he is, and for a man to come out of a family with no connections and raised by a single mother and his grandmother is a testament that America has some right things going for it.

    I think Trump-mania may be finally over, but asking God's help to avoid his mark as our national leader is something worth praying for!

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  54. Or something a bit fishy is going on Doug......if this is a multiple choice question on the relationship between Barack Obama, manifest destiny and the American Dream I think we may have the terms of a global referendum on the matter. With all this talk of forgery in the air I think we should ask the audience...but what does it all mean Doug?

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  55. I imagine a global refendum on the status of any American leader would not be too good for the Chief Executive in question, AA.

    I guess I can say, without pretending I can make a final judgement, that the President was born in Hawaii, which is where he said he was born all along. On all other points, he is fair game to criticism.

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  56. Doug, I don't think any President went through what he has and there is fair game but then their is honor with regards to a President. I wrote on this and I forget where I placed it as I almost worked for that man while living within New York City and Trump placed his finger withing the wrong cookie jar.

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  57. I think Trump sent out his dogs of war and they all came back to bite him. It proves a man can have a lot of money and fame and still seem rather small.

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  58. Laughing as he would never say it but they did :)

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