Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Shows Us Your Birth Certificate, Sen. Obama

The news media should not let up until Sen. Barack Obama produces a birth certificate which proves his status as a "natural born U.S. citizen." The U.S. Constitution requires a person to be a natural born citizen in order to serve as President. The St. Petersburg Times attempted to obtain a copy of Obama's birth certificate from the State of Hawaii, where Obama is reported to have been born on August 4, 1961. The state does not make birth certificates available to the public and Obama's campaign refused to furnish the newspaper a copy of it. Obama's late mother, Ann Dunham, was a U.S. citizen. His late father, Barack Obama, Sr., was a Kenyan citizen. The National Review's Jim Geraghty notes that the Obama campaign referenced the birth certificate in a Fact Check on Obama's relationship with William Ayers.

The Obama campaign will no doubt complain that requests for a copy of his birth certificate are unfair and racist, but Sen. John McCain, a decorated war veteran who spent 5 years in an enemy prison camp, had to defend his "natural born citizen" status earlier this year after the media raised questions about his birth on a military base in the Panama Canal Zone. The U.S. Senate later declared McCain a "natural born citizen". Obama's birth status may raise similar legal issues. To be blunt, the Obama family tree is somewhat complicated. Although the family says his mother was married to his father, his father never obtained a divorce from a prior marriage in Kenya and no official record of their marriage has been produced, a fact acknowledged by Obama. Obama has added to the confusion himself by claiming that his parents were united as a result of the march on Selma, Alabama. The march didn't take place until 1965, nearly four years after Obama's reported birth date in Honolulu. By virtue of his father's Kenyan citizenship, Obama is also a citizen of Kenya, giving him dual citizenship. There is no record of Obama officially renouncing his Kenyan citizenship. His mother remarried and moved to Indonesia with Obama when he was six years old. He returned to Hawaii when he was 10 to live with his grandparents.

Throughout his life, Obama has no doubt been required to provide a birth certificate, such as when he applied for a social security card, a passport or a driver's license or registered to vote. In my practice of immigration law, I must ask my clients to furnish a copy of their birth certificate in order to prove to the government their eligibility to sponsor a family member for immigration to the U.S. Surely Sen. Obama would not be unduly burdened by simply producing a copy of his birth certificate to prove he is a natural born citizen as required of any person seeking to hold the high office of President of the United States. Sen. McCain established his constitutional qualification to hold the office. It's time for Sen. Obama to do the same.

UPDATE: The Obama campaign produced his birth certificate via the Daily Kos--an odd choice of media to release the information given the hate America crowd that relishes there. The Left nuts are all laughing it up, but it is a constitutional prerequisite to holding the office. The Obama campaign's initial refusal to produce it should be the real issue, but you can bet the Left won't see it that way. This would be the same people who were seriously arguing a few months ago that decorated war veteran and former prisoner of war John McCain should be disqualified from holding the office because he was born the son of a Navy admiral on a military base in the Panama Canal Zone.

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

Again, non-issue. I think we should bring up (again) the fact that McCain was not born in ANY of the 50 states. If we press the issue of Obama producing a birth certificate, I think we should take a sharp legal eye to McCain's status to constitutional serve as the President.

Anonymous said...

Sorry, Gary, you addressed the McCain issue adequately. Trying to read and respond quickly before a meeting. Cheers!

DMC said...

You really thought this "issue" was worth three paragraphs and several hundred words? REALLY?

Wow. Petty.

Tenacious Lee said...

Wow. Really? You're getting awfully desperate here. Now we're reduced to questioning his citizenship?

Why can't you just focus on the issues? His stances? His policies? There's enough there to justify not voting for him. You're engaging in constant scare tactics, and they just seem so... well... pathetic.

Gary R. Welsh said...

Sorry, Obama fans. Let's not let the Constitution get in the way of your candidate's entitlement to the office. The Left was all over McCain's "natural born status" just a few months ago despite the painful sacrifices he made in service of his country. But now that your guy is asked to simply show us he is what he says he is, you scream bloody murder.

M Theory said...

WIth the kind of terrorist threats we have going on here in America, well we just can't be too safe.

Obama's birth does seem to be in question here and if he can't produce a birth certificate the proves he is eligible for our top job, shouldn't we be worried about terrorism?

You gotta have a birth cert. to get a passport. It's not asking to much to have one to be president.

The fact that he doesn't produce the damned thing and get it over with, makes me highly suspect there is some real question about his true nationality.

Anonymous said...

I thought that you practice immigration law? If so, certainly you would know that Section 301(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act makes anyone who is born abroad to a US citizen parent who was present in the US for at least 5 years, 2 of which were after age 14, a US citizen at birth.

Ironically it's this same section of the INA, and not a non-binding Senate resolution, which makes John McCain a natural-born citizen.

Jeff said...

Well this is one Obama supporter that agree's. Get the certificate out and end the discussion. Don't let this become an issue, each and everyone of us has had to prove our citizenship and it's not a big deal.

Peace

Gary R. Welsh said...

dokkaq, I know exactly what the law says. I didn't even say Obama was born abroad. Apparently you think he was. And the law you cite was different at the time of his birth than it is now, which is what is controlling in his case. At the time of his alleged birth, his mother had to reside in the US for a total of 10 years prior to the birth of the child, with five
of the years after the age of 14, if he was born abroad. We're told he was born in Hawaii. When a client comes into my office who has always lived in Indiana, I can assume he or she is a U.S. citizen, but until I am handed a birth certificate which proves it, USCIS won't accept that they are a U.S. citizen, even if the person has a social security number and has been filing federal income taxes for years. If a U.S. citizen applying to get an immigration benefit from our country is required to produce a birth certificate, then why shouldn't a person running for the highest office in the land. Besides, as I've already noted, he must be a natural born citizen to become President.

Tenacious Lee said...

Let's face it everyone, Obama is going to have to answer every cock-eyed accusation that every whackjob blogger comes up with.

And I'm voting for Bob Barr, so don't even try to counter with that lame-ass 'Obama-lover' nonsense.

Concerned Taxpayer said...

Only white Republicans have to follow and obey the laws of this land.

The laws don't apply to blacks or democrats.

Unknown said...

Let's face it everyone, Obama is going to have to answer every cock-eyed accusation that every whackjob blogger comes up with.


Just like almost every other candidate for president in this country.

Bart Lies said...

Let's say they ARE wierd, unfair, petty accusations... Isn't it really simple to just answer the question to shut up the accusers? It would be a great opportunity to show them up as grasping at straws.

What's so hard about producing a birth certificate? I'd do it just to show people how 'unfair' or 'petty' they were being. If, that is, I had one. Which I do.

Does Mr. O?

Bart Lies said...

After seeing the link to Barack's birth certificate, I was drawn to the 'father's race' being listed as 'african'.

In every other recent US document I recall seeing, 'race' was either listed as 'caucasian' or - following the US Census Bureau's certificate of live birth standards - 'white', 'black' or 'african american', etc. .

http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/dvs/birth11-03final-ACC.pdf

Want to bet his reluctance to release his original birth certificate was because it contained the word 'negro?' It's a sure bet that it doesn't say 'african.'

I'd rather him say he was opposed to producing a document containing an out-of-favor word than to simply give the impression of 'I don't have to prove my citzenship to you.'

Mercifully, the whole thing is now put to rest. It really WAS easier to do so than to continue the stonewalling.

Concerned Taxpayer said...

Race - "African" What the hell is that?

Was he a white African, or a black African, or an Arab African?

neechevo said...

http://my.barackobama.com/page/invite/birthcert

There you go...of course he could have had help from Hamas forging the document (That was a joke for those who really think Obama is out to destroy America).

Gary R. Welsh said...

Incidentally, Democratic blogger Larry Johnson is questioning the authenticity of the birth certificate. I've reviewed lots of birth certificates in my practice. I've never reviewed a Hawaiian birth certificate. The format varies considerably from state to state and sometimes within counties of the state. I have no reason to question its authenticity because it is similar to birth certificates I've looked at from other jurisdictions. I'll leave it to others to draw their own conclusions.

truthblogger said...

Obviously he's showed it to those who really matter...or he wouldn't be on the ticket...