Obama Releases Birth Certificate

[Ranger2]

More information here.

So after two and a half years of birther controversy, the White House has finally released Obama's birth certificate.
For those of you who don't know about the birthers, they are an ever-growing group of people who believe that Obama was born in Kenya and not in the United States (Hawaii, to be exact). Why is this important? Because the law says that you must be born in the United States or one of its establishments to become President.

This whole notion that Obama was not born in the United States is absolute bullshit. His birth certificate has been verfied by the Hawaii records bureau, and even the current Governor of Hawaii claims that he remembers seeing Obama as a baby in Honolulu. Local newspaper archives show that his birthday, August 4, 1961, was printed in the birth announcements section.

Birthers claim that Obama was not born in the United States because of either a plan or the idea that Hawaii didn't count as the United States during his birth. The facts are, Hawaii was a United States territory since the 1890s, and was granted statehood in 1959, almost two years prior to Obama's birth.
Other birthers say that the newspaper birth announcement was a hoax, and that it was (seriously?) planted in the newspaper by the Obama family so that when he would become a future president he would appear to have proof that he was born in the USA.

Even some presidential nominees are believers of the birther theory. Donald Trump, GOP contender for President, says that he doesn't believe that Obama was born in the US, and he even wants Obama to show his school report cards, claiming that Obama was a failing student.

It is absolutely ridiculous what birthers and the Tea Party movement think. When the Tea Party came out a year or so ago, I thought what they were doing was admirable. Protesting against big government, wanting less taxation, it was so...American. And I respected it. But now that they are proclaiming conspiracy theories like this, I have lost all respect for them.

I don't know whether or not Obama has done the right thing by releasing his birth certificate. It could finally quiet down the theorists, but it might give them a huge morale boost. This is essentially harrassment, and it takes time away from the President that he could be using to fix the economy.

That's the facts and my own opinion. What do you think?

[rogerfive]

I think that Obama was born in the USA, but probably spent his child hood elsewhere. Nothing illegal, though.

[Camarohusky]

All the "birther" phenomena is is a veiled excuse to act and vote based on Obama's race.

[Malachy]

At 4/27/11 03:33 PM, Camarohusky wrote: All the "birther" phenomena is is a veiled excuse to act and vote based on Obama's race.

Or a similarly veiled excuse to disagree with the mere fact their guy didn't win. Just like Dems during GW's presidency (even after he was re-elected).

They are rationalizing their disagreement with the outcome of the election by grasping at some type of reason the winner doesn't belong. A technicality, the popular vote, corruption or fraud, etc gives more legitimacy to their feelings. There are many reasons people might feel disenfranchised by an election beyond that they are just racist.

It's kind of like some peoples' disagreement with George W. Bush being president after the 2000 election where he was behind in the popular vote and only got the Florida electoral college points after a legal battle about the vote there... or JFK who was catholic or any president who didn't win the popular vote but did the electoral college. People think of them as the illegitimate usurper and the feel less like the rest of the country didn't agree with them.

[Angry-Hatter]

At 4/27/11 04:27 PM, Malachy wrote:

At 4/27/11 03:33 PM, Camarohusky wrote: All the "birther" phenomena is is a veiled excuse to act and vote based on Obama's race.

Or a similarly veiled excuse to disagree with the mere fact their guy didn't win. Just like Dems during GW's presidency (even after he was re-elected).

Boom, false equivalency. Insane conspiracy theories about forged birth certificates are not the same as the very legitimate concerns regarding the shady activities surrounding the 00' and 04' elections.

[Camarohusky]

At 4/27/11 04:27 PM, Malachy wrote:

At 4/27/11 03:33 PM, Camarohusky wrote: All the "birther" phenomena is is a veiled excuse to act and vote based on Obama's race.

Or a similarly veiled excuse to disagree with the mere fact their guy didn't win. Just like Dems during GW's presidency (even after he was re-elected).

I definitely disagree here. There are so many ways that the people can place blame. However this one is intentionally targetted at Obama because of his race. When people say he was born in Kenya, they don't say so because he's a Democrat, they say so because he's black.

When it boils down to it there are many other things that can be used to discredit Obama in people's minds, but so many have latched onto the ones involving his ethnicity.

[Ravariel]

At 4/27/11 05:07 PM, Camarohusky wrote:

At 4/27/11 04:27 PM, Malachy wrote:

At 4/27/11 03:33 PM, Camarohusky wrote: All the "birther" phenomena is is a veiled excuse to act and vote based on Obama's race.

Or a similarly veiled excuse to disagree with the mere fact their guy didn't win. Just like Dems during GW's presidency (even after he was re-elected).

I definitely disagree here. There are so many ways that the people can place blame. However this one is intentionally targetted at Obama because of his race. When people say he was born in Kenya, they don't say so because he's a Democrat, they say so because he's black.

When it boils down to it there are many other things that can be used to discredit Obama in people's minds, but so many have latched onto the ones involving his ethnicity.

Well, now many prominent birthers are moving on to questioning Obamas college record, claiming Affirmative Action was the only way he got into such prestigious universities. So, if nothing else they're getting a little more honest about their racism.

[Korriken]

At 4/27/11 06:01 PM, Ravariel wrote:

Well, now many prominent birthers are moving on to questioning Obamas college record, claiming Affirmative Action was the only way he got into such prestigious universities. So, if nothing else they're getting a little more honest about their racism.

sit back, grab some popcorn, enjoy the show. That's all politics are anymore, just another tv show.

btw. that didn't take long and that website isn't even politically motivated.

[BrianEtrius]

At 4/27/11 06:01 PM, Ravariel wrote: Well, now many prominent birthers are moving on to questioning Obamas college record, claiming Affirmative Action was the only way he got into such prestigious universities. So, if nothing else they're getting a little more honest about their racism.

QUICK! Everybody question Obama's academic record! MAYBE HE NEVER WENT TO COLUMBIA

In seriousness though, at this point, to quote the meme, "Haters gonna hate". You could take all the birthers now, put them into Doc's Delorean, and take them back to when Obama was born in Hawaii, and they still wouldn't believe it. It's pretty ridiculous this has even gone as far as it has.

[Iron-Hampster]

"heres my birth certificate, now lets focus on more important things"

look where we are now.

[Proteas]

At 4/27/11 05:07 PM, Camarohusky wrote: I definitely disagree here. There are so many ways that the people can place blame. However this one is intentionally targetted at Obama because of his race. When people say he was born in Kenya, they don't say so because he's a Democrat, they say so because he's black.

I thought Malachy was making reference to George W. Bush because of the whole U.S. Airforce thing, you know; the question of weather or not he actually served and using it as an attempt to discredit him.

Of course, that's my twiztid little brain at work. I could be completely wrong, as usual.

[Malachy]

At 4/27/11 08:12 PM, Proteas wrote:

At 4/27/11 05:07 PM, Camarohusky wrote: I definitely disagree here. There are so many ways that the people can place blame. However this one is intentionally targetted at Obama because of his race. When people say he was born in Kenya, they don't say so because he's a Democrat, they say so because he's black.

I thought Malachy was making reference to George W. Bush because of the whole U.S. Airforce thing, you know; the question of weather or not he actually served and using it as an attempt to discredit him.

Of course, that's my twiztid little brain at work. I could be completely wrong, as usual.

No, I was referring to the 2000 election results where Bush was behind in the popular vote but still got in from the electoral college (and of course the recounts and legal battles and all that jazz.

The shift to Obama's academic credentials would more resemble what you are talking about or the complaints about Bush's grades in college. Then again, even if he was admitted to Cortland and Harvard Law because of affirmative action, something is telling me that he didn't magically get a seat onto the law review because the admissions committee wanted more diversity in the class when he applied. Things like that are invite-only based on grades/writing ability/competition and whatnot.

[Angry-Hatter]

At 4/27/11 07:30 PM, RightWingGamer wrote: Actually, the equivalency is quite valid as BOTH are just crackpot conspiracy theories and BOTH are completely irrelevant.

Oh my, I'm dreadfully sorry, I didn't know that. In light of this new, hard-hitting, CONCLUSIVE rebuttal, I'll just be on my way. And here I was thinking that the right wing Supreme Court ruled 5-4 to stop the Florida recount (overruling the Florida Supreme Court's 7-2 decision), essentially handing Bush the election.

I must have only dreamt that!

[Korriken]

At 4/27/11 08:26 PM, RightWingGamer wrote: Wow, that didn't take long

These people are persistent, ain't they?

....

huh. never worked with the program myself so I wouldn't know if that proves anything or not.

course, the only thing Obama accomplished with this is.. uhh... nothing really. Birthers looked for, and found, a reason to call it fake, the.. non birthers will use the birth certificate to beat the birthers over the head with, while the birthers use their proof of fake certificate to beat them back.

in the end, it's like watching an episode of some western cartoon, in the end everything is just how it was when it started.

but to me, the REAL question is, "why now, of all times, to release the birth certificate?" the answer is probably a lot more simple than I would believe.

[Malachy]

At 4/27/11 09:14 PM, Ericho wrote: This was the dumbest argument because John McCain was actually born in Panama. I heard some people who talked about this, but it is in fact true that McCain was born in Panama and yet there are no conspiracy theorists who claim that Panama is trying to take over the country. Granted, his father was still American, but it's a heck of a lot more foreign born than Obama is. I can't wait to see Donald Trump's reaction.

McCain was born in the Panama Canal Zone which was American soil at the time. Panama didn't get that zone back from the US until like a decade ago.

[Malachy]

At 4/27/11 09:24 PM, Malachy wrote:

At 4/27/11 09:14 PM, Ericho wrote: This was the dumbest argument because John McCain was actually born in Panama. I heard some people who talked about this, but it is in fact true that McCain was born in Panama and yet there are no conspiracy theorists who claim that Panama is trying to take over the country. Granted, his father was still American, but it's a heck of a lot more foreign born than Obama is. I can't wait to see Donald Trump's reaction.

McCain was born in the Panama Canal Zone which was American soil at the time. Panama didn't get that zone back from the US until like a decade ago.

Ah, here we go:
It was an unorganized US territory of roughly 5 miles on each side of the canal (excluding Panama City).

The only real problem for McCain would be whether he was considered "natural born" but a law in 1937 by Congress gave citizenship to those born there retroactively so he'd be good to go.

[gumOnShoe]

At 4/27/11 09:24 PM, Malachy wrote:

At 4/27/11 09:14 PM, Ericho wrote: This was the dumbest argument because John McCain was actually born in Panama. I heard some people who talked about this, but it is in fact true that McCain was born in Panama and yet there are no conspiracy theorists who claim that Panama is trying to take over the country. Granted, his father was still American, but it's a heck of a lot more foreign born than Obama is. I can't wait to see Donald Trump's reaction.

McCain was born in the Panama Canal Zone which was American soil at the time. Panama didn't get that zone back from the US until like a decade ago.

And to make all of this even more irrelevant, the constitution does not say "president must be born in the United States." It says "Presidents must be born American Citizens"

A citizen by birth is anyone who is born on American Soil OR to American parents. Obama would meet this qualification even if he were born in Africa, so fuck the birthers and this entire argument.

It really is about not wanting Obama to be president. Some of the poeple are racists. Some of the people are hard right people who don't want Obama to be president on principle. And some of the people are just downright loony. There's no unified reason why any person in the "birther" group thinks the way they do. In the end its a piss poor reason no matter what.

I also agree with the hamster about the false equivalency. Questioning the outcome of an election that was that close is far more legitimate than questioning Obama's birth, in the face of evidence. There was a lot more going on at the time. Votes were "magically" found and lost. Judges let their politics get in the way 100%. And in the end the Federal government told a state what it was and was not allowed to do with its votes. That whole process was fucked up, and I'd say that even if I were a republican. That said, if the votes really were in Bush's favor it wouldn't matter its all said and done, but the two situations are not in any way shape or form equivalent. And I think there's enough evidence that we got fucked over in 2000 (medicare d, 2 unfunded wars, a president who ignored intelligence information, a president who allowed a financial melt down (I'm not claiming a democrat would have done otherwise), and a president who cut taxes with no plan to pay off the burgeoning debt). That looks bad to a liberal. It should look especially bad to a fiscal conservative.

Anyway that's my piece, slightly off topic, and yet how I feel about the whole thing anyway.

[RacistBassist]

At 4/27/11 09:14 PM, Ericho wrote: I can't wait to see Donald Trump's reaction.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/obama-bir th-certificate-released-white-house/stor y?id=13467977

He's taking credit for it.

[Camarohusky]

At 4/27/11 10:03 PM, RacistBassist wrote: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/obama-bir th-certificate-released-white-house/stor y?id=13467977

He's taking credit for it.

Now he's insinuating that Obama couldn't have earned his way into Harvard Law School...

[aviewaskewed]

At 4/27/11 07:30 PM, RightWingGamer wrote: Part of me wants to say "Was that so hard?", another part of me wants to say "TOOK YA LONG ENOUGH!" and yet another part of me wants to say "Maybe this will finally shut those idiots up."

There's no part of you that says "what the hell is wrong with this country that we had so many people that required this action to be taken to begin with"? Look, I know you're no fan of Obama, and that's completely cool. But I think one thing we can find common ground on is how disturbing and frustrating it is to see such a large segment of the population act like such complete and total idiots.

Actually, the equivalency is quite valid as BOTH are just crackpot conspiracy theories and BOTH are completely irrelevant.

Oh really? Because there's been some very good fact based documentaries and films based on the '00 and '04 elections that raised valid concerns, and laws were changed based on the descripencies and problems from those elections. So no, I don't think both are "crackpot conspiracy theories" that are on equal terms. I'm not sure though Mal argued a false equivalency as much as he made a bad analogy.

[aviewaskewed]

At 4/27/11 09:16 PM, Korriken wrote: but to me, the REAL question is, "why now, of all times, to release the birth certificate?" the answer is probably a lot more simple than I would believe.

I agree, seems to me this might be some sort of distraction play. Either for immediate use, or for some future benefit. Lord knows government at the federal level seems to have become a slight of hand game where they dazzle you with the left hand so you don't see what the right hand is doing.

[aviewaskewed]

At 4/27/11 10:06 PM, Camarohusky wrote: Now he's insinuating that Obama couldn't have earned his way into Harvard Law School...

And when that gets proven...he'll take credit for being the guy that proved he did...and idiots will eat that up too

[Gunner-D]

Next on the right-wing agenda... Now Obama must now prove he is a Christian.

I can hear it starting to boil.. "All his spiritual leaders are America haters. He just doesn't pray like a 'real' Christian. Where are the baptism records? Any pictures? PROVE IT! "

Is the right-wing of the Republican party really going to try to promote Christian Identity racism into the mainstream?

[BrianEtrius]

At 4/27/11 10:24 PM, aviewaskewed wrote: And when that gets proven...he'll take credit for being the guy that proved he did...and idiots will eat that up too

I can the promo for next season's Apprentice already.......

"He's the only man WHO CAN CONVINCE THE PRESIDENT"

[gumOnShoe]

At 4/27/11 10:22 PM, aviewaskewed wrote: I agree, seems to me this might be some sort of distraction play. Either for immediate use, or for some future benefit. Lord knows government at the federal level seems to have become a slight of hand game where they dazzle you with the left hand so you don't see what the right hand is doing.

In all honesty it probably is simply that its been 2 years, he's starting another campaign and if he's going to do it nows the best time. He'd probably also like the conversation not to be about the debt for the next couple days. On top of that, Trump has been putting more pressure on the situation by continuing to bring it up. The Obama administration listens way too much to the center and to center-right news. In the end, they probably calculated that Trump as a business guy could take the moderate vote. Calling his bluff puts him further into the "radical" category and makes him less appealing to moderates. Obama is campaigning now, he has announced he is doing so.

I don't think there's anything insidious about this. I think its the first attempt of his to try and control the messages circulating around him. Of course, we'll see how well he does that... the media isn't know for their ability to stay focused on any one thing or remember things from day to day.

[Warforger]

At 4/27/11 07:30 PM, RightWingGamer wrote: Part of me wants to say "Was that so hard?", another part of me wants to say "TOOK YA LONG ENOUGH!" and yet another part of me wants to say "Maybe this will finally shut those idiots up."

No, they have copies of the birth certificate available but the original copy has to be dug up in a huge archive, which the Hawaiian Governer has done. He didn't have it with him of course because he didn't know there were this many morons in politics.

[Korriken]

At 4/27/11 10:24 PM, aviewaskewed wrote:

And when that gets proven...he'll take credit for being the guy that proved he did...and idiots will eat that up too

Political Gambling at its finest, eh?

If Obama really DIDN'T do that great in school, showing the records would be embarassing to him, and therefore he'll continue to hide them, giving Trump something to rag him with.

If he did great in school, he could have it set up to show the transcripts which would make Trump look like a jackass and make Obama look good.

Trump is taking a rather nasty approach to running for president... but then again, it's Donald Trump, what DO you expect? Personally I hope he takes Vince McMahon for his vice president. then you'd have one major ego fight for the white house. Obama vs Trump, 2 bloated egos, 2 massive war chests, This one is gonna get UGLY!

[Angry-Hatter]

At 4/28/11 12:22 AM, Korriken wrote: Trump is taking a rather nasty approach to running for president... but then again, it's Donald Trump, what DO you expect? Personally I hope he takes Vince McMahon for his vice president. then you'd have one major ego fight for the white house. Obama vs Trump, 2 bloated egos, 2 massive war chests, This one is gonna get UGLY!

Are you kidding? An Obama Vs. Trump race would be the easiest landslide ever won by the Dems. That'd be even more of a slaughter than an Obama Vs. Palin matchup. It'd be like nominating Krusty the Clown to take on Obama.

[Malachy]

At 4/28/11 12:22 AM, Korriken wrote:

At 4/27/11 10:24 PM, aviewaskewed wrote:

And when that gets proven...he'll take credit for being the guy that proved he did...and idiots will eat that up too

Political Gambling at its finest, eh?

If Obama really DIDN'T do that great in school, showing the records would be embarassing to him, and therefore he'll continue to hide them, giving Trump something to rag him with.

If he did great in school, he could have it set up to show the transcripts which would make Trump look like a jackass and make Obama look good.

I kind of take the Times' stance that ignoring the issue had political smarts for Obama as he really wasn't expecting the votes of any Birthers in any event and it would be an easy enough job to show them as nut jobs as the election goes along. It could potentially slightly poison a serious republican's campaign if the birthers were to align with him. I actually think that the perceived racist overtones of the movement really discredited anyone standing with it and when it's such a insignificant group of hardcore right-wingers Obama stood to lose nothing by ignoring to them. He wasn't going to lose any votes because those people clearly weren't going to vote for him whether he furnished the long form certificate (as is apparent by them jumping to the next bullshit conspiracy)... however he does stand to lose votes if he is seen putting too much attention on those side shows and ignoring the actual issues. If anything, releasing his long form birth certificate is a politically bad move.

[aviewaskewed]

At 4/28/11 12:22 AM, Korriken wrote: Political Gambling at its finest, eh?

S'what I'm thinking.

If Obama really DIDN'T do that great in school, showing the records would be embarassing to him, and therefore he'll continue to hide them, giving Trump something to rag him with.

Yeah, but I tend to think that, again, given Obama's credentials, this is just as silly, if not sillier, then the birther thing. I mean, I know Bush wasn't exactly an academic wiz kid, and he got the presidency...but he was also massively connected politically. Obama came from nothing and nowhere. I tend to think this is just Trump making another (pardon the pun) trumped up charge to mobilize the ignorant radicals on the right.

If he did great in school, he could have it set up to show the transcripts which would make Trump look like a jackass and make Obama look good.

True, but if Obama thinks Trump is going to be serious competition for him...I think Obama may be one of those people who once again proves book smarts doesn't always make one smart.

Trump is taking a rather nasty approach to running for president... but then again, it's Donald Trump, what DO you expect?

You really think he's seriously trying to run? I don't. I think this is all a great big goddamn publicity stunt and cash grab on Trump's part. I don't think he seriously wants to run because his platform so far looks ignorant and alienating to all but the most ill-informed and rabid on the right. I think he's looking to build an audience for his current television efforts, and maybe work some new angles coming out of this.

Personally I hope he takes Vince McMahon for his vice president. then you'd have one major ego fight for the white house. Obama vs Trump, 2 bloated egos, 2 massive war chests, This one is gonna get UGLY!

Oh no, Vince would NEVER be anybody's VP! He needs to be "the guy" or nothing at all! Well, unless Trump agrees to let people think it's like Bush and Cheney, where people think Vince is actually the evil genius pulling all the strings. On second thought, that ticket might be fun to elect just to watch them bicker and try to prove who's got the bigger dick and is actually in charge.