A United States Senator has spoken in public about Barack Obama’s natural born citizenship status. A constituent asked Senator Richard Shelby if there was any truth to a rumor that the President may not be constitutionally qualified for the office. Shelby did not duck the question, as some before him have. See photos and video below.
Senator Richard Shelby (Photo)
After months of campaign trail scrutiny of circumstances surrounding Barack Obama’s place of birth, his supporters contend that there is no controversy. Others believe that Congress failed in a important duty to vet a candidate, and perhaps subverted the Constitution, possibly allowing Obama to take the country’s highest office even though he is not a natural born citizen.
While meeting with local residents in Cullman County, AL, Senator Shelby (R-AL) was asked:
…[is] there was any truth to a rumor that appeared during the presidential campaign concerning Obama’s U.S. citizenship, or lack thereof.
Shelby’s answer, while not in-depth, stated the bare bones of the intense rumors:
Well his father was Kenyan and they said he was born in Hawaii, but I haven’t seen any birth certificate. You have to be born in America to be president.
To Obama’s minions, it’s enough that there is a birth certificate posted online claiming to be Barack’s “real” birth certificate. It is enough that FactCheck.org has verified the online certificate. FactCheck.org is owned by the Annenberg Foundation which was one Barack Obama’s first employers.
To those not so willing to drink the Kool-Aid, especially after Obama’s family in Kenya claimed attending his birth in Kenya, there is far more to consider.
Hawaii issues numerous types of birth certificates. Some of those certificates can be issued for a child not born in Hawaii, or in the United States. The birth certificate provided by the Obama campaign, and seen online, is a Certification of Live Birth, which any parent can request for a child within the first year of birth, regardless of the child’s country of birth.
The birth certificate America needs, to verify that our President is natural born, is a long form Certificate of Birth - the documentation proving that a person was born in Hawaii. This has not been provided for Barack Obama, and he has reportedly hired three law firms to keep the long form from being released.
Obama’s minions point to a statement from the registrar of vital statistics in Hawaii who says she has personally verified that the office holds Obama’s “original birth certificate.” The problem: the registrar’s office does not verify a long form birth certificate. Records are sealed in Hawaii and the long form cannot be revealed without the request of family or someone with a vital interest - which in this case does not include the citizens of the United States.
FactCheck.org has verified Obama’s online birth certificate. This makes Obama supporters feel good. His certificate has been “checked,” and verified, but it’s not that simple. First, FactCheck.org is just another internet site with no authority. Second, it is owned by the Annenberg Foundation who just happened to be Barack Obama’s first real employer. Third, did I mention that FactCheck has no authority?
Now we have a member of the Senate who has publicly said that he does not believe proper proof has been provided.
I applaud Senator Shelby for not ducking the question, as most Senators and Representatives have done. When I spoke to my Senator’s offices before the election, the conversations eventually revealed a fear that they would smeared if they entered the fray. They don’t really know either - and they didn’t have the courage to make the Democrats take this burden off the shoulders of American voters.
What will it take to move this to the next step up? At this point, Congress needs to lay out authentic documentation. This should not be a murky issue. This is not an issue that the internet can solve or prove. The proof must come from Obama, an incredibly easy task him, unless he is not natural born, the State of Hawaii and Congress.
In the video below, Alan Keyes is fired-up and speaking plainly about Barack Obama. Listen for some hot-button commentary on the possibility of an unconstitutional President (click photos below to enlarge).
Barack Obama Gallery (Photos)
Barack Obama Birth Certificate - Alan Keyes Commentary (Video)
February 22nd, 2009 at 4:21 pm
Senator Shelby’s assertion that “You have to be born in America to be president.” is only partially correct. You have to be born on American territory, you have to be born of American parentS (two) and you have cannot be born with multiple loyalties.
That’s why Obama is a usurper.
February 22nd, 2009 at 4:47 pm
@Paul Smith: I think Shelby just didn’t get into the details, but meant that from what he knew, Obama did not qualify. The clause about other loyalities is mystifying because you CAN be born abroad and be a citizen with only one parent being a citizen - so how does the “other” loyalty come into play when one parent is a citizen?
Also there is the matter of whether or not Ann Dunham was old enough to pass-on citizenship. I’ve looked and looked and cannot find the Constitutional clause stating anything that would pertain to her, at that time.
It’s difficult to think that Obama has proof because surely he would show it. Neither he nor his sister even know the hospital he was born in. His American grandmother knew, so he and his sister have to know as well. Don’t you know as kids they would have driven past a hospital and Grannie would have said “Barry, that’s where you were born.” Didn’t happen, I suppose.
February 22nd, 2009 at 4:48 pm
It says “Certification of Live Birth” (COLB) right at the top.
It shows the place of birth: Honolulu.
You people are freakin’ crazy. Shelby panders to you, because the Republican Party has become the party of disgruntled, bitter nutcases.
February 22nd, 2009 at 5:04 pm
@ Winston Smith: The birth certificate on Obama’s website is considered to be a forgery for many reasons. The certificate that proves his birth in Hawaii is the “long form.” It records the doctor’s name and signature, and the name of the hospital, etc.
February 22nd, 2009 at 5:15 pm
Jonathan Graffeo, Sen. Shelby’s spokesman, has now said that the Cullman Times report is a “distortion” and that the Senator “doesn’t have any doubt” about Obama’s qualifications for the presidency.
February 22nd, 2009 at 5:33 pm
Winston Smith, please read what you wrote: Certification of Live Birth. Words have meaning. This document, if authentic, certifies a live birth, nothing more.
The issue of the birth certificate becomes moot in and of the fact that Barack Obama was adopted by Lolo Soetoro prior to 1967 when he registered for school in Jakarta, Indonesia, listing his father as Lolo Soetoro, his name as Barry Soetoro, his citizenship as Indonesian. The Soetoro divorce papers list two children of the Soetoro marriage: one minor (Maya, born in Indonesia) and one over 18 (Barry). Were Barry Soetoro not adopted by Lolo Soetoro, he would not have been listed as a legal child of the marriage in the Soetoro divorce papers.
This brings us back to the COLB. To be authentic, this document should show Lolo Soetoro as the father, the name of the child as Barry Soetoro. Why doesn’t it?
The State of Hawaii has confirmed that there is a birth certificate on file for Barack Obama in Hawaii. They do not say, however, that it is a Hawaiian birth certificate. If the birth certificate on file in Hawaii was not issued by Hawaii, when Lolo Soetoro adopted Barack Obama, Hawaii would have had no legal obligation to seal the original birth certificate and issue a new birth certificate.
The birth of Maya Soetoro, an Indonesian citizen, is also registered in Hawaii as Hawaiian law allows the birth of foreign-born children to be registered there. That the original birth certificate was not sealed, a new birth certificate issued, more than strongly suggests that the birth certificate Hawaii is holding was not issued by Hawaii.
People claim the COLB is a forgery. Take a look at the race of the father: African. On your birth certificate is your father listed as “American”? I’ll bet not. Like American, African is not a race, and certainly was not a race in 1961. This would be more believable if the race of his father were listed as Negro or Negroid.
There has been no evidence presented that Barry Soetoro had his name changed back, legally, to Barack Obama. There has been no evidence presented that Barry Soetoro became a naturalized citizen which, at this point, is all he could be.
He is not eligible to the office of president under Article II, Section 1, United States Constitution.
If he is not naturalized, he is an illegal alien and not eligible to the office of Senator either, state or U.S.
February 22nd, 2009 at 5:54 pm
…There has been no evidence presented that Barry Soetoro became a naturalized citizen which, at this point, is all he could be….If he is not naturalized, he is an illegal alien…
Wow! This guy’s not even eligible for a driver’s license! I mean, he’s really getting away with murder!
February 22nd, 2009 at 6:31 pm
@ Not so Fast: I also just read this. Interesting as he is directly quoted in the Cullman Times piece. I suspect we’ll hear more about this.
Our Congress runs scared on this issue.
February 22nd, 2009 at 7:31 pm
@Maggie M. Thorton: Our Congress runs scared on this issue.
So true. There are probably a bunch who would love to score points off this one, but they’re scared of making a&&es of themselves like Shelby.
February 22nd, 2009 at 7:33 pm
Oh My! I know it is difficult for you all to accept, but Obama is our lawful president. Why don’t you folks ask some of the many people who knew him and his family in Hawaii? Look up the 60s edition of the newspaper, his birth announcement is in it. Hawaii Congressman Abercrombie knew his parents. Look for legitimate information, not crazy and far fetched scenarios that make you just look plain ignorant.
February 22nd, 2009 at 7:35 pm
Would you people stop re-frying the same old stuff please. It really, really makes you sound like, well, morons (sorry, but that is the only word that comes to mind really).
Oh, BTW, wasn’t John McCain born in Panama?
February 22nd, 2009 at 7:35 pm
Conspiracy theorists banded together in defense of a silly notion. The constitution calls for one to be born an American citizen - which Mr. Obama was. As was Mr. McCain, despite his birth in Panama.
Give it a rest, come to grips with current reality, and try to help make this country better. Your constant negative craving for bogeymen in nonexistent closets is destructive to this great country.
February 22nd, 2009 at 9:27 pm
End. Of. Story.
http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/born_in_the_usa.html
February 22nd, 2009 at 9:31 pm
Kadah, yours is one of the best and most succinct explanations for why this is a real problem. I find it fascinating that your point by point detail is met only with brief paragraphs using words like “moron”, “far-fetched”, “crazy”, “ignorant”, and “conspiracy”, with no other substantive information or facts to back up their assertions. The fact is if Obama, who himself promised a transparent open administration, would just begin by easing the minds of the people he is meant to serve by showing the vault certificate, all this would go away. When McCain’s eligibility came into question, he immediately produced the necessary documents. If this were happening to President Bush, would all the ones crying “Get over it!” be saying the same thing? Well, I know that I WOULD be saying the same thing I am saying now….regardless of who it is, whatever the outcome, frivolous or not, I would want my President to put to rest the rumors, gain my trust and the trust of ALL he is to serve, so that he could get on with business. And if he was not eligible to be President and had become POTUS by fraudulent and illegal means, then I would say that would be very important for me to know, no matter how much I liked the guy!
February 22nd, 2009 at 9:59 pm
I seriously doubt the American people elected an unlegal president. Think of all the anti-ob’s who followed his ever move and vetted his history?
February 23rd, 2009 at 6:36 am
As Micky says, To you Moonbats here:
Yes John McCain was born in Panama. His parents were stationed there during his fathers military service.
Unlike your savior Dalai Bama whose father ran out on his family and his stepfather was Muslim and put him into a Muslim school and may have made him a Indonesian citizen.
Barrack Hussein Obama has a lot of secrets.
Your hatred for Bush and the Republican party has made you deaf, dumb and blind on who and what Obama is and what he stands for.
We are seeing America fading away and you are okay with it.
February 23rd, 2009 at 7:33 am
“Hawaii Congressman Abercrombie knew his parents.”
Yea, he knew my parents too.
Abercrombie was a rep in my district where my father was GM of a tourist attraction.
Abercrombie would come buy once in a while for dinner and blow a joint with my dad while maybe taking in some Miles Davis.
Does that make me an American ?
February 23rd, 2009 at 7:39 am
“Your constant negative craving for bogeymen in nonexistent closets is destructive to this great country.”
Gee, why wasnt that type of critique acceptable when for 8 years it was all about “Bush lied, soldiers died” Blood for oil” or “911 was an inside job” or ” Bush blew up the levees” ?
Lets have that transparency Obama and just clear this up.
February 23rd, 2009 at 7:40 am
Mickey, I love your comments:-)
February 23rd, 2009 at 7:45 am
@ Brian: I seriously doubt the American people elected an unlegal president. Think of all the anti-ob’s who followed his ever move and vetted his history?
After Obama moved to Chicago “to work,” he didn’t deal with anyone who would not love the “community organizing” he was involved in. No one there knew anything about his background - and they still do not. He had very powerful people backing him, and guess what - everything has disappeared.
There is no way to get around what everyone knows, but refuses to admit, that much of his life has been hidden.
February 23rd, 2009 at 8:18 am
If there is nothing to this story, why do so many people keep commenting on it?
There is a difference between US Citizen and Natural Born Citizen.
No one knows anything about Obama because he doesn’t want anyone to know anything. His followers just keep covering for him bringing up the COLB as a distraction.
The real issue is his father and his dual loyalties at birth preclude him from being a Natural Born Citizen.
And if you have any doubts about where his loyalties lay - ask yourself why he travelled to Kenya well after his 21st birthday to campaign for a paternal relative who believes in Sharia Law.
Did he do so out of loyalty to his father or because he agrees with Odinga politcally? Humm….either way it’s not good.
Is this a man who you are proud to say is your president? I’m not. In fact, I don’t refer to him as anything but Mr. Obama.
February 23rd, 2009 at 8:19 am
Micky,
“Gee, why wasnt that type of critique acceptable when for 8 years it was all about “Bush lied, soldiers diedâ€? Blood for oilâ€? or “911 was an inside jobâ€? or â€? Bush blew up the leveesâ€? ?
The reason is they really believe the Bush lies are true. They also believe that Obama would and will never lie. Also, Obama’s poop has no odor. And he is giving most of us $13.00 a week extra. Bushy never did that.
February 23rd, 2009 at 8:30 am
THE CERTIFICATE OF LIVE BIRTH IS NOT A BIRTH CERTIFICATE!!!
THE COLB IN HAWAII CAN BE USED TO REGISTER PEOPLE BORN OUTSIDE OF THE COUNTRY!!! IT DOES NOT STATE THAT THE PERSON IS BORN IN HAWAII!!!!
February 23rd, 2009 at 9:10 am
Regarding certification, one thing has been established beyond any doubt….GOP posters on this board are indeed certifiable.
February 23rd, 2009 at 9:41 am
Ricky,
That is so funny. Maybe Obama can get you a job as the court jester.