Hawaii’s new Governor takes aim at ‘Birthers’
The seemingly-endless Obama birther business may ramp up yet again. Coming from Hawaii, my bias says sufficient history, facts and logic exist to close that debate. Yet it lingers on, for reasons I find spurious.
Anyway, Hawaii’s new democratic governor, Neil Abercrombie, is making news, saying he hopes to put the matter to rest.
For what it’s worth, Hawaii’s previous (republican) governor, Linda Lingle, also maintains Barack Obama was born in Hawaii and is a U.S. citizen. It was under Lingle’s administration that state law was changed, empowering the State Department of Health to treat repeated demands for Obama’s birth certificate as nuisances. (That agency’s webpage on this subject is found here.)
An article in today’s New York Times quotes Gov. Abercrombie as follows
“It’s an insult to his mother and to his father, and I knew his mother and father; they were my friends, and I have an emotional interest in that,” Governor Abercrombie said in a telephone interview late Thursday. “It’s an emotional insult. It is disrespectful to the president; it is disrespectful to the office.”
Many (including me) also feel it’s a veiled insult to Hawaii too, as if the 50th state’s status, laws and residents are suspect, consisting of inferior citizens, in some way. We don’t like it.
Though originally from Buffalo, NY, Abercrombie moved to Honolulu back in 1959, beginning a long association with the University of Hawaii, (earning a master’s in sociology and PhD in American Studies) and teaching there as he also moved into a long political career. (Disclosures: I am also a UH grad, and lived on the same street as City Councilor and then U.S. Rep. Abercrombie for about 5 years. Neil and his wife, Nancie Caraway, are long-time supporters of Hawaii Public Radio, where I worked for almost 13 years.)
As suggested in Michael A. Memoli’s interview for the Tribune Washington Bureau, Abercrombie finds this personal, on a number of levels:
“What bothers me is that some people who should know better are trying to use this for political reasons,” he said. Leaning forward from behind his desk, he added, “Maybe I’m the only one in the country that could look you right in the eye right now and tell you, ‘I was here when that baby was born.”‘
‘Here’ as in present in the delivery room? No, of course not. (How many extra people did most young mothers invite into hospital delivery rooms, back in the 1960’s?) Although that seems to be what birthers expect, irrefutable, in-the-room, eyewitnesses. (Excluding Obama himself, I think they are all dead now. But numerous secondary witnesses are available.)
What Abercrombie means is that he personally knew both parents, knew they had a baby, born at Kapiolani maternity hospital, and he saw baby Barack, and young Barack, at social events thereafter. Experiential proof, the type we all have, which usually seems sufficient.
Here’s local tv coverage of the story from Brooks Baehr . (Brooks was my next-door neighbor on Maui for a few years, when we were both children. My point being, Hawaii used to be a small-town type of place, way too small to keep something like ‘a secret trip to Kenya’ a complete secret!)
I could go on and on about how far-fetched, or untrue, many circulating birther theories are. But sense seems to have little to do with this. It will be interesting to see if an Abecrombie – passionate, persuasive and able to offer personal testimony – will change minds.
And don’t we all have better things to do on Christmas Day? Yes, absolutely! That’s why I’ve had a sweet Christmas morning, graced by the presence of our doesn’t-live-at-home-anymore 19-year-old, followed by a lovely group ski this afternoon on Roger Stevens Creek, before sitting down to post on this. (Family + beauty = bliss.) And food comes next, so it’s a very good day indeed!
Mele Kalikimaka (Merry Christmas) to all, including President Obama and his family, who are enjoying a few days off in his birth state of Hawaii right now.
Tags: Birthers, Governor Neil Abercrombie, Hawaii, President Barack Obama
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“treat repeated demands for Obama’s birth certificate as nuisances.”
Regardless of if you are a birther or not, I find it hilarious that the one thing that COULD be done to end all debate is produce the actual (not the copy that has floated around the internet) birth certificate.
Lending to the speculation is the way this one document has been so carefully concealed.
I concede that stuff like this makes for good movies, such as the Kennedy assassination, and the Roswell stuff. But like I said, the unwillingness to come clean lends to the stuff movies are written about.
This whole topic is so juvenile! The ‘Birthers’, don’t want the President to prove that he is a US citizen. They want him to prove that he is NOT a foreigner. That is quite a different matter as it is not possible to prove a negative. This is nothing more than an excuse for bullying a public official who has worked in public service for universities, state and federal government, for over two decades without a problem concerning his citizenship until he was elected president. I don’t blame him for not kowtowing to this undignified ignorance. These people are never going to accept any finality on this matter and it’s a waste of time to try. I believe that it is the ‘Birthers’ who are making the accusation, so let them prove the matter, or shut up. tHey have been trying, to no avail for 3 years now, so I think at this point that they should consider the latter option and go back to theories about UFO’s.
This allusion to the “actual” certificate annoys me. The snarky sprinkling of words like “concealed” and “unwillingness to come clean,” begins to move me beyond annoyed. I’m annoyed not as a Democrat or Obama-supporter but as a genealogist.
Three suggestions for JDM: (1) Google “birth certificates” and see if you can find a State (ANY State) in which the Courts permit release of the original document; (2) read and examine the photographs, the affidavits, and the newspaper articles produced by FactCheck on this topic (link is below); and (3) Good heavens…Get a life.
http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/born_in_the_usa.html
This is his life. And a fine life it is.
I think it is interesting. President Obama has such a different background and I think that fuels this sort of thinking. But I think that is what is interesting about him in many ways.
For must of us people like Bill Clinton we understand, some guy from the South with a tough family history who studies hard does well and overcomes and gets to be the President, amazing but understandable. Or old Bush II, raised rich from a political family of inherited wealth and goes on to become President, regardless of what we think of him we understand the background.
But then we have President Obama, raised in different spots around the globe, yet attending only elite private schools and then off to Harvard as a legacy where his daddy went (much like Bush in that regard). Yet his dad was from Kenya and a high level diplomat. But then politically Obama comes out of Chicago, the whole thing is interesting and very different from what most of us are used to in our Presidents.
I think that fuels this sort of thing. I also think having a parent who is not a US citizens probably also fuels it, has that happened before in US history?
Thomas Jefferson’s mom was born in England, and I think every president up to Quincy Adams were born of parents who weren’t US citizens. And actually, Quincy’s folks weren’t born citizens, either.
Seems like it is only fair that anyone who demands Obama produce his original birth certificate should send me, and anyone else who asks, THEIR original birth certificate so that I can verify they are citizens and have legal standing in the matter.
Poll: How many of you have your original birth certificate or have even seen it in your lifetime? I’m not talking about some copy, I mean the real thing.
By the way, I have a copy of my original birth certificate with a document attached alleging that it is a valid copy and signed by an acting Secretary of State. Ribbons and stamps and everything. Looks phony to me.
Don’t most places give you a certificate of live birth and not a “birth certificate” anyway?
We have our originals, only one of our kids has a copy as the original was lost in a basement flood. I was never under the impression having the original was unusual. And they say birth certificate, not certificate of live birth.
The problem with Obamas case is that he’s spent millions trying to keep it out of sight, has family claiming he was born in Africa, has allegedly registered for college as a citizen of another country. And none of it would matter if he were in any other position.
IMO he’s done nothing to help himself in this matter. That’s HIS fault.
UFO sightings, Elvis sightings, Birthers. There! A proper context.
I do have my original birth certificate. It clearly shows my cloven hoof prints where my foots prints should be.
Birthers are so, so boring. I think most of them were hatched because they are such chickens. They live in constant fear of everything.
Bret, I’m reluctant to start rolling around with the alleged details because – with true believers – this stuff simply never ends. But I want to get back to just one of the points of doubt you raise.
Although it it frequently claimed Obama has family who attest that he was born in Kenya, in my view that ‘fact’ is a distorted fragment that is widely misused. See this, for example:
http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2008/12/05/birth_certificate/
Yes, yes. One can find many blogs and websites repeating the story a Kenyan step-grandmother said young Barack was born in Kenya. But beyond that one (disputed) conversation, there isn’t a scrap of evidence of such a far-fetched thing, which (to me at least) is clearly a translation jumble.
Think about it. Logic alone can set this to rest. Kenya would jump to claim Obama, if a U.S. senator (as he was at the time the controversy erupted) had been born there in 1961. It wouldn’t be a closely-held state secret.
The powerful and well-connected Clinton campaign had more to gain than anyone by discrediting Obama’s eligibility to serve as president, and they couldn’t do it.
The difficulty and expense of traveling from Hawaii all the way to Kenya for poor, expectant students (as his parents were at the time) is ridiculous.
Why would that have happened? How would that have happened? What about all the proof placing his parents in Honolulu that whole time? That purported claim simply doesn’t hold up, on any level. At all.
I wish the Kenyan Granny canard, at least, could be nailed into a coffin and put to rest.
As to releasing the so-called original, long-form birth certificate, President Obama is under no legal obligation to do so.
It’s true, he could authorize its release. Many argue he should. But would that end the matter? I’m doubtful. Again, more on this from Salon’s Alex Koppelman:
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2008/12/05/birth_certificate/
It seems to me clear proof of his birth and U.S. citizenship already exists in sufficient quantity to satisfy any court of law and most unbiased observers. As an individual and duly-elected President, I would argue he need not do back-flips to satisfy endless, unreasonable demands from conspiracy theorists. (Though you may disagree and still want to see what’s in the vault.)
I’d like birthers to spend a little introspective time considering why this matters so much? What is it about this admittedly unusual person that prompts so much suspicion, instead of celebration? You know, celebration of the eternal American success story: in America, determination and hard work can potentially take any child where ever their abilities flow. It’s something to be very proud of, something that doesn’t happen to the same degree in that many other countries.
There is plenty to criticize in this world. At times even reasonable persons could entertain suspicions that border on paranoia. But this, I contend, is not one of them.
respectfully,
Lucy
Abercrombie, a newly-elected Democrat, told CNN that he will do WHATEVER IT TAKES to prove once and for all that Obama was born in Hawaii. Whatever it takes, uh huh, whatever that means.
Is anyone aware of the narrative that is supposed to have him born in Kenya? I mean, he had a mother, and she was living in Honolulu, and then suddenly she picks up and goes to Kenya so her kid could be born there? (I know this happens a lot, Americans having kids in Kenya so the could have all the advantages of Kenyan , vs. U.S..) citizenship). And, of course, they never registered the birth in Kenya, thereby undermining any possible purpose of doing this.
And there is no record any of this, but instead somebody placed Barracls birth announcements in two local Honolulu papers? Since the hospitals send these out, someone there must have been in on the plot!
And then they snuck Mom and little Barrack back into Hawaii, with no one the wiser, so he could be a Kenyan-born Presidential candidate someday?
And what, about half of Republicans either believe this, or think it is possible?
No wonder.
Bret are they the true originals or are they facsimiles of the originals? I want to see them and do a scanning-electron microscopic analysis to be sure they aren’t fakes. Frankly I don’t believe your story about a basement flood. I’ll bet you were actually born in Borneo. Prove you weren’t.
His name was not Barrack at that time.
Not to worry Knuck, when I announce my candidacy for President I’m releasing ALL my records- the Birth Certificate, my Merit Badge list and the fact I never did make Star, but I was a Member of the Order of The Arrow, my disastrous Little League baseball career, pictures of my Stingray bike with the maroon metallic banana seat, my so called educational records ( I was not a star pupil I’m afraid), my service records, etc. I’m sure it’ll make fascinating reading and there’ll be no need for spending millions keeping from prying eyes. You know the old saying, “If there’s nothing to hide, then why are you hiding it?”
mmmm I will not be running for anything public.
Why do people still care about the birthers? Talk about beating a dead horse.
Why do people still care?
There are certain legal aspects to being president that must be met.
Why doesn’t the left leaning media care?
Leftist president. If this was a conservative president, the left would care, and the right would be laughing.
Actually, I think the born in America requirement for president is nonsense. I better requirement is that they pass a Civil Service exam.
Mervel , it says “Barrack Hussein Obama II” (http://msgboard.snopes.com/politics/graphics/birth.jpg).
JDM, It matters because the these rumors are symtomatic of mass hysteria that infects millions of residents of the United States. It is indicative of an inability to process information necessary for rational collective decision making. Any country where significant minorities believe Obama’s birthplace is in doubt, (or that Saddam was in on 9/11 and had WMDs, or that the Earth is less than 10,000 years old and is not warming dangerously) , as this nation does, is in serious trouble.
The biggest unreported news story of the past year, or any of the past 10 or so years is America’s decline through willful ignorance. These delusions should be continually exposed and discussed.
(Very sorry, this reply may end up getting published twice. My usual email is out-of-service this week, and that hung up this reply, first drafted on the 27th. -Lucy)
JDM, I agree, it should matter, IF the allegation was true.
But why does something that is well-proven as untrue get so much mileage? Some say it’s disguised racism. I’m sure that accounts for some of the push-back, but not all of it. (Plenty of folks, including me, expect the players to follow the rules and that’s certainly not racist.)
Bret, I’m reluctant to start rolling around with specific allegations because – with true believers – this stuff simply never ends. But I want to get back to just one of the points of doubt you raise.
Although it it frequently claimed Obama has family who attest that he was born in Kenya, in my view that ‘fact’ is a distorted fragment that is widely misused. See this, for example:
http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2008/12/05/birth_certificate/
Yes, yes. One can find many blogs and websites repeating the story a Kenyan step-grandmother said young Barack was born in Kenya. But beyond that one (disputed) conversation, there isn’t a scrap of solid evidence of such a far-fetched thing, which (to me at least) is clearly a translation jumble.
You’d think logic alone could prevail here.
Kenya would jump to claim Obama, if a U.S. senator (as he was at the time the controversy erupted) had been born there in 1961. It wouldn’t be a closely-held state secret, as some seem to claim.
The powerful and well-connected Clinton campaign had more to gain than anyone by discrediting Obama’s eligibility to serve as president, and they couldn’t do it. Neither could the McCain campaign.
The difficulty and expense of traveling from Hawaii all the way to Kenya for poor, expectant students (as his parents were at the time) would have been ridiculous.
And why would they? How could that have happened unnoticed? What about all the proof placing his parents in Honolulu that whole time? That purported claim simply doesn’t hold up, on any level. At all.
And why would any of Obama’s family need to cover their tracks back then, did they expect their son would run for the one job being born abroad would exclude? Would anyone on this planet believe that baby had a shot at becoming president back then?!
I wish the Kenyan Granny factoid, at least, could be nailed into a coffin and put to rest.
Barack Obama was born in Honolulu. He is a U.S. citizen, eligible to be president under the U.S. Constitution.
As to releasing the so-called original, long-form birth certificate, President Obama is under no legal obligation to do so. The document he already released IS a 100% legal birth certificate.
It’s true, he could authorize the release of the 1961 version. Many argue he should. But would that end the matter? I’m doubtful. Again, more on this from Salon’s Alex Koppelman:
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2008/12/05/birth_certificate/
As an individual and duly-elected President, I would argue he need not do back-flips to satisfy endless, unreasonable demands from conspiracy theorists. (Though others may disagree and still want to see what’s in the vault.)
My own theory, and it’s only a theory, is that President Obama is not releasing it because he refuses to be bullied. (A good trait, in my mind.) And/or the long-form contains inadvertent errors that would be pounced upon as proof the entire document is suspect.
Hey, it happens. My birth certificate and my marriage certificate both contain errors (the age of one parent is wrong, someone’s middle name is missing a letter.) Try selling an honest mistake made that long ago as harmless in this environment. Good luck.
I’d like birthers to spend a little introspective time considering why this matters so much? What is it about this admittedly unusual person that prompts so much suspicion, instead of celebration? You know, celebration of the eternal American success story: in America, determination and hard work can (potentially) take any child where ever their abilities flow. That’s something which doesn’t happen to the same degree in that many other countries. Irrespective of how any of us feel about the individual, and his or her political stance, this equal opportunity stuff should be a source of tremendous pride in our nation.
There is plenty to criticize in this world. At times even reasonable persons could entertain suspicions that border on paranoia. But I contend this so-called issue is unworthy of the effort.
Newt says it well, willful ignorance is a grave and growing social problem. Some would say the media is at fault too, for not calling distortions out. A subject for some other thread.
By the way, I’m a notoriously poor speller. So, when comments here spelled the name “Barrack” with two ‘r’s, I panicked. (Had I spelled the President’s name incorrectly in my post? Groan!)
Well, if research can be trusted, it is “Barack” with one ‘r’. But if enough people spell it with two ‘r’s pretty soon… ya just can’t tell. Repeat something often enough (the president is a Muslim, he was born in Kenya….) and the rumors become awfully hard to displace.
respectfully,
Lucy
The II!!!! see.
Conspiracy theory and why they happen and how and their attraction is a fascination of mine.
I don’t think it always has to do with willful ignorance although ignorance can sometimes play a part. For example a good portion of Arabs in the Middle East are holocaust deniers, including the President of one of the largest Muslim nations. So something happens something about a particular conspiracy grips the imagination of some people.
Why is the “Protocals of the Elders of Zion” so popular? Why do some people believe that the US government is building boxcars to take them to concentration camps? I don’t think it is wise to simply say well they are dumb or they are not educated.
Why do people believe in Keynsian economics when it clearly doens’t work? Why do people believe that as long as they get theirs nothing else matters? Why do people believe that denying what they see around them makes them right? Mass hysteria?
I think conspiracies that provide an answer for things we already believe can gain traction.
For example if you really dislike Obama it will make sense to you that his past is shady, if you really love Obama you will overlook anything about him, both are wrong however.
If you have a parent who is a natural born US citizen you are a natural born US citizen no matter where you are born.
And in the words of Justice Antonin Scalia (who was talking about Bush v Gore, but it fits here), “get over it.”
Since there is a precedent for a Kenyan to become President of the United States it follows that Kenya is now a part of the US. Wait til all the Kenyans find out they qualify for Medicare.
Knuck, you should look up the law on your natural born opinion. It doesn’t work that way.
Much of what we have been seeing is largely due, I believe, to the rapid spread of the virus known as Cabin Fever. It used to be a seasonal ailment but has now become a year-round problem.
If I were to place blame, I would place it on the news media. Reporters love to spread dirt, even when there isn’t any dirt to spread. They can always find a couple of people who have a complaint about something and then run with it as though it is actually news.
A good example is the recent story about so called double-dipping. It’s not news. It’s “I’m so shocked” tongue wagging across the fence and at the local water hole.
Yes it does Bret. Prove it doesn’t.
My mistake, I read your post incorrectly.
My mistake, I read your post incorrectly. The problem is did Barry Sorento/Obama ever register as a citizen of another country? If he did then there’s the fuel for the “birthers”. Since everything is hidden away the issue will remain.
I knew it, Chris Mathews is a closet GOP hardliner!
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2010/12/27/chris_matthews_why_doesnt_obama_just_release_the_birth_certificate.html