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December 12, 2008
"Preserve, Protect and Defend the Constitution of the United States"
Where Were You Born, Obama?
by Diana West
Roger Kimball may have tagged it first: The real news out of Chicago this week wasn't Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich's arrest on cartoonishly lurid charges of corruption stemming from his alleged attempts to sell President-elect Barack Obama's now-vacant U.S. Senate seat. The real news out of Chicago this week was that President-elect Barack Obama had nothing to do with it.
And I mean nothing to do with any of it. There was an almost comical aspect to the spectacle of journalists across the mainstream media (MSM) suddenly, as if on command, assuming pretzel positions in a contortionist's effort not to seem at all curious, for instance, about the discrepancy between David Axelrod's recent declaration that the president-elect had discussed Senate-seat replacements with Blagojevich, and Obama's more recent declaration that he had done no such thing.
The MSM instantly agreed: Obama had nothing to do with it. Such a message took Obama out of the story even before the story itself was clear.
This mantra, this strategy should be familiar by now. Whether it is Jeremiah "G -- d -- - America" Wright, William "We didn't do enough" Ayers, or now, Rod "F -- - him" Blagojevich, Obama is never a player, never even a responsible presence in controversies involving associates past and present. In the media-filtered version of events, he's just not even there. But in no story is what we may one day come to think of as Obama's invisible man-hood more obvious than in the still-roiling controversy over Obama's birth certificate.
What controversy? Anyone who relies solely on MSM outlets (and most conservative outlets) may not even know that Obama has, to this day, not authorized the state of Hawaii to release his Certificate of Live Birth -- the "long form" -- to prove that he is a "natural born citizen" (NBC), a Constitutional requirement of all presidents. Instead, We, the People, have online access to an Obama document known as a Certification of Live Birth, which, as Randall Hoven explains at American Thinker blog, is a computer-generated short form that is not even accepted by the Hawaii Department of Home Lands as adequate verification of Hawaiian identity. (The Home Lands Department requires "information that is found only on the original Certificate of Live Birth," or long form.) Further dimming the online document's Holy Grail aspects, it has been altered -- the certificate's number has been redacted -- which, according to a statement printed on the document, actually invalidates it.
But that's not all. Back on Oct. 31, Hawaii's director of health, along with the registrar of Vital Statistics, released a statement verifying that the Hawaii's Department of Health has Obama's "original birth certificate on record in accordance with state policies and procedures."
Well, that's just great. But no matter how many times this statement from "Hawaiian authorities" is cited as the NBC clincher, it doesn't prove a thing. It turns out, as Hoven reports, that Hawaii issues birth certificates even for babies born elsewhere, so simply having an original Hawaiian birth certificate "on record" doesn't answer the key questions. Namely: What exactly does this original birth certificate say? And why doesn't Obama simply authorize the document's release and be done with the question?
This is some of the background to the birth-certificate controversy. According to the same MSM reporting that omits Obama from everything, however, the controversy is the sole, self-inflicted creation of people unreasonable enough -- no, kooky enough -- to be concerned about the issue. This includes citizens who have gone to court (up to the U.S. Supreme Court) in more than a dozen states with various NBC-related complaints, all of which could be resolved by the release of Obama's original birth certificate. It also includes followers of radio shows or Internet forums including KHOW's Peter Boyle in Denver, the blog Atlas Shrugs and the news Web site WorldNetDaily.com, which have aggressively covered the story.
In the MSM's no-Obama version of events, though, such efforts and interest are mocked as the freakiest kind of lunacy. And this same MSM argument has lately been trumpeted by prominent conservative voices.
"Shut up about the birth certificate," David Horowitz wrote this past week.
Shut up? Is he kidding? Apparently not. Horowitz went on to tell "fringe conservatives" and "birth-certificate zealots" that their "continuing efforts" to "deny Obama his victory" are "embarrassing and destructive."
NRO's Mark Krikorian, in turn, congratulated Horowitz for "stomping on the ridiculous, bitter-ender efforts to disqualify Obama from the presidency."
Michelle Malkin, too, pooh-poohed the "birth-certificate hunters," describing them as having "lurched into rabid Truther territory."
("Truthers," by the way, are people who believe the United States engineered the attacks of 9/11.)
I disagree. I think it is nothing less than good citizenship to seek to verify that Obama is a "natural born citizen" since our elites, which include the major political parties and the MSM, failed to bring the matter to its extremely simple resolution long ago.
But while important, this isn't just a story about whether we as Americans are right or wrong to ask our president-elect the question about his original birth certificate. It is about whether our president-elect is right or wrong not to answer it.
Once again, Barack Obama is treated as though he were not even a part of this story. Those who seek to resolve the birth certificate controversy draw the fire, but not the man who causes it. Talk shows, court battles and blogs can air the issue, but it is only Obama who can put it to rest. And he can do it simply by authorizing the release of his original, "long form" birth certificate -- and quickly, preferably before the Electoral College meets to validate his election on Dec. 15, but certainly before his term of office begins on Jan. 20, 2009.
Unless, of course, he has something to hide.
Wild Thing's comment..........
Diana West as usual gets it, she is right on the mark.
This is an excellent article. Obama is the one that should be "gone after", certainly not those of us that want the Constitution respected and followed. Anyone else elected to be President would have to follow what the Constitution says and Obama is no different. No exception, just because he is the first half black, half white person to be elected to become President. I want and expect anyone running for President to be constitutionally qualified and no less.
Obama is NOT bigger then our country, NOT bigger then our Constitution and his actions and words have shown otherwise in how he thinks of himself.
Everyone should be allowed their opinion about this, and some will find it more of a passion then others. I am cool with that. Just like I don't expect every American to think about our troops and Veterans every day of their life like I do. That is just my thing and I can't change who and what I am. Our Constitution ranks at the top as well with me. It is something I was taught about as a young child and through the years. My Father did not take us on our holiday's to the East coast and the memorials, the White House, Capitol, House of Rep., Arlington, Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and all the other educational places for the heck of it. He wanted to instill in us how important each one of these things were that made our country what it was then and now, and God help us in our future too.
I remember several years ago when Clinton was President, Oliver North was giving away free little booklets of the Constitution. The size a person could put in their pocket if there were a man and a woman in her purse. Why??? Because he knew how important our Constitution is to our country.
I think it is sad when there are those that do not get it, that do not see it is not some tin foil hat baloney but of such great importance that it could change drastically everything about our great and awesome land of the brave.
Oath of office of the President of the United States
I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.
The wordings of the current oath of enlistment and oath for commissioned officers are as follows:
I, _____, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God." (Title 10, US Code; Act of 5 May 1960 replacing the wording first adopted in 1789, with amendment effective 5 October 1962).
"I, _____ (SSAN), having been appointed an officer in the Army of the United States, as indicated above in the grade of _____ do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign or domestic, that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservations or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office upon which I am about to enter; So help me God." (DA Form 71, 1 August 1959, for officers.)
Posted by Wild Thing at December 12, 2008 05:48 AM
Comments
Ever notice how enlisted folks have to swear an oath to obey orders but officers don't?
Obama grows up politically around all these controversial men but says he didn't know a thing about their beliefs or actions. That's like saying after living in my parents house for 18 years, I never knew my father watched TV.
Posted by: BobF at December 12, 2008 07:22 AM
I've never been into Conspiracy theories, tho nothing that would actually come out would surprise me with the crew in Congress and their minions. But Obama may make a believer out of me yet. As long as he stays black, no one in the media or apparently the talk show people are going to touch him.
Posted by: yankeemom at December 12, 2008 08:23 AM
It seems we are striving to reverse values in America. During and after Vietnam, the American soldier was made the bad guy while the communists were praised. After 9-11, many journalists questioned what we did to anger the muslims instead of condemning radical islam(the event was labeled a tragedy instead of an attack). Border Patrol agents and a deputy sheriff are imprisoned for trying to stop illegal aliens and drug smugglers while the aliens are made victims.
Now, people who question Obama's status as a natural born American citizen becaue it is questionable and he will not simply release his birth certificate are called "the fringe" and "truthers".
America is on the high speed toll road to Orwell's writings.
Posted by: TomR at December 12, 2008 12:04 PM
LMAO. Total denial. Way back when I was a pup, the company I worked for ran it's own warehouse, lot's of high dollar materials there. The manager was a popular and personable guy, he lived in town in a $250K plus home, owned a Class A motorhome, had a big boat and partied a lot. All of a sudden he resigned and left the state, of course people wondered. It came out much later that he was taking kickbacks from vendors, billing the company for materials that didn't exist and selling company goods from his own garage. No charges against him were made and it was all hushed up. So much for ethics and honesty amongst the peers at the top. These were the same mangers who would fire a lowly worker for leaving the premises with as much as a company pencil.
Same here with Congress and the media, they are all complicit and silent when it come to protecting Obama who refuses to comply with the simple request to produce his BC as proof of his Constitutional qualifications. We who question their ethics and eligibility and respect the Constitution then get painted as loons with that big media brush.
Posted by: Jack at December 12, 2008 12:47 PM
What has everybody nervous is “What happens if we require Obama to obey the law?” Who could Democrats getting to replace him? The Democrats really do not have a deep bench.
Posted by: Avitar at December 12, 2008 01:07 PM
"Preserve, Protect and Defend the Constitution of the United States" was a BO (Before Obama) concept. The new AO (After Obama) concept is .........
Constitution rewrite only 2 states away
Critic: 'This is a horrible time to try such a crazy scheme'
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=83364
The Obama Kool-Aid drinkers couldn't care less about the Constitution and it's natural born citizenship requirement to be President. All they want is a nanny state Socialist to lead the country regardless of where they were born and who were the parents. In fact, they want a rewritten Socialist flavored constitution to make the government responsible for all of their needs.
Posted by: Les at December 12, 2008 02:07 PM
Hell, all I care about is when I'm gonna get my gubermint cheeze.
Posted by: cuchieddie at December 12, 2008 04:04 PM
BobF., LOL good example.
Posted by: Wild Thing at December 12, 2008 08:12 PM
Yankeemom, same here, I am not into into Conspiracy theories.
In this case it would end up being our very own Constitution that has lead the way in this about Obama if it was a Conspiracy.
Good one Yankeemom.
Posted by: Wild Thing at December 12, 2008 08:13 PM
Tom, that is such a good comparison, thank you so much.
Posted by: Wild Thing at December 12, 2008 08:19 PM
Jack, yes it is laughable how the ones you mentioned etc. make us out to be the loons. Like hello are we not to go by the Constitution? Did those men just waste their time when they did the Constitution or what, according to some people I guess they did.
Posted by: Wild Thing at December 12, 2008 08:22 PM
Avitar, I have no idea what will happen if Obama really would have to follow the Constitution. I don't know what would be next according to the laws.
Like you said the democrats not having someone else, yes that would be a problem for them.
Posted by: Wild Thing at December 12, 2008 08:26 PM
Les, I agree they really want to change the constitution and or forget about it completely. Unless one day they want to use it for something in their agenda.
Thanks for the link too.
Posted by: Wild Thing at December 12, 2008 08:29 PM
cuchieddie, haha well it might be a little late this year.
Posted by: Wild Thing at December 12, 2008 08:30 PM
