CNN Settles The "Birther" Questions

It is a sad fact in this country that a majority of Republicans (and far too many of the general public) believe that President Obama was either not born in the United States or that there is some doubt that he was born here. This is because of conspiracy theorists called "birthers" (who just are unable to accept that an African-American was elected president by the people of the U.S.).

The folks at CNN have decided to settle this question once and for all. They sent a reporter to Hawaii to find the truth, and discover if there is even a grain of truth to the questions posed by the "birthers". Here is what they found:

1. Birthers say the president refuses to release his "official" long form birth certificate and that the certificate (shown above) which he has released is not official.

This is nonsense. The Certificate of Live Birth pictured above is not only the official birth certificate, but it is the ONLY birth certificate given out by the state government. Anyone born in Hawaii who asked for an official copy of his/her birth certificate would receive a form that looked exactly like the one the president has already released. And the form says right at the bottom of it that the form will serve as "evidence of the fact of birth in any court proceeding". How much more official can a form get?

2. Birthers say the president won't release his long form certificate because it says he is a muslim on it.

More nonsense. While the state used to have a longer form which contained information like the hospital the person was born in and the father's occupation, state officials say the form never contained any information about the baby's or the parents' religion. CNN viewed some of the longer (discontinued) forms and verified that there was no information about religion on it.

3. Birthers claim that the birth notice in the Hawaii newspaper was placed there by Obama's family so he could receive government services (or for some other nefarious purpose).

Again, not true. Both the newspaper and the Department of Health Services say there was no way for parents (or other relatives) to place birth announcements in the paper. All of the birth announcements printed in the newspaper came directly from the Department of Health Services (and they had no interest in placing a false announcement).

4. Birthers, especially Donald Trump (the most famous birther), say it is strange that no one remembers the young Obama in Hawaii.

This is not strange because it is simply not true. A lady named Monika Waidelich had her son at the same time and in the same hospital. She remembers seeing the president next to her son in the nursery because, "In those days, there were hardly any other black babies." A professor at the University of Hawaii, Alice Dewey, was faculty advisor to Obama's mother and knew the president as a child. She remembers discussing with his mother the difference between giving birth in Indonesia (where Obama's sister, Maya, was born) and Hawaii (where Barack Obama was born). Even the current governor of Hawaii, Neil Abercrombie, was a friend of Obama's mother and remembers seeing the child immediately after his birth and helping her celebrate the birth.

The fact is there has never been any real doubt that Barack Obama was born in the United States -- specifically in Hawaii. As I said before, this is an invention of some racists in America who are upset that an African-American was elected president. They will grasp at any straw and make up any lie to try and change that fact.

I appreciate the effort of CNN to try and lay this matter to rest, but I seriously doubt it will do any good. The "birther" beliefs were never based on any facts, and no fact will ever change their minds. But then they are Republicans, and to believe in Republican policies one needs to have an ability to ignore inconvenient facts -- both voters and politicians.