Obama’s Panama?
posted at 9:15 am on June 10, 2008 by Ed Morrissey
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Was Barack Obama born in Hawaii or somewhere else, or did he just change a name? Jim Geraghty looks at rumors running around about Obama’s supposed secrecy on his birth, and runs down three scenarios of what the campaign may want to hide. Their refusal to produce a birth certificate has stoked some of the speculation:
Having done some Obama-rumor debunking that got praise from Daily Kos (a sign of the apocalypse, no doubt), perhaps the Obama campaign could return the favor and help debunk a bunch of others with a simple step: Could they release a copy of his birth certificate?
Reporters have asked for it and been denied, and the state of Hawaii does not make such records public.
The campaign cited the birth certificate in their “Fact Check” on William Ayers, so presumably, someone in the campaign has access to it.
Jim runs down three possible issues, finding them “unlikely” but still compelling:
- Obama was not born in the US, but in Kenya.
- Obama’s middle name was Mohammed, not Hussein (but then why change it to another Arabic name?)
- His real first name is “Barry”.
I guess having seen McCain run through the MSM wringer over his birth at a naval base in Panama, these questions should be more compelling to me than they are. Having debated the nature of McCain’s citizenship, Obama should produce his birth certificate to make it all even, redacting any information that could be useful for identity theft (although it won’t have a Social Security number on it as those were not automatically assigned in 1961). The campaign references his birth certificate as a strange defense of his association with William Ayers, so it should make the record public.
However, does anyone really believe any of these potential scenarios? As Jim points out himself, the first two almost instantly get tossed out due to statements by friends and family going back years. Presumably, the schools that Obama attended in Hawaii and later in the US would have seen his birth certificate during the enrollment process, and no one has ever implied that Obama was anything less than a natural-born citizen. If someone wanted to change their middle name from Mohammed to keep political options open, Hussein would not be the name that replaces it.
That applies to the third scenario as well, and changing a first name from Barry to Barack in order to match one’s father would mean nothing in terms of the political standing of the candidate. I’m reminded that Gary Hart changed his last name from Hartpence to Hart, and that turned into nothing more than a nine-day wonder when it came out in the 1984 campaign. Barry to Barack seems even less noteworthy.
I’d say this sounds like a distraction, but then again, I thought the entire McCain-Panama was a distraction as well, and the Senate wound up having to vote on his status as a citizen to quiet the media. Only the first scenario has any relation to Obama’s status as a candidate, and the release of his birth certificate will put an end to the distractions.
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Been thinking about those military.com ‘tests’: They can’t be even vaguely accurate; just kind of a fun way to waste a couple of minutes..
MB4 and I get exactly the same results, with honest answers, and with opposite answers, but we almost always completely disagree on military strategy/tactics and political use of force questions…. at least as far as most of that sort of stuff that we have discussed on Hot Air for the last year or so. Pretty much the only time we agree solidly is on how much both of the guys running for President suck and which one is the greater danger.
LegendHasIt on June 11, 2008 at 5:18 AM
Dude!
diogenes on June 11, 2008 at 7:20 AM
Nice, loooong thread. I still can only guess what the problem with presenting Obama’s birth certificate might be.
But I see some of you are putting a lot of faith in the quality of the vetting of applicants for US passports back in the 70s and 80s. But, remember that in the early eighties, when BHO would have been college age, getting a bona fide US passport based false information was a piece of cake.
After all, it was the age of microfiche. With the birth certificate of a deceased infant born around your year of birth you got a driver’s license and with these two, you got a soc. sec. card. With these you got a passport. It wasn’t hard work. And it was done.
My point is not that BHO would necessarily need to fake anything but that, well, US citizenship was really based on documentation. Back then the system was so porous that all he had to do was show up at any appropriate gov’t office with, for example, (1) any birth certificate showing his mother’s name, (2) her US passport, birth certificate or soc. sec. card showing US citizenship, (3) a good American accent and with (4) a little sympathetic clerksmanship he could easily get driver’s license, social security card, passport, and any other documentation he wanted.
In other words, if the question every forces itself, BHO’s documents may not reflect the actual facts of the matter.
flicker on June 11, 2008 at 7:37 AM
Reading this thread, I have been given no credible reason to explain to me why he shouldn’t release his birth certificate.
There is nothing on there that can cause identity fraud and the Dems have been vicious about making McCain (and his wife) disclose records (tax returns etc) He’s hiding something.
MannyT-vA on June 11, 2008 at 8:01 AM
I suppose his original E. German passport could still show up.
:)
JiangxiDad on June 11, 2008 at 9:25 AM
Listen to a REAL PROGRESSIVE:
Nearly 100 years ago President Theodore Roosevelt hit the nail on the head when it came to immigration.
“In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith, becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the person’s becoming in every facet an American, and nothing but an American… There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn’t an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag… We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language… and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people.”—Theodore Roosevelt, 1907
DfDeportation on June 11, 2008 at 10:31 AM
Great quote! I also love Teddy’s quote regarding “hyphenated Americanism”
“There is no room in this country for hyphenated Americanism. When I refer to hyphenated Americans, I do not refer to naturalized Americans. Some of the very best Americans I have ever known were naturalized Americans, Americans born abroad. But a hyphenated American is not an American at all. … The one absolutely certain way of bringing this nation to ruin, of preventing all possibility of its continuing to be a nation at all, would be to permit it to become a tangle of squabbling nationalities, an intricate knot of German-Americans, Irish-Americans, English-Americans, French-Americans, Scandinavian-Americans or Italian-Americans, each preserving its separate nationality, each at heart feeling more sympathy with Europeans of that nationality, than with the other citizens of the American Republic. There is no such thing as a hyphenated American who is a good American. The only man who is a good American is the man who is an American and nothing else.”
LimeyGeek on June 11, 2008 at 10:44 AM
I read a lot of the posts, but not all…so I don’t know if I’m repeating anyone. My thought is that BO is most probably a natural born citizen. His Birth Certificate can probably be produced. Why hasn’t anyone seen it? 1) The staffer who put up the fact-check regard Ayers, citing the Birth Certificate, may well have been lying about seeing it or even knowing anything about it. He was just trying to sound authoritative, and putting out that reference to silence critics on another issue–never thinking anyone would question the campaign about it. Now it would be mildly embarrasing to even ask the hospital to reproduce the certificate, for such a request would reveal the campaign’s false claims that they already had access to it. Small pototoes, but nevertheless “politics as usual” instead of anything “new”; 2) There really is no substantive pressure to produce the certificate, notwithstanding the blogoshpere’s current attempt. Obamaa is holding on to its release, hoping Republicans make fools of themselves. If the conservatives, or worse, McCain’s campaigners try to exert pressure, Obama will use this against them: “Look at me! I’m a poor victim! (and wasn’t the Messiah treated that way?) Look at the petty, dirty, old-school politics over absolutely nothing–just like Hillary tried to smear my kindergarten record, McCain wants to go back even five years earlier than that!–it shows he is grasping at straws and has nothing to offer. … By the way, did I say that I was being persecuted?”
G. Charles on June 11, 2008 at 10:59 AM
That is certainly a big danger in playing this kind of game……which is why you need to be absolutely certain of your facts before you bring the hammer down.
LimeyGeek on June 11, 2008 at 11:08 AM
Legend, I needed a good laugh, and this made me holler.
Anwar Sadat was one of the better guys the world had, his not so good angels notwithstanding. I loved him, though, and was very sad when he was done in. Even JFK, in relative terms, not bad, compared to his cohorts of today.
You are a wise owl, and your instincts are exceptionally good. This is not a matter of the VRWC.
Entelechy on June 11, 2008 at 11:38 AM
FOIA. If your going to run for president then you should have to provide proof that you meet legal requirements to run.
manfriend on June 11, 2008 at 12:30 PM
You are absolutely correct and the saddest part is the weasel carter getting any credit for the actions of Sadat that cost him his life. Another one of a multitude of things the pathetic carter should be ashamed of.
peacenprosperity on June 11, 2008 at 1:08 PM
There are alternate explanations. Maybe the test is fairly accurate and it is just that one of us doesn’t really think exactly what he thinks he thinks, or both of us. Or it is not the test that throws things off kilter so much as it is the specifics of Iraq that throws things off kilter.
MB4 on June 11, 2008 at 1:09 PM
I knew, it I knew it I knew it! Well I was hoping I knew it. I got exactly whom I wanted on that one.
MB4 on June 11, 2008 at 1:24 PM
Barack Hussein Obama = illegal immigrant
SaintOlaf on June 11, 2008 at 1:39 PM
No new developments? Any MSM mentions?
The silence is deafening.
MrLynn on June 11, 2008 at 2:16 PM
Oh Yes, Sadat was quite a man. ESPECIALLY given the situation he was in. I didn’t mean to disparage him…. I just thought I was more like Churchill or Andy Jackson.
And I don’t disparage Kennedy either. Other than his legendary ’spreading of seed’ and some other familial type stuff he was great. Would that the Democrat party still sort of resembled him politically, rather than Teddy. And his ‘resurrection’ of and devotion to the Army Special Forces would guarantee him a place in my heart even if he WERE as bad as Teddy otherwise.
Well, don’t keep us in suspense. Who ‘are’ you according to the second test?
Iraq certainly could throw us off what would normally be agreement, but we have disagreed on some Vietnam stuff (not as much or as vehemently though) Although I guess that could be explained just because you were there significantly earlier and much longer than I, and had vastly different types of missions.
LegendHasIt on June 11, 2008 at 3:28 PM
LegendHasIt and MB4, if I can like both of you, for different reasons, and some the same, you’re both ok :)
Entelechy on June 11, 2008 at 4:07 PM
I’m still waiting for your home address… You DID type, some weeks ago, that I should hang around with you (and someone or other else) more often.
;-)
LegendHasIt on June 11, 2008 at 4:43 PM
Eisenhower.
I was there in 1971-1972 and not for that long as they were withdrawing then like crazy.
MB4 on June 11, 2008 at 4:55 PM
Preventive war was an invention of Hitler. Frankly, I would not even listen to anyone seriously that came and talked about such a thing. When people speak to you about a preventive war, you tell them to go and fight it. After my experience, I have come to hate war.
- Dwight D. Eisenhower, 5 star General and 34th President of the United States of America.
In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.
- Dwight D. Eisenhower, 5 star General and 34th President of the United States of America.
MB4 on June 11, 2008 at 5:00 PM
I may have missed something on this long post, but when (and where) do Presidential candidates have to prove their age and place of birth? These are the only two constitutional requirements for President. Is this verified before or after the election? Taxes, military records, medical records we might find interesting and possibly useful but they are voluntary and not constitutional requirements.
jerseyman on June 11, 2008 at 5:18 PM
His real name’s Barry Mohammed Washington.
Akzed on June 11, 2008 at 5:20 PM
First, Hawaii is in the U.S. I know you meant mainland.
Second, my parents never had to show my birth certificate when enrolling in school and I was born 2 years after Obama. It just wasn’t done in those days like it is now. My Mom just told them when I was born.
Maybe because it was a small town and all?
David
LifeTrek on June 11, 2008 at 5:21 PM
Neither. There is no official verification. I think the FEC might verify this, but perhaps only for candidates applying for matching funds. Obama has not done that in his presidential campaign.
In the past, the media has vetted candidates and ignored ones that didn’t meet the criteria. A 16-year-old who is “running for President” is ignored in the media because he is not 35.
The media dropped the ball in the past. George Romney was born in Mexico, but was considered a viable candidate until he dropped out after a cruel lie relating to Vietnam and his mental health circulated about him.
indythinker on June 11, 2008 at 5:31 PM
LegendHasIt on June 11, 2008 at 4:43 PM
Hang around RushBaby – he’s organizing a November get-together in San Diego, not at my home, but close enough.
Entelechy on June 11, 2008 at 5:45 PM
Oh, I thought you were there for two tours, starting in ‘68.
(I was one of the LILOs too.)
My Alzheimers IS really kicking in.
Who the heck was it amongst us HA commentators that WAS there in 68 and stayed two tours?
———————–
Eisenhower, huh?… Yeah, that fits pretty well.
LegendHasIt on June 11, 2008 at 5:48 PM
As much as I’d like to, I’m trapped here. Lucky to get out to go grocery shopping, as I provide full time care for a completely invalid parent.
LegendHasIt on June 11, 2008 at 5:52 PM
LegendHasIt, first things first. What a noble endeavour. Done much of that myself. Be patient and kind, no matter what. When it’s over one day, you’ll feel very good about all of it. It’s hard, very hard, to be sure. I’ll think of you and send you strength. You can always visit with friends later.
Entelechy on June 11, 2008 at 5:56 PM
I just took the test – MB4, thank you. I love those types of tests, for the fun of it.
First round, Andrew Jackson, the opposite, George Bush 41, the father (no idea what that means, for the 2nd round).
Entelechy on June 11, 2008 at 5:58 PM
Thanks for the kind words.
Been doing it for ten years… First for my father for five years; Alzheimer’s, but at least he was ambulatory and could feed himself. Then my mother the next five… the last two years she has been unable to do ANYTHING for herself: Parkinsons, Alzheimer’s, respiratory problems and just plain muscle atrophy…. although she has actually improved lately and can at least communicate coherently, talk to her friends on the phone and has recovered her ability to read.
Thank God for the Namenda and Aricept. That, together with cutting her Parkinson’s meds has really helped. Shakes a lot more, but the mental improvement is definitely worth decreased physical control.
Patience??? That has alway been one of my weakest abilities.
But taking care of Dad was worth it…. We didn’t get along
very wellat all, for the first 46 years, but the last five were good and we managed to become friends.LegendHasIt on June 11, 2008 at 6:16 PM
Legend, thanks for sharing the story about you and the care of your parents. I’m happy that you had the good time in the latter part of your dad’s life. Now you have those memories, in addition to the others. Also, it’s good about the improvement of your mom’s ability to communicate.
Life is bitter-sweet for all, and often more bitter than sweet. However, it’s a great miracle, and we experience it, cries and laughs…HA et all…Be strong for mom, but do take care of yourself too.
Entelechy on June 11, 2008 at 6:34 PM
J_Gotch (spl?) maybe?
MB4 on June 11, 2008 at 9:49 PM
Maybe actually he’s a sex change?
{O,o}
herself on June 11, 2008 at 10:01 PM
Nah, he’s a relative newbie and never posted anything that got my attention for more than 30 seconds..
It is one of us HA old timers…..
Either that, or I dreamed it completely.
LegendHasIt on June 11, 2008 at 10:11 PM
MB4 on June 11, 2008 at 10:25 PM
You mean to tell me that I have to produce my kid’s birth certificate to get him into school and his brother into little league, but someone can become POTUS and not prove he’s Constitutionally elligible?
I gotta follow the rules, he doesn’t. Is this another affirmative action perk I’m missing out on?
Alden Pyle on June 11, 2008 at 10:51 PM
Nah, that’s not it.
This is closer, but not what I was thinking:
Or were you at Sill in 68?… Maybe that’s what I’m nearly remembering.
LegendHasIt on June 11, 2008 at 11:16 PM
Roger.
indythinker on June 12, 2008 at 12:20 AM
I was at Ft. Sill from late October, 1968 to June 30, 1969.
MB4 on June 12, 2008 at 3:28 AM
OK,,,, Thats where I got confused.
Thanks, I was beginning to worry I ‘lost it’ completely.
LegendHasIt on June 12, 2008 at 3:34 AM
Have any of the radio people been talking about this? Seems like it’s pretty important. Someone should start a ticker.
WisCon on June 12, 2008 at 8:40 AM
Obama’s birth cert here:
http://my.barackobama.com/page/invite/birthcert
Looks real to me, but who knows.
44Magnum on June 13, 2008 at 1:15 AM
And here:
http://www.politifact.com/media/img/graphics/birthCertObama.jpg
Looks like much ado about nothing. Doesn’t this deserve an ‘Update’?
MrLynn on June 13, 2008 at 10:02 AM
UPDATE (in case anyone is paying attention):
Rush says, “‘A Certification of Live Birth’ is not a Birth Certificate.”
This is nonsense. My Washington, DC one is called ‘Certificate of Live Birth’.
It’s a distinction without a difference.
MrLynn on June 13, 2008 at 12:33 PM
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