The Controversy Over Obama's Birth Certificate

Steve Johnson, Yahoo! Contributor Network
Jun 10, 2008 "Share your voice on Yahoo! websites. Start Here."

Right-wing bloggers have recently been raising a stink about Barack Obama's birth certificate and the dark secrets that the document may (but probably doesn't) reveal. As has consistently been the case during Obama's candidacy, the newest round of claims reveal an embarrassing level of xenophobia and ignorance on the part of Obama's detractors. Additionally, two of the three birth certificate related claims, like most claims made about Barack, have no actual bearing on the nominee's fitness for leadership.

The first rumor that Obama's birth certificate could clear up, and the only one that has any relationship to his ability to serve as President, is the claim that the document would reveal that Obama holds dual citizenship in the U.S. And Kenya. The Constitution does not address dual citizenship when laying out the qualifications for President--it merely states that the candidate must be 35 years old or older and a natural-born citizen-but the potential conflict of interest could obviously be a point of concern. However, none of this applies to Barack, since (according to the State Department's web site), the country of Kenya does not recognize dual citizenship.

The next rumor that Barack's birth certificate could quell is that his middle name is actually Mohammad, not Hussein, or that he has two Islamic-sounding middle names. The obvious aim here is to imply that Obama is, as Stephen Colbert puts it, a "secret Muslim." The fact that these same self-appointed pundits are simultaneously attacking Obama for the statements of his Christian minister should give any thinking person a reason to question such claims.

The final rumor, that Obama's birth name is "Barry," seems to undercut the rumor that he's a secret Muslim with the middle name of Mohammad, but fortunately the bloggers harping on this story are blithely unaware of any possible contradiction. The implication, apparently, is that Obama might not be as ethnic as some people would like to think. It is true that Barack, like his father before him, went by the nickname "Barry" during his childhood and teen years. He reverted to his given name, "Barack," while attending college. Obama's name change was no different from that of any other college student trying to establish their adult identity.

While bloggers claim that Barack has refused to make the birth certificate public, not a single one has backed up the claim by pointing to a statement from the Obama campaign refusing to release the document. Even if Obama is indeed keeping his birth certificate private, the State Department's web site seems to settle the question of dual citizenship. As for the non-isssue of Barack's real name, according to Politifact, the numerous documents that are publicly available all list the candidate as "Barack Hussein Obama" or "Barack H. Obama." If his actual name were "Barry Hussein Mohammed Al-Queda Bin Laden Death To America Obama," surely one of these documents would at least provide some clue to that effect.

Sources
Michell Malkin, The Buzz About Obama's Birth Certificate
Jim Gehraghty, Obama Could Debunk Some Rumors By Releasing His Birth Certificate, National Review Online
Richard Wolffe, Jessica Ramirez and Jeffrey Bartholet, When Barry Became Barack, Newsweek
"The Colbert Report"
The Constitution of the United States, Article II, Section I

Published by Steve Johnson

Steve Johnson is the co-creator of QAGS, the Quick Ass Game System and Operations Director for Hex Games. He has written or co-written several role-playing books. View profile

Takeaways

Kenyan Citizenship?
Mohammad?
Barry?

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The Controversy Over Obama's Birth Certificate

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