Even with the election decided, the widely debunked whisper campaign claiming that Barack Obama is secretly not an American, and thus not qualified to be president, is going strong.

The Supreme Court is expected to announce on Monday whether or not it will consider two cases contending that Barack Obama is not a "natural born citizen," as the president is required to be under Article II, Section 1 of the U.S. Constitution. One case, referred to the court by Justice Clarence Thomas after Justice David Souter had rejected it, argues that because Obama's father was a citizen of Kenya, at the time a British colony, the president-elect was born with dual citizenship. The other, filed by Attorney Phillip J. Berg, effectively contends that Obama has outright lied about having been born on American soil.

Obama displays a Certificate of Live Birth on his website.

What is this?

A COLB is a computer printout of information on file at the state of Hawaii.

It is not the original "Birth Certificate" issued from the hospital. These include hospital name, attending physician, etc.

But the supposedly independent, but notoriously liberal FactCheck.org says the state "confirmed Oct. 31 that Obama was born in Hawaii"? Not so fast.

The Honolulu Advertiser erred when they said


State officials say there's no doubt Barack Obama was born in Hawai'i.




Actually, DR. CHIYOME FUKINO said no such thing.


Therefore, I as Director of Health for the State of Hawai‘i, along with the Registrar of Vital Statistics who has statutory authority to oversee and maintain these type of vital records, have personally seen and verified that the Hawai‘i State Department of Health has Sen. Obama’s original birth certificate on record in accordance with state policies and procedures.




A COLB does not prove that Obama was born in Hawaii. What? You say. That's right. Hawaii will issue a COLB to people born outside the country.


Who is Eligible to Apply for an Amended Certificate of Birth?

As provided by law (HRS §§338-17.7, 338-20.5), the following persons may apply for an amended certificate of birth:
* A person born in a foreign country who has been legally adopted in the State of Hawaii.




Both FactCheck.org and the Honolulu Advertiser have had ample time to correct the record. See our previous blog posts regarding journalism being dead.

There may be as many as 9 lawsuits in multiple states questioning the citizenship status of Barack Obama. Most of these are requesting Obama to produce his original birth certificate to verify he was born in Hawaii. To date, Obama has refused to request the original from the state. Our understanding is that he can get this document immediately at his request.

Obama's own smears website says


When Barack Obama Jr. was born on Aug. 4,1961, in Honolulu, Kenya was a British colony, still part of the United Kingdom’s dwindling empire. As a Kenyan native, Barack Obama Sr. was a British subject whose citizenship status was governed by The British Nationality Act of 1948. That same act governed the status of Obama Sr.'s children.

Since Sen. Obama has neither renounced his U.S. citizenship nor sworn an oath of allegiance to Kenya, his Kenyan citizenship automatically expired on Aug. 4,1982.



So it appears Obama is admitting he was a dual citizen at birth. US and Kenya.

Since Obama is a constitional lawyer and a professor of constitutional law we assume he is using precise wording when he doesn't claim he is a "natural born citizen" as required but instead claims


The truth is, Barack Obama was born in the state of Hawaii in 1961, a native citizen of the United States of America.




The British Nationality Act of 1948 seems to indicate that Obama was (also) a British citizen at birth.


5.—(1) Subject to the provisions of this section, a person born after the commencement of this Act shall be a citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies by descent if his father is a citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies at the time of the birth

This is possible (but unlikely to us), since Hawaii allows foreigners to receive COLBs' and Obama has not produced his original BC. Obama must produce his original BC to prove this. It makes little sense that he would would not simply request this document and stop all the lawsuits and speculation. Unless, the BC is just a misdirection for the dual citizenship issue.

Obama has admitted he was a dual citizen at birth.
It's remotely possible that he may have had triple citizenship at birth (US,UK and Kenyan) and his Kenyan citizenship has now expired.

Obama is also claiming that he is a native citizen - not a "natural born" citizen as required by the U.S. Constitution.

See Item 4 above.

What are right wing blogs saying?

What are the left wing blogs saying?

What do we say

Donofrio says that since Obama had dual nationality at birth — his mother was American and his Kenyan father at the time was a British subject — he cannot possibly be a "natural born citizen," one of the requirements the Constitution lists for eligibility to be president.

Donofrio also contends that two other candidates, Republican John McCain and Socialist Workers candidate Roger Calero, also are not natural-born citizens and thus ineligible to be president.

At least one other appeal over Obama's citizenship remains at the court. Philip J. Berg of Lafayette Hill, Pa., argues that Obama was born in Kenya, not Hawaii as Obama says and the Hawaii secretary of state has confirmed.