[ 2011-04-28 ]

Born in the USA - Obama produces certificate
Until 8.45 yesterday morning, East Coast time, it
was possible to argue that the exact circumstances
of Barack Obama’s birth were of interest only to
die-hard conspiracy theorists who refuse to accept
him as their President.

Not any more.

In an unprecedented concession to the paranoid
fringe, Mr Obama personally released his long-form
birth certificate and rebuked the TV networks for
allowing viewers to be “distracted by sideshows
and carnival barkers”.

The reference was to “birthers” and their
latest champion, Donald Trump, who lent credence
to groundless rumours that the 44th President was
born in Kenya and therefore ineligible to run for
the White House.

The rumours started during the 2008 presidential
campaign. Mr Obama was born in Hawaii, where birth
certificates are not public. The rumours were
silenced for most observers when Mr Obama’s
staff posted his short-form birth certificate
online. The full version was not published,
fuelling theories that it contained devastating
information about the President’s place of
birth, religion or parentage.

The document was finally produced yesterday in a
surreal White House scene that Mr Obama said had
been forced on him by the attention given to Mr
Trump and the birther story. “Normally I would
not comment on something like this,” Mr Obama
said. He had decidded to act after his response to
a Republican budget plan had been drowned out by
Mr Trump’s claims.

“During that entire week the dominant news story
wasn’t about these huge, monumental choices that
we’re going to have to make as a nation,” he
said. “It was about my birth certificate.”

The long-form certificate was copied from a ledger
in the presence of Hawaii’s most senior health
official on Monday. Two certified copies were then
flown by Mr Obama’s personal lawyer, Judith
Corley, to Washington.

It states that he was born at Kapiolani Maternity
and Gynaecological Hospital, Honolulu, on August
4, 1961; that his mother, Ann Dunham Obama, lived
at 6085 Kalanianaole Highway in Honolulu at the
time; and that she was born in Wichita, Kansas.

Mr Obama is hoping to end a debate that had left a
quarter of Americans and nearly half of registered
Republicans with doubts about his legitimacy.

Mr Trump, whose best line in his presidential
campaign may have been neutralised, said: “I am
really honoured to have played such a big role in
getting rid of this issue.”

Source - The Times(UK)

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