Over the past two years I have engaged in an ongoing debate with Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) over the issue of Barack Obama\u2019s eligibility to serve as president of the United States.\u00a0 Although\u00a0 Senator Coburn is an exceptionally fine senator, one of the top three in the senate, his views on the issue are not unlike those of other members of Congress.\u00a0 They are simply wrong.<\/p>\n
In all of our exchanges, Senator Coburn has relied on the same \u201cboilerplate\u201d language, insisting that, \u201cFirst and foremost, while I disagree with most of President Obama\u2019s policy positions, I believe he is a natural-born citizen and eligible to be President of the United States.\u00a0 My belief is based upon the fact that he was born in Hawaii, as the release of his long-form birth certificate proves, and his mother (was) a U.S. citizen.\u00a0 My staff has not found any evidence that contradicts these facts beyond conspiracy theories.\u00a0 I also believe this issue was solved in the 2008 election, when each of the 50 states placed candidate Obama on its ballot and certified its election results.\u00a0 Individual states are responsible for determining the eligibility of their federal candidates, and all 50 states legitimized candidate Obama\u2019s presidency in this way.\u201d<\/p>\n
There are at least three major errors and misconceptions in Senator Coburn\u2019s response.\u00a0 First, he accepts that Obama was born in Hawaii and that the long-form birth certificate released by the White House on April 27, 2011, provides proof of that claim.\u00a0 If the senator would examine the extensive forensic evidence developed by Sheriff Joe Arpaio, of Maricopa County, Arizona, he would know that the document provided by Obama is simply a poorly-constructed forgery.<\/p>\n
Sheriff Arpaio has made it clear that anyone who feels that his Cold Case Posse\u2026 a team of highly respected and experienced lawyers, detectives, and forensic experts\u2026 was mistaken in their conclusions, they are free to submit the posse\u2019s work to examination by a team of experts of their own choosing.\u00a0 To date, none of the doubters have been doubtful enough to accept Sheriff Arpaio\u2019s challenge.\u00a0 Consequently, it is only the credibility of the doubters that is found wanting.\u00a0\u00a0 Rather than allow themselves to be proven wrong, they simply deny the validity of the posse\u2019s findings without ever attempting to support their opposing position.<\/p>\n
Even if it could be shown, conclusively, that Obama was born in Hawaii, his forged birth certificate notwithstanding, he still cannot claim status as a \u201cnatural born\u201d citizen because, by his own admission, his father was a citizen of Kenya.\u00a0 The place<\/em> of one\u2019s birth is not the determining factor in who is and who is not a \u201cnatural born\u201d citizen.\u00a0 Just as hundreds of thousands of \u201cnative born\u201d children born in the U.S. each year are not \u201cnatural born,\u201d because their parents are not U.S. citizens, tens of thousands of \u201cnatural born\u201d babies are born abroad to American parents each year.\u00a0 These children are \u201cnatural born\u201d citizens because both parents are U.S. citizens.<\/p>\n Senator Coburn makes a common mistake, assuming that to be \u201cnative born\u201d is to be \u201cnatural born.\u201d\u00a0 It is not.\u00a0 The two terms are not synonymous.<\/p>\n Second, the senator argues that, \u201cMy staff has not found any evidence that contradicts these facts beyond conspiracy theories.\u201d\u00a0 The only thing to be said in response is that, when one fails to look<\/em> for evidence, it is unlikely that one will find<\/em> evidence.\u00a0 Senator Coburn would be well advised to order his staff to utilize their own investigative resources and to take at face value the opinions of their friends on the Washington cocktail circuit who are armed with nothing more than inside-the-beltway \u201cconventional wisdom,\u201d which is almost always wrong.<\/p>\n Finally, the senator writes, \u201cI also believe this issue was solved in the 2008 election, when each of the 50 states placed candidate Obama on its ballot and certified its election results.\u00a0 Individual states are responsible for determining the eligibility of their federal candidates, and all 50 states legitimized candidate Obama\u2019s presidency in this way.\u201d<\/p>\n The senator must know that few states have laws requiring their state election board to certify the qualifications of candidates for president and vice president.\u00a0 To the contrary, it is an implicit constitutional duty of the party nominating conventions to nominate eligible candidates and to certify the eligibility of candidates to the state election boards so that ballots can be printed.<\/p>\n For example, in 2008, all of the certifications provided to the fifty state election boards by the Republican National Convention contained language certifying that John McCain and Sarah Palin met all of the constitutional requirements for the offices of president and vice president.\u00a0 The documents were signed by John A. Boehner and Jean A. Inman, Chairman and Secretary, respectively, of the 2008 Republican National Convention, and notarized by Sheila A. Motzko.<\/p>\n However, certifications provided to the state election boards by the Democratic National Committee were not uniform.\u00a0 The certification provided exclusively <\/em>to the State of Hawaii, pursuant to Hawaii Revised Statutes \u00a711-113, which requires certification of constitutional eligibility, contained the following affirmation:<\/p>\n \u201cTHIS IS TO CERTIFY that at the National Convention of the Democrat Party of the United States of America, held in Denver, Colorado on August 25 though <\/em>(sic) 28, 2008, the following were duly nominated candidates of said Party for President and Vice President of the United States respectively and that the following candidates for President and Vice President of the United States are legally qualified to serve under the provisions of the United States Constitution.\u201d\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n The remaining forty-nine states, which do not require a statement of constitutional eligibility, received the following certification:<\/p>\n “THIS IS TO CERTIFY that at the National Convention of the Democrat Party of the United States of America, held in Denver, Colorado on August 25 though <\/em>(sic) 28, 2008, the following were duly nominated as candidates of said Party for President and Vice President of the United States respectively:\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Affixed were the names and home addresses of Barack Obama and Joe Biden.\u00a0 The documents were signed by Nancy Pelosi and Alice Travis Germond, Chairman and Secretary, respectively, of\u00a0 the 2008 Democratic National Convention, and notarized by Shalifa A. Williamson.<\/p>\n The phrase, \u201c\u2026 and that the following candidates for President and Vice President of the United States are legally qualified to serve under the provisions of the United States Constitution\u201d <\/em>was purposely omitted.\u00a0 Other than that, all of the documents were absolutely identical\u2026 even to the misspelling of the word \u201cthrough\u201d in the second line of the certifications.\u00a0 Clearly, Democrats knew when they nominated him that Barack Obama was not eligible to serve as president of the United States.\u00a0 The question is, what did Nancy Pelosi know, and when did she know it?\u00a0 She should be put under oath in a court of law and made to answer that question.<\/p>\n Contrary to Senator Coburn\u2019s assertion, the obligation to properly vet candidates for president and vice president lies only with: a) the party nominating conventions, b) the members of the Electoral College, and c) the members of Congress, in joint session.\u00a0 The party responsibility is implicit; the responsibilities of the Electoral College and the Congress are explicit.<\/p>\n In a December 8, 2008 discussion of the congressional certification process, Edwin Viera, Jr., Ph.D., J.D., a leading authority on the Constitution, argues that, \u201c\u2026 the question of Obama\u2019s eligibility vel non<\/em> is not within the discretion of Congress to skirt or decide as its Members may deem politically or personally expedient.\u201d\u00a0 Dr. Viera argues that, if no objection is made on the basis that Obama is not a natural born citizen\u2026 \u201cthe matter cannot be said to have been settled to a \u2018constitutional sufficiency\u2019<\/em>(emphasis added),\u201d<\/em> because Congress has no power to simply waive the eligibility requirement.<\/p>\n In other words, the matter of Obama\u2019s eligibility is still a matter before Congress because the Congress has not questioned and evaluated his eligibility, and in spite of the fact that the state election boards printed his name on the 2008 General Election ballot, the responsibility for vetting him is still on their collective plates.<\/p>\n In 2008, the delegates to the Democratic National Convention failed us, the 365 Democratic members of the Electoral College failed us, and the 535 members of the U.S. Congress failed us.\u00a0 In order to clarify the issue and to avoid a future constitutional crisis over presidential eligibility, the Congress should take immediate steps to establish, by law, the definition of the term \u201cnatural born Citizen.\u201d\u00a0 To clarify the intentions of the Founding Fathers, the term should be defined as: \u201can individual born to parents, both of whom were United States citizens at the time of the birth, and neither of whom owed allegiance to any foreign sovereignty at the time of the birth.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n The American people will come to know that, between January 20 2009, and January 20, 2013, the man who occupied the Oval Office was not eligible to sit in that chair.\u00a0 And while it would be all but impossible to reverse four years of presidential acts and appointments, by codifying the definition of \u201cnatural born Citizen\u201d the people can be satisfied that we will never again suffer the likes of Barack Obama.\u00a0 But the wrong that has been done to the American people will not soon be forgotten.\u00a0 The delegates to the 2008 Democrat National Convention, the Democrat members of the 2008 Electoral College, and the members of the 111th<\/sup> Congress, of both parties, will carry the shame of their treachery to their graves.\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Over the past two years I have engaged in an ongoing debate with Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) over the issue of Barack Obama\u2019s eligibility to serve as president of the United States.\u00a0 Although\u00a0 Senator Coburn is an exceptionally fine senator, … Continue reading