As Iago the parrot so famously observed...
"I'm just about to have a heart attack and DIE from not-surprise."
So, it seems President Obama requested the long form of his birth certificate from Hawaii, then published a scan of it. He remarked that the fascination with his citizenship status -- which I would have thought had been settled when he published the SHORT form during the 2008 campaign, when the question was first raised -- was distracting from more important matters.
Recently, a number of people (including Donald "You're Fired!" Trump) have again raised the question of where The First Black POTUS* was born. They insisted that the President could put this to bed, very easily, by just releasing his birth certificate. Y'know, the REAL one. Not that short-form nonsense that says "Certificate of Live Birth" at the top.
Well, now he's published the longer version. And, again to my complete lack of surprise, the Birthers are already calling it a fake, partly because it still says "Certificate of Live Birth" instead of "Birth Certificate". Or claiming that even if he WAS born in the United States, he's not Constitutionally a "natural-born citizen". I mean, his dad's still an African, right?
First of all, I'm 99% sure that the Constitution doesn't actually DEFINE the phrase "natural-born citizen". It's always been understood to mean "born within the United States"; presumably, for the sake of folks like Panama-born John McCain, some wiggle room is included if at least one of your parents was born in the U.S. Oh, and both parents were white, let's not forget that.*
Second, I'm 99.44% sure that my OWN birth certificate says "Certificate of Live Birth". And folks, that's the one I used to renew my driver's license the day I closed on my home. So a document calling itself a "Certificate of Live Birth" was sufficient proof for the state of Oklahoma of my citizenship.
Let me repeat that: Oklahoma, one of the reddest states in the union, was satisfied with a "Certificate of Live Birth".
Of course, I'm not running for President. Maybe I should've had the foresight to be born in a state that puts "Birth Certificate" on those documents. Because, of course, there'd be LOADS of questions about there MY pale-ass self was born, right?
* I'm sorry, I know some people don't think it's chic to suggest racist motivations unless (and sometimes even if) one sees the alleged racist lynching a black man by the light of a burning cross, but I'm afraid I cannot see anything BUT racism here. We're talking about a situation in which a black man and a white man were up for the same job, and the black man got it, so obviously he must've cheated.
----
Out of curiosity, readers, what's at the top of birth certificates where you come from?
So, it seems President Obama requested the long form of his birth certificate from Hawaii, then published a scan of it. He remarked that the fascination with his citizenship status -- which I would have thought had been settled when he published the SHORT form during the 2008 campaign, when the question was first raised -- was distracting from more important matters.
Recently, a number of people (including Donald "You're Fired!" Trump) have again raised the question of where The First Black POTUS* was born. They insisted that the President could put this to bed, very easily, by just releasing his birth certificate. Y'know, the REAL one. Not that short-form nonsense that says "Certificate of Live Birth" at the top.
Well, now he's published the longer version. And, again to my complete lack of surprise, the Birthers are already calling it a fake, partly because it still says "Certificate of Live Birth" instead of "Birth Certificate". Or claiming that even if he WAS born in the United States, he's not Constitutionally a "natural-born citizen". I mean, his dad's still an African, right?
First of all, I'm 99% sure that the Constitution doesn't actually DEFINE the phrase "natural-born citizen". It's always been understood to mean "born within the United States"; presumably, for the sake of folks like Panama-born John McCain, some wiggle room is included if at least one of your parents was born in the U.S. Oh, and both parents were white, let's not forget that.*
Second, I'm 99.44% sure that my OWN birth certificate says "Certificate of Live Birth". And folks, that's the one I used to renew my driver's license the day I closed on my home. So a document calling itself a "Certificate of Live Birth" was sufficient proof for the state of Oklahoma of my citizenship.
Let me repeat that: Oklahoma, one of the reddest states in the union, was satisfied with a "Certificate of Live Birth".
Of course, I'm not running for President. Maybe I should've had the foresight to be born in a state that puts "Birth Certificate" on those documents. Because, of course, there'd be LOADS of questions about there MY pale-ass self was born, right?
* I'm sorry, I know some people don't think it's chic to suggest racist motivations unless (and sometimes even if) one sees the alleged racist lynching a black man by the light of a burning cross, but I'm afraid I cannot see anything BUT racism here. We're talking about a situation in which a black man and a white man were up for the same job, and the black man got it, so obviously he must've cheated.
----
Out of curiosity, readers, what's at the top of birth certificates where you come from?