New Route 78 billboard in Pennsylvania |
In remarks to the recent Tea Party Nation convention in Nashville, WND founder and CEO Joseph Farah suggested that if Barack Obama runs for re-election in 2012, he would like to see "Where's the birth certificate" signs everywhere.
While that campaign hasn't arrived just yet, another major billboard has gone up, this one along Route 78 in Pennsylvania, asking that very question.
"I have a dream," Farah said, "My dream is that IF Barack Obama even seeks re-election as president in 2012, he won't be able to go to any city, any town, any hamlet in America without seeing signs that ask, 'Where's the birth certificate?'
"It's a simple question," he said.
Travelers along Route 78 near Cabela's now can see the question, a significant query in light of recent poll revelations that only 51 percent of Americans still believe that Obama is eligible to be president.
The poll by Fritz Wenzel of Wenzel Strategies for WND said, if the 2012 election was held at that time, Obama would have come in second to an unspecified opponent.
The January WND/Wenzel poll said when asked if they consider Obama a "legitimate president," 32.6 percent said no, and another 15.8 percent said they were not sure. Barely half of the voters, 51.5 percent said they do consider Obama a legitimate president even though he has yet to produce a long-form birth certificate that would prove he was born in the U.S.
President Obama |
The poll showed even 14.6 percent of the Democrats said they do not consider him a legitimate president, along with 52.2 percent of the Republicans. Significantly, 31.8 percent of the independents said no.
"A lingering doubt about his legitimacy as president continues to dog Obama," Wenzel said. "Thirty-three percent said they do not consider him to be a legitimate president. Another 16 percent were unsure on the question. While some try to marginalize those who continue to call for Obama to release his birth certificate, it is clear many don't think this is a settled matter."
A previous poll revealed that a full 30 percent of Americans believe that Obama isn't even American.
The survey was done by Angus Reid Global Monitor, a division of Vision Critical Group, which leverages "the world's most advanced online research technology for interactive surveys, custom panels, private communities and virtual retail environments."
New Route 78 billboard in Pennsylvania |
WND launched the billboard campaign last year, with plans that it would continue as long as needed.
"It should be pretty clear to everyone by now that Obama has no intentions of releasing his birth certificate under any circumstances," said Farah when a previous billboard was launched. "He will also not reveal his travel records, his student records, his medical records – in short he won't reveal anything meaningful about himself or his history, not even to prove he is constitutionally eligible to serve in office. The man apparently has a lot to hide."
Farah says there is only one solution – force him to reveal it.
"We have to see these billboards flourish in 2010 and leading up to the 2012 election when Obama will seek re-election," said Farah. "If he can't answer that simple question by then, he's toast. Help me make it so Obama can't go anywhere in the United States without seeing this sign."
Earlier 'Where's the birth certificate?' billboard along the Pennsylvania Turnpike |
Another billboard had gone up gratis by an outdoor advertising company in Ocala, Fla.
Drivers in Ocala, Fla., see the "Where's the birth certificate?" message |
While the U.S. Constitution provides that if an elected president is not qualified for the office, the vice president shall stand in for him until he is qualified, Obama has shown no inclination to provide documentation of his eligibility.
In 2008, the Obama campaign team released a Certification of Live Birth, which states that Obama was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, on Aug. 4, 1961, but such documentation does not actually prove a birth location.
WND has reported on dozens of legal challenges to Obama's status as a "natural born citizen." The Constitution, Article 2, Section 1, states, "No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President."
Some of the lawsuits question whether he was actually born in Hawaii, as he insists. If he was born out of the country, Obama's American mother, the suits contend, was too young at the time of his birth to confer American citizenship to her son under the law at the time.
Other challenges have focused on Obama's citizenship through his father, a Kenyan subject to the jurisdiction of the United Kingdom at the time of his birth, thus making him a dual citizen. The cases contend the framers of the Constitution excluded dual citizens from qualifying as natural born. Others argue one cannot be a "natural born" citizen without two citizen parents.
Complicating the situation is Obama's decision to spend sums exceeding $1.7 million to avoid releasing an original long-form state birth certificate that would put to rest the questions.
WND also has reported that among the documentation not yet available for Obama includes his kindergarten records, Punahou school records, Occidental College records, Columbia University records, Columbia thesis, Harvard Law School records, Harvard Law Review articles, scholarly articles from the University of Chicago, passport, medical records, files from his years as an Illinois state senator, his Illinois State Bar Association records, any baptism records and his adoption records.
Farah said to succeed in giving the question a high profile "takes a lot of money."
"It will take at least $250,000 in 2010," he predicted. "But it can be done. It will then take about $500,000 in 2011 and $1 million in 2012. But it can be done. It must be done if America is going to continue to operate as a constitutional republic in the future."
Farah says he has no confidence the courts currently reviewing eligibility cases will make the right decision and demand the evidence unless the issue is taken far more seriously by the American public.
"I'm convinced this issue is going nowhere without the American people demanding the truth from the bottom up," he said. "I know my colleagues in the media are afraid of it. I know the Republicans in Washington are afraid of it. It's up to us – the people – to make this happen."
Farah said the
campaign was born of frustration with timid elected officials in
Washington, corrupt judges around the country and a news media that
shows a stunning and disturbing lack of curiosity about the most basic
facts of Obama's background – especially how it relates to
constitutional eligibility for the highest office in the land.
Not surprisingly, the campaign was quickly met with opposition. Just two weeks after it was launched, CBS,
one of the largest media conglomerates and a leading provider of
outdoor advertising, officially banned its local salesmen from
accepting the "birth certificate" billboard leases from WND. No reason was ever given.
Billboard at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. |
A few days later, Lamar Advertising, another billboard industry giant, joined CBS.
And a few days after that Clear
Channel, a media goliath owning 1,200 radio stations across America and
controlling tens of thousands of billboards, followed suit.
"Where's the Birth Certificate?" billboard near the Santa Ana Freeway in Los Angeles |
The real fruit of the campaign, explained Farah, are the billboards themselves.
"Seeing these billboards springing up around the country is
quite a phenomenon," he says.
Farah also devised a way for everyone to get into the act – with your own car or your own yard.
WND
previously launched a petition campaign that has collected nearly half
a million names demanding Obama's eligibility be verified and
demonstrated publicly. That campaign continues. That list has been
shared with members of the Electoral College and the chief justice of
the U.S. Supreme Court.
You can support the billboard campaign right now by making a donation online.
Those wishing to donate by check can send them to:
WND
P.O. Box 1627
Medford, OR 97501
(Donations are not tax-deductible. Donations of amounts greater than
$1,000 can be arranged by calling either 541-474-1776 or
1-800-4WND.COM.)
If you are a member of the media and would like to interview Joseph Farah about this campaign, e-mail WND.
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