WASHINGTON - White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs today admitted that the questions about Barack Obama's eligibility to be president simply won't go away, even though he contends there are 10,000 things "more important" for Americans to worry about.
Gibbs appeared exasperated by the issue, even when it was raised by left-leaning pundit Bill Press, who phrased his interest this way: "Robert, I hate to bring this up but somebody has to … Is there anything you can say that will make the birthers go away?"
"No," said Gibbs. "I mean, the God's honest truth is no. I mean, Bill, let's understand this – and I almost hate to indulge in such an august setting as the White House – and I mean this in seriousness – the White House briefing room discussing the made-up, fictional nonsense of whether or not the president was born in this country.
"A year-and-a-half ago I asked that the birth certificate be put on the Internet because lord knows, you got a birth certificate and you put it on the Internet, what else could be the story?" Gibbs continued.
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"Here's the deal, Bill. If I had some DNA, it wouldn't assuage those that don't believe he was born here. But I have news for them and for all of us: The president was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, the 50th state of the greatest country on the face of the earth. He's a citizen," Gibbs said.
Gibbs then made reference to Les Kinsolving, WND's correspondent at the White House, who previously has been the only journalist at the briefings to raise that issue.
"But I have no doubt that Lester will ask me soon, and that I will receive e-mail," he said.
"I've got another question," Kinsolving responded, generating Gibbs' expression of doubt.
"I'm not entirely sure about that, Lester. But let's not …"
"Let me prove it," Kinsolving said.
But Gibbs declined to allow Kinsolving to ask a question.
Poking fun at the entire issue, Gibbs said, "I'm happy to wager that you'll never ask me another birth question again."
"No, no, no – I didn't say 'never again,' I said, 'not today,'" Kinsolving said.
"See, there we go," Gibbs said. "I'll take my winnings and put it in my son's college fund. But no, nothing will assuage them. But there are 10,000 more important issues for people in this country to discuss, rather than whether or not the president is a citizen."
A followup question was: "Why do you think it keeps coming up?"
"Because for $15, you can get an Internet address and say whatever you want," Gibbs said.
Politico posted an edited video of the exchange:
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Among the pieces of information that the president has withheld, fueling concerns over his eligibility, are his birth certificate, his school records, college records, records as a state senator, passport records, Selective Service records and others.
Kinsolving twice before has raised the issue, only to be met with similar answers from Gibbs.
Among the recent opportunities for the White House to begin offering clarification was when a Honolulu hospital used for fund-raising a letter purportedly from Obama claiming the facility as his place of birth.
The White House has rejected multiple requests to issue a statement confirming that the White House even submitted the letter.
A photograph taken by the Kapi'olani Medical Center for WND shows a letter allegedly written by President Obama on embossed White House stationery in which he declares the Honolulu hospital to be "the place of my birth," The hospital, after publicizing the letter then refusing to confirm it even existed, is now vouching for its authenticity, but not its content. The White House has yet to verify any aspect of the letter. |
The letter in question, dated Jan. 24, 2009, was trumpeted and used to raise funds – then later concealed – by the Kapi'olani Medical Center for Women and Children in Honolulu, which eventually released images of the paper letter to WND.
"As a beneficiary of the excellence of Kapi'olani Medical Center – the place of my birth – I am pleased to add my voice to your chorus of supporters," Obama purportedly wrote.
This excerpt from the alleged Obama letter is perhaps the first formal declaration from the president about his exact birthplace. The White House has still not confirmed if the letter or its contents are authentic. |
But since WND raised questions about the veracity of the letter itself and its contents, the White House has refused to say if the letter itself is authentic and that its content originated with the president.
Staffers at the White House only acknowledge their receipt of WND's request and images of the letter posted online by the news site.
When Kinsolving previously asked Gibbs about the letter at the July 13 news briefing, Gibbs simply dodged the question, refusing to confirm its authenticity while belittling Kinsolving for even posing the question.
"Do all of your listeners and the listeners throughout this country the service to which any journalist owes those listeners, and that is the pursuit of the noble truth," Gibbs lectured Kinsolving. "And the noble truth is that the president was born in Hawaii, a state of the United States of America."
Since the medical center has been using the letter for a high-profile fundraising campaign in the spring edition of its Inspire Magazine, the FBI and United States Secret Service said the
matter could potentially lead to criminal prosecution were the letter determined
to be fraudulent.
"It would be a charity fraud scheme," said FBI
spokesman Steve Kodak. "It would be investigated by us or the Secret
Service. We both have jurisdiction over that."
All of this matters because President Obama has still not provided simple, incontrovertible proof of his exact birthplace. That information would be included on his long-form, hospital-generated birth certificate which Obama has steadfastly refused to release amid a flurry of conflicting reports.
He has only proffered a "Certification of Live Birth" to assert he was born in Hawaii, but many people remain unaware a child does not even have to be born in Hawaii to
receive a COLB. Hawaiian
law specifically allows "an adult or the legal parents of a minor child" to
apply to the health department and, upon unspecified proof, be given the birth
document.
WND has
reported that at least two reports have cited
Obama's birth in Kenya. Wikipedia
also was found to have been reporting on Obama's birth in Kenya, before a
series of scrubs placed his birth in Honolulu.
That came on the heels of several online
information sites changing the president's supposed birthplace from one hospital
in Hawaii to another, after WND broke the news of the letter said
to be from the White House.
WND has yet to be able to identify any physician or medical attendant present at
Kapi'olani in 1961 who can recall Ann Dunham, Obama's mother,
giving birth to Barack Obama at the hospital or who can identify the name of the
attending physician.
The Department of Defense allegedly compelled a private employer to fire a U.S. Army Reserve major from his civilian job after he had his military deployment orders revoked for arguing he should not be required to serve under a president who has not proven his eligibility for office.
Obama's birth certificate is not the only document at issue. WND has
reported that among the documentation not yet available for Obama includes
his kindergarten records, his Punahou school records, his Occidental College
records, his Columbia University records, his Columbia thesis, his Harvard Law
School records, his Harvard Law Review articles, his scholarly articles from the
University of Chicago, his passport, his medical records, his files from his
years as an Illinois state senator, his Illinois State Bar Association records,
any baptism records, and his adoption records.
Here is an actual Hawaii birth certificate from 1963 (the
same era as Obama's birth), which while redacted includes detailed
information documenting a birth, including the name of the birth
hospital and the attending physician. Beneath it is the short-form
"Certification of Live Birth" offered by Obama as proof of
his Hawaiian birth. It is possible to have been born outside of Hawaii
and still obtain the latter form, but not the former:
Long-form birth certificate from state of Hawaii (Image courtesy Philip Berg) |
Here is the "Certification of Live Birth" presented by
Obama:
Short-form "Certification of Live Birth" |
WND has reported on dozens of legal challenges to Obama's
status as a "natural born citizen" – challenges that all have been confronted by attorneys acting on the president's behalf to keep his records sealed.
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.
Complicating the situation is Obama's decision to spend
sums estimated in the hundreds of thousands of dollars to avoid releasing a
state birth certificate that would put to rest all of the questions.
Among the cases have been several from Democrat Philip
Berg, who has alleged that not only is Obama ineligible to be president, he
was unqualified to be the senator from Illinois and should be prosecuted under
the False Claims Act.
The key question in the dispute also is being raised on billboards nationwide.
"Where's The Birth Certificate?" billboard in Pennsylvania |
The billboard campaign follows an ongoing petition
campaign launched several months ago by WND Editor and Chief Executive
Officer Joseph Farah.
They are intended to raise public awareness of the fact
that Obama has never released the standard "long-form" birth certificate that
would show which hospital he was born in, the attending physician and establish
that he truly was born in Hawaii, as his autobiography maintains.
Lawmakers also are facing similar questioning. Republican Rep. Mike Castle of Delaware recently was confronted at a town meeting with those demanding to know what was going on with the questions over Obama's eligibility.
He said Obama is a "citizen of the United States" to a chorus of boos.
According to Politico, Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., is among others who are looking into the issue.
"They have a point," he said of those raising questions. "But I'm going to pursue defeating [Obama] on things that I think are very destructive to America."
Note: Members of the news media wishing to interview Joseph Farah, Jerome
Corsi, Joe Kovacs, Les Kinsolving, Chelsea Schilling or Bob Unruh on this issue, please contact WND.