Blogger reveals Obama birth certificate

Barack Obama

A blogger who earlier cited the "unlikely" but still circulating rumor Barack Obama was born not within the United States, but elsewhere, possibly Kenya, now says he's satisfied the senator was born in Hawaii.

WND reported on the questions over his birth site because of the campaign's earlier secrecy over the issue and requirement presidents be "natural-born" U.S. citizens.

Jim Geraghty, reporting on the Campaign Spot, a National Review blog, had cited the "unlikely" possibility that Obama's 1961 birth was not within the United States.

At the time, he wrote, "If Obama were born outside the United States, one could argue that he would not meet the legal definition of natural-born citizen … because U.S. law at the time of his birth required his natural-born parent (his mother) to have resided in the United States for '10 years, at least [f]ive of which had to be after the age of 16.'"

He then pointed out Ann Dunham, Obama's mother, was 18 when Obama was born "so she wouldn't have met the requirement of five years after the age of 16."

But today Geraghty cited an image posted on the Daily Kos website that appeared to be Obama's birth certificate.

"All of the information is what we have been told before – name, birth date, etc.. His mother's race is listed as 'Caucasian,' his father as 'African.' No middle name of Muhammad, no first name of 'Barry,' no last name of 'Dunham.' He's listed as 'Barack Hussein Obama II,' not 'Jr.,'" Geraghty wrote.

He continued, "(Interestingly, in the lower right hand corner is the backwards reflection of a stamp, "June 6 or G, 2007". Did someone request or process this record about a year ago?) "

"Site creator Markos Moulitsas mentions in the comments the campaign released it to him. (Also, for astrologers, the time of birth was 7:24 p.m.)," he wrote.

He earlier cited FindLaw.com in noting the requirements that were in force from Dec. 24, 1952 to Nov. 13, 1986, encompassing the time of Obama's birth, state, "If only one parent was a U.S. citizen at the time of your birth, that parent must have resided in the United States for at least 10 years, at least five of which had to be after the age of 16."

Obama's father, a student sent to the United States from Africa, lived several places in the United States while attending class. He then returned to his homeland. Obama's mother later married another man and moved to Indonesia.

The presumptive Republican nominee for president, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., already has gone through the same type of challenge, and the U.S. Senate responded with a resolution in April declaring him to be a "'natural born Citizen' under Article II, Section 1, of the Constitution of the United States."

That article declares that "no person except a natural born citizen … shall be eligible to the Office of president."

McCain was challenged because he was born to two U.S. citizens in the Panama Canal Zone.

According to a report from Michael Dobbs on The Fact Checker, the McCain campaign consulted two leading jurists, Theodore Olsen and Laurence Tribe, and they agreed.

"They argue that McCain is a natural born citizen because the United States exercised sovereignty over the Panama Canal at the time of his birth on August 29, 1936, he was born on a U.S. military base, and both of his parents were U.S. citizens," the report said.

Others say the issue isn't quite that simple, and the matter could be resolved fully only by a constitutional amendment or a U.S. Supreme Court ruling.