Obama's online 'birth cert' misses 'proving' eligibility

The "Certification of Live Birth" posted online and presented by Barack Obama as documentation of his reported Hawaiian birth doesn't "prove" his birth alone, according to government officials interviewed by WND.

According to State Department officials, such a short-form birth document might be accepted as documentation of a U.S. birth for a passport if it meets certain requirements. Their conclusion is that the law is "complicated."

And state officials in Hawaii independently told WND that such documents are issued only when certain standards have been met.

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But those requirements and standards leave the door open to some circumstances under which the COLB image does not prove what it purports.

WND has reported on multiple legal challenges to Obama's eligibility to be president based on doubts that he was born in the U.S. or was granted "natural born" citizenship at birth. The U.S. Constitution requires that the president be a "natural born" citizen.

The lawsuits include contentions Obama was born in Kenya, wasn't a "natural born" citizen because of his father's Kenyan citizenship, was a dual citizen and that his mother wasn't old enough to transmit citizenship at birth.

In addition, his citizenship is clouded by his move as a child to Indonesia and apparent adoption by an Indonesian citizen who married his mother.

Hawaii state Registrar Dr. Alvin Onaka told WND today that most birth records stem from a hospital report. Documentation for children not born in hospitals depends on other records, such as the pregnant mother's prenatal exams, the statement of an attending midwife and a verification of the birth of a live child.

Other listings include a "foreign" birth or a "delayed" birth.

"We would not be issuing birth certificates of individuals not born in the state of Hawaii," he said.

In fact, Hawaiian Health Director Chiyome Fukino previously made a public statement about the controversy:

"I, and Dr. Alvin Onaka have personally seen and verified that the Hawaii State Department of Health has Sen. Obama's original birth certificate on record in accordance with state policies and procedures," Fukino's statement said.

But the statement didn't reveal what the document contains, nor has any clarification ever been released.

While Onaka documented the need for medical records and statements from a midwife, he did not cite any independent investigative procedures for a report that would be submitted by a midwife. Also, 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.

The only requirement for proof cited in the law doesn't address the birth of the child either, just "that the legal parents of such individual while living without Territory or State of Hawaii had declared the Territory or State of Hawaii as their legal resident for at least one year immediately preceding the birth or adoption of such child."

According to Jerry Fuller and Mike Persons of the passport services division of the U.S. State Department, a document such as the online COLB could be acceptable to prove U.S. citizenship for the purposes of getting a passport if it contains a certain number of components, such as time and date of birth, location and name.

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Fuller also said birth certificates should reveal the location of the child's birth accurately, but he confirmed there are cases known where that has not happened.

"There are some documents that say things that aren't true," Fuller said. "That's not what's supposed to happen."

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs in recent weeks has referred repeatedly to an online image of a "Certification of Live Birth" as President Obama's "birth certificate," suggesting it documents the president's origins.

But the vagueness of the law has produced different answers at different times.

Robert Klein Engler, who writes at Chronwatch-America.com, said he called the State Department to ask about obtaining a U.S. passport with only a "Certification of Live Birth."

"I was told flat out, 'No!'" he told WND.

In fact, WND got the same response from the State Department's passport division consumer affairs line, contradicting Fuller and Persons.

Engler wrote, "'Birthers' are those who believe that the absence of solid proof about where Obama was born leaves many with reasonable doubts. … Even though White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs won't admit it, I bet he suspects as others in the current regime also do, that Barack Obama was born in Kenya and is not a natural born U.S. citizen."

The legal challenges question 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."

Complicating the situation is Obama's decision to spend sums estimated in the hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees to fight releasing a state birth certificate that could put to rest the questions.

A key to the defenses presented by Obama supporters always has been the "Certification of Live Birth:"

Short-form "Certification of Live
Birth"

The document contrasts with 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.

Long-form birth certificate from state of Hawaii (Image courtesy Philip
Berg)

"Valid documentation of Mr. Obama's birth is important because it is a constitutional issue. The argument that gives rise to this reasonable doubt runs something like this: The U. S. Constitution sets out qualifications to be president. One of the qualifications is that the candidate must be a 'natural born' citizen," Engler wrote.

"Given this constitutional requirement, what evidence is there to prove someone is a natural born citizen? The most obvious evidence is a birth certificate that shows a person born to U. S. citizens and also born in the United States. This is the traditional proof of blood and soil," he continued. "Is there conclusive proof that Obama fulfills the blood and soil requirements to be a 'natural born' U. S. citizen? The answer is, 'NO.' What evidence there is about his citizenship, is ambiguous evidence."

Engler appeared to agree with an argument raised by California attorney Orly Taitz, who has been handling a number of legal challenges to Obama's eligibility. Taitz says that according to Obama's own words, his father was a British subject at Obama's birth and later a citizen of Kenya.

"There is also no conclusive proof that Mr. Obama was born on U. S. soil. He may have been born in Kenya and may at one time have been a dual citizen of both the United States and Kenya," Engler wrote.

Taitz has argued that the admission that Obama's father was Kenyan disqualifies him automatically, since a "natural born" citizen must be, under one definition, born to two parents who are citizens.

Until recently when state officials changed their program, the Hawaiian "homelands" program didn't even accept a "Certification of Live Birth" for its qualifications.

Further, WND previously reported that a document expert contends Obama's "Certification of Live Birth" image itself doesn't stand up to scrutiny.

Ron Polarik, who holds a Ph.D. in instructional media specializing in computer technology such as printers, scanners and digital imaging, has posted a YouTube explanation of the problems he sees.

His conclusion is that there has to be a significant reason for a political candidate and campaign to go to the lengths he described.

"Obviously, there's something very critical to hide, or they wouldn't have spent the million dollars in legal fees to prevent the release of his original birth certificate," Polarik told WND.

To date, Obama has not revealed his original long-form, hospital-generated "Certificate of Live Birth" that includes details such as the name of the medical facility and the doctor who delivered him. He's also declined to confirm as authentic a letter used by Kapi'olani hospital in Honolulu as a fundraising tool in which he states it is the hospital of his birth.