The "Where's The Birth Certificate" billboard campaign has obtained a return engagement in Pennsylvania, and the historic message is not far from some historic landscapes.
The newest billboard in the long-running campaign intended to encourage the release of information documenting Barack Obama's eligibility to be president has been erected along Route 15 southbound just two miles south of Dillsburg.
The location in York County is just 10 miles from the capital and some 20 miles north of the battlefields of Gettysburg.
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![]() Billboard on Route 15 southbound near Dillsburg in York County, Pa. |
The message arrived within days of a poll from Public Policy Polling that confirmed only 3 in 10 members of the GOP believe that Barack Obama was born in the United States.
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A multitude of members of the press corps supporting Obama immediately announced that they didn't believe the poll.
But with the issue still disputed in a number of court cases and under review by nearly a dozen states considering laws that presidential candidates document their constitutional eligibility, Public Policy Polling found that only 28 percent of the Republicans surveyed believe Obama was born in the U.S. while 51 percent do not.
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Another 21 percent say they are not sure.
"Any thought that the birther theory has been put to rest can be thrown out the window," Dean Debnam, the president of the Democratic-leaning polling firm, told Politico.
"That view is still widely held in Republican circles," he said.
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It was only a few months after Obama's inauguration that a WND/Wenzel Poll showed that 51.3 percent of Americans said they were aware of the questions raised about Obama's constitutional eligibility for office. Only 18.7 percent said they were not and another 30 percent were unsure.
At that point, 58.2 percent of the GOP said they were aware of the controversy.
Polls since then have shown Americans to be increasingly skeptical of Obama's official narrative:
- A survey by Angus Reid Global Monitor, a division of Vision Critical Group, in October 2009 found three in 10 people in the U.S. believed Obama to be a foreigner.
"While only 13 percent of Democratic Party supporters believe Obama was not born in the U.S., the proportion rises to 25 percent among independents and 51 percent among Republican Party backers," the report said.
- Then in January 2010, another WND/Wenzel Poll revealed on the one-year anniversary of Obama's tenure in office that fully one-third of Americans refused to believe Obama was a "legitimate president," with another 15.8 percent saying they were not sure.
Barely half the voters, 51.5 percent, said they believed the president legitimate even though he had not yet produced the documentation proving his constitutional eligibility. Even 14.6 percent of the Democrats said they did not consider him legitimate.
- In May 2010, a WND/Wenzel Poll revealed that 55 percent of Americans wanted Obama to release all records relating to his childhood and his education, including "college records, Harvard Law School papers, passport records, travel records, and other similar documentation."
"Asked what should be done should it be found that Obama does not meet the qualifications to be president, 59 percent said he should be removed from office, and 35 percent said all bills signed into law by Obama should be repealed," the poll's analysis revealed.
- By last June, other media were beginning to put their toes in the waters of the controversy. A 60 Minutes-Vanity Fair poll revealed only 39 percent of respondents believe Obama was born in Hawaii as he claimed in his book.
"A shocking 63 percent – very nearly two-thirds of us – went out on a limb and stated for the record that we believe in the United States. It's enough to make you proud to be an American – or 63 percent proud, at any rate."
But that figure included those who said they believe he was born in Kansas or some other unknown state, which still would conflict with Obama's story.
- Last August, a poll by CNN said 6 of 10 people were uncertain Obama was born in the U.S. The poll said only 42 percent believe Obama "definitely" was born in the U.S.
The CNN report said that, "Hawaii has released a copy of the president's birth certificate – officially called a 'certificate of live birth.' And in 1961 the hospital where the president was born placed announcements in two Hawaiian newspapers regarding Obama's birth."
However, the online image released by the Obama campaign during his presidential race actually is called a "Certification of Live Birth," and those documents under the rules in the state of Hawaii were available for children not born in the state.
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The sign already has been on the Gulf Coast, in the Southwestern deserts, the heart of the Midwest, along California's boulevards and in Texas, and in Maryland, in the shadow of Washington, D.C.
The newest billboard is part of a year-and-a-half-long campaign to bring attention to the eligibility questions still swirling around the presidency of Barack Obama, and is one of more than 50 posted around the country.
The campaign is credited with giving new life to doubts about Obama's eligibility now held by at least 58 percent of the American people, according to the latest national public opinion survey by CNN.
Before the campaign was launched, only half of Americans were even aware of the controversy.
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The campaign was initiated by Joseph Farah, editor and chief executive officer of WND, in a bid to go over the heads of the major media, which, he says, now have a clear vested interest in covering up their negligence in not vetting Obama. Farah is asking all those who agree that the constitutional eligibility of the president is of paramount importance for the future of the country to contribute financially to extending the campaign through 2012.
"Every day we hear from Americans seeing these billboards," said Farah. "Many of them congratulate us on the work. Others are just now being introduced to the questions that have been systematically stonewalled by the major media. I believe this campaign has raised more awareness of the issue than just about anything else. And I believe we are reaching critical mass in getting to the bottom of the mystery."
Farah says his goal is to help persuade several state legislatures to pass simple, straightforward bills requiring eligibility tests for presidential candidates – especially for "natural born citizenship."
"As I have said many times, if Obama didn't have something to hide, he would have long ago produced the original birth certificate proving he was born in Hawaii August 4, 1961, as he claims," said Farah. "Just such legislation is pending right now in Texas and is expected to be introduced in several other states in 2011. When that happens, I am firmly convinced Obama will decide not to run again. At that point, an investigation needs to be launched by Congress to determine whether he was ever eligible to serve and whether any of his initiatives and actions as president are legitimate."
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While the press has ridiculed the idea that there are any remaining questions about Obama's eligibility, the entertainment media have been having a field day, turning the issue into the biggest running joke in America:
- Jay Leno says things are so bad for Barack Obama these days that even Democrats are asking for his birth certificate.
- Mike Huckabee says if you want to protect vital national security secrets from WikiLeaks, just put them in the same vault as Obama's birth certificate.
- Conan O'Brien had this to say: "First, they said Obama's a socialist. Then they say he's Muslim. Now they're saying he wasn’t even born in this country. It's got me thinking. OK, the guy might not be qualified to be president. But I guess he is qualified to drive a cab in New York."
- "Saturday Night Live" has gotten into the act several times with skits about Obama's elusive birth certificate.
While the birth certificate question is the source of some good jokes, it's also serious business – national security business, insists Farah.
"We now have a real American military hero, Lt. Col. Terrence Lakin, convicted in a court martial and sent to prison, because Obama won't show us his birth certificate," Farah said. "That's not funny. And it's not funny that 58 percent of Americans have no confidence the man in the White House belongs there under the constitutional standard. It's about time this should be viewed as a national security crisis."
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An earlier billboard was posted in the Austin area, where Texas lawmakers are being given the opportunity to support legislation by Texas Rep. Leo Berman that would require the establishment of eligibility before presidential candidates get on the ballot.
"Like everyone else who raises this issue in the national media, Berman has been pilloried for legislation that ought to be a no-brainer," says Farah. "He needs the support of all Texans and all Americans – just as do other courageous state legislators who wade into this fight."
Montana, Georgia and several other states are working on similar plans.
Farah says there are plenty of billboard locations available throughout the country – most of them at bargain prices because of the Obama recession.
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"The average billboard we place costs about $4,000 a month," Farah points out. "Yes, we have had some donated. We've had some wonderful outdoor advertising companies that have discounted their boards because they like our campaign. But, at the end of the day, we've spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on this campaign – and we need help from the public. We believe it's the most important way any citizen can make his voice heard on this issue."
Only limited funds prevent the campaign from growing faster, Farah said.
"It's true that the outdoor advertising cartel, owned by major media conglomerates like Clear Channel, CBS and Lamar, have steadfastly refused to post our message because they want to curry favor with regulators in Washington," Farah said. "These companies have no problem with soft-core porn, with ads renouncing God and with outrageous vulgarity. But they do have a problem with political speech – with a simple, non-threatening question like, 'Where's the birth certificate?' It's an unbelievable double-standard by companies that are supposed to be in the First Amendment business. But, then again, look at how their parent companies have treated this issue in their news coverage."
In addition to the billboard campaign, Farah has:
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- produced a
video-documentary primer on the issue called "A Question of Eligibility"; - produced a 40-page
special report on the subject; - manufactured yard and
rally signs to bring attention to the topic; - pledged to donate at
least $15,000 to any hospital in Hawaii or anywhere else that provides proof Obama was
born there and given you an opportunity to raise the amount; - created a line of
T-shirts you can wear to appearances by the president to raise visibility of the issue; - created a fund to which
you can donate to further the kind of investigative reporting into this matter only this
company has performed over the last two years; - launched a line of
postcards you can use to keep the issue alive; - distributed thousands of
bumper stickers asking, "Where's the birth certificate?"; - perhaps
most notably, gathered more than 500,000 names on a petition demanding any and all
controlling legal authorities in this matter take appropriate action to see the
requirements of the Constitution of the United States are followed; - gathered another
25,000 names on a second petition attempting to rally state officials to make presidential
candidates prove their eligibility before getting on ballots.
"There are all kinds of things we need to do right now to get our country back on
track, but I can think of nothing more important than for us to see that our Constitution
is observed, followed, adhered to and honored, especially when it comes to such simple,
straightforward matters as the eligibility of the president of the United States,"
says Farah. "Please
help me bring this matter to a head right now."
You can see some of the signs around the country here and a few others have been embedded:
![]() Elkton, Md., billboard |
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![]() Billboard at Liberty Hill along Route 183 in Austin |
![]() Birth certification question hits Buda, Texas, on billboard owned by CBS competitor |
![]() Billboard along I-35 near the Highway 59 exit near Ottawa, Kan. |
![]() Billboard near Cabela's in Hamburg, Pennsylvania |
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![]() Billboard on Highway 93 near Kingman, Ariz. |
![]() Billboard on Long Beach Freeway near Firestone Blvd. |
![]() San Antonio billboard |
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Billboard in Nashville, Tenn. |
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Billboard near Panama City, Fla. |
![]() Billboard near Navarre, Fla. |
Billboard near Talledega, Ala. |
![]() Billboard near Bethel, Pa. |
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Related offers:
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Get the most comprehensive
special report ever produced on the Obama eligibility issue.