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Cornell law professor, Obama eligibility, William A. Jacobson, Evidence must be reviewed, Birth certificate, Natural born citizen Status

“Why has Obama, for over 2 years, employed numerous private and government attorneys to avoid presenting a legitimate birth certificate and college records?”…Citizen Wells and millions of concerned Americans

I would like to thank William A. Jacobson, Associate Clinical Professor, Cornell Law School, for an excellent article on the Obama eligibility controversies and for allowing my comment on his blog.

“There is a bizarre intellectual dance taking place around the topic of Barack Obama’s birthplace. 

The world has been artificially divided into “Birthers” and “anti-Birthers” when in fact I suspect a large percentage or even majority of the population is neither and simply wants all the evidence released so that we can move beyond the issue.  For most people, who have had to show their own birth certificates at various points in their lives, the notion that a presidential candidate should release his or her birth certificate to prove qualification for office reflects neither pro- nor anti-Obama sentiment, but a “what’s the big deal?” attitude.

It also seems that the supposed intellectual poles have been reversed.

People who supposedly are irrational and driven by hatred demand to see the evidence.  People who supposedly are rational and driven by dispassionate intellect demand that the evidence not be seen.

Isn’t this the exact opposite of what should take place?  Or have the labels been misapplied?

We can push and probe as to George W. Bush’s military record even though most of the claims made clearly were crank and politically motivated (and based on forged documents).  We can lament that 35% of Democrats as of May 2007 still believed George W. Bush knew of the 9/11 attacks in advance, or that Truthers still claim 9/11 was an inside government job, even though we have had commissions and investigations which prove otherwise.

We can deal with accusations of John McCain’s alleged misconduct during imprisonment even though such suggestions were beyond the pale, and also questions as to whether McCain’s birth in the Panama Canal Zone disqualified him from the highest office in the land:

The Senate has unanimously declared John McCain a natural-born citizen, eligible to be president of the United States….”

“Why isn’t everyone who believes the “Birthers” to be driven by hatred and racism, and motivated by politics, doing what Obama’s family friend and the new Democratic Governor of Hawaii wants to do, rebut and rebuke with the best evidence?

I think a large part of this is the fear of being labeled a “Birther,” which is the functional equivalent of being called a “racist” by the mainstream media and by organizations such as Media Matters, Think Progress and their progeny.  As I have pointed out before, you don’t need to doubt Obama’s birthplace or eligibility to be labeled a “Birther”; just ask Scott Brown.

We have reached the point that merely expressing normal political and legal inquisitiveness will result in a charge of Birtherism or racism because it now involves Barack Obama, even though similar questions as to John McCain’s eligibility for office were raised in the 2008 election cycle.

I repeat, whiter-than-white John McCain had his eligibility questioned because of his birthplace, so how is it necessarily racist that the same thing takes place as to Barack Obama?  The racist charge is just a way of shutting down the conversation, a convenient excuse for epistemic closure.

As I’ve posted before, I think the circumstantial evidence supports the view that Obama was born in Hawaii, and there is no credible evidence otherwise.  But to reach this conclusion, the one thing neither I nor anyone else can honestly say is that all the evidence has been reviewed.

And personally, I’d love for the records to be released and show that Obama was born in Hawaii, so as to put this politically losing issue behind us.  I’d much rather focus politically on Obama’s destruction of the health care system and bankrupting of the country, than be drawn into the birthplace dance.

But I also have pointed out that Obama’s strategy of concealing the records and dismissing the “Birthers” as cranks is not working in the longer term.  While the charge of Birtherism can be used by Democrats to shape the political landscape, polling shows that there is a substantial segment of the population which doubts Obama’s legitimacy. ”

Read more:

http://legalinsurrection.blogspot.com/2010/12/bizarre-birther-intellectual-dance.html#comment-form

“But to reach this conclusion, the one thing neither I nor anyone else can honestly say is that all the evidence has been reviewed.”

Correct, Mr. Jacobson.

There were some really interesting comments placed under the article. I urge you to read them. Not the least of them was one from Captain Pamela Barnett.

“Barnieca said…

I appreciate that it seems that you are trying to be honest…. SCOTUS rulings prove that obama is not a natural born citizen because he had a foreign father that was NEVER a U.S. citizen. I see a lot of supposedly smart liberal educators ignore this fact. I am suing obama and it did NOT ever stem from hate. I fight for truth and justice under our Constitution. The only question of Natural born centers around where a child was born.. Parent citizenship has always been required to be of TWO citizen parents. If Obama was born in HI as he claims but has not proven, he would only be a NATIVE born citizen as he says on his own campaign website. Native and Natural Born are not equal. Native is Jus solis, but ignores the jus sanquenis aspect to make him Natural Born. There is also a difference between being Born a citizen and natural born.

I swore an oath to defend the Constitution and so did LTC Terrence Lakin who sits in Fort Leavenworth for demanding this issue be resolved before he would deploy again. safeguardourconstitution dot com
you can also see my new website unlawfulpresident dot com for videos that support my belief obama is not NBC.
CPT Pamela Barnett

December 29, 2010 12:27 PM”

My Comment.
 “citizenwells said…

Why has Obama, for over 2 years, employed numerous private and government attorneys to avoid presenting a legitimate birth certificate and college records?
That is the question.
With all due respect, there is no credible circumstantial evidence that Obama was born in Hawaii. As a matter of fact, the efforts expended in keeping the records hidden and covering up put suspicion on where he was born.
Wells

December 29, 2010 1:53 PM”