First, let me share an email I received just recently from someone I know personally, as part of a discussion on Dr. Fukino’s recent revelation that the Obama hospital birth certificate was signed by a doctor:
I’ll state now as I have throughout the last 2+ years, there is most likely some reason why Obama hasn’t released his “long form” version. It may have nothing to do with the place of his birth. It may be that there is something personally “embarrassing” (which in my book means nothing), or something that might be politically embarrassing – for example, something that will point in a different direction [than] the official O narrative (as outlined in his books).
I have no idea and don’t pretend to know. However, I do know this. A man does not hide that which doesn’t need to be hidden.
The person who wrote this would have said before, that there was a possibility of family fraud in the birth registration. For him, that possibility is now pretty much off the table, but given that Obama has “spent millions” keeping his origins sealed, there must be something.
This view is what I am calling “neo-birtherism”, the belief that even if Barack Obama was born in Hawaii, there must be something wrong in the story of his origins, even if they don’t know what it is. I’m going to apply this “neo-birther” label to Sarah Palin, who embraced neo-birtherism in a Fox News interview praising Donald Trump for his self-proclaimed efforts to get to the bottom of the issue in Hawaii.
Fundamentalist birthers will continue to hold to their dogma that Barack Obama was born in Kenya, Hawaiian officials are lying and the birth certificate is a forgery. However, that seems to be an increasingly fringe view in light of all of the evidence now available to the public.
I hate this argument – not only because he DID show it, and he HASN’T spent that mythical $14 quadrillion, but because it’s a clear offshoot of the recent neocon-type argument of “Why do you care about your privacy if you’ve done nothing wrong? Why do you care if the government spies on you if you aren’t doing anything illegal?”
I hold the opinion that people’s lives are their own and that their privacy has value, and that there’s a reason the Founders specified in the 4th Amendment that the government couldn’t just snoop everywhere. Now of course the 4th has been watered down by Supreme Court after Supreme Court, but there’s still a message hidden in the text.
If a random person came up to THEM on the street and asked to see their tax returns, they’d say no, and it’s not because they’re cheating on their taxes. When you’re hired you show your I9 documents to HR and your boss can’t ask for them (unless I guess you’re getting hired into HR, heh).
The fact that he showed a BC at all is unprecedented in the history of Presidential elections – McCain didn’t fully release all his medical records despite being asked, nor did Cheney for that matter. Bush refused to release college transcripts (although they later got leaked). They all noted that there’s an inherent value to their own personal privacy that applies to a President down to the youngest voter, and I hate when people try to state that anyone that doesn’t want to share must be hiding something wrong.
Tarrant-I totally agree. Privacy is extremely important and is under threat. The threat is not just from the governmment, however. I resent that whenever i buy something or donate money, they feel free to pass my name around and solicit further purchases and donations. I resent that what sites I click on on-line is monitored in an attempt to steer me towards some product or another.
But part of the disrespect for privacy is not just the snooping by government and private companies. It’s been internalized in the culture. Much of the population, especially in the younger age groups, seems to feel that every stray thought, emotion, desire, sexual liason, and what they had for dinner needs to be posted on their Facebook page and tweeted to all and sundry. Sure, people have always gossiped, but now the gossip is preserved for all eternity.
Everyone has a right to privacy. It doesn’t have to be in the Constitution, which is a minimum statement of rights not a maximum. That standard applies just as much to those who choose to run for office, The laws require them to disclose certain financial infromation that the rest of us don’t have to disclose, but other than that it’s up to them.
I would like to challenge any birther to explain why he or she needs any more information about Obama as a person to decide their vote in 2012. He will have served 4 years in office and have made countless decisions. Surely, that should be enough for anyone to decide yea or nay on 4 more years.
The people who support this weird argument contend that Obama’s Long Form BC must have Muslim listed for Religion and that is why he is hiding it.
These people don’t know the difference between an actual Birth Certificate and a Hospital Certificate. Actual BCs don’t have a religion listed.
Every witch hunt in history has used the credo “the innocent have nothing to fear,” followed by the innocent being made to fear something. I find it odd that Presidential aspirants have so little respect for the laws that help make this nation great by suggesting that not disproving groundless accusations to the satisfaction of the accusers makes you guilty of something.
It’s just a natural outgrowth of three things: (1) birtherism is a bizarre fringe movement, (2) birtherism is statistically over represented in the GOP primary electorate, and (3) Obama looks to be in a decent position for his re-election run. The second point requires some kind of wink from politicians with less than average integrity, while the third necessitates smearing as best one can. “He’s hiding something” is the optimal position for accomplishing both of those while not overtly tipping over into a fringe movement that disgusts the majority of independent voters.
Here is the latest Oliphant on Trump:
http://www.gocomics.com/patoliphant/2011/04/13/
Thanks Doc! I was looking for those goalposts…
I, for one, take birther ‘goalpost moving’ like this as a good sign – every bit of ground the birthers are forced to cede just makes the gap between themselves and mainstream society bigger and harder to cross…
I’m so glad I found your site. Factcheck let me know about this site. I had sent them an email about the claims that Obama had a bunch of SS#s and they put your link up. I just get so tired of people playing these conspiracy theories. I heard Tom Tancredo the other night bring up the SS issue on his radio show. He’s as bad as the rest of the crazies.
Thanks for coming by and leaving the nice message, Betsy! Feel free to visit this site and peruse the plethora of articles & research as often as you like or need to! Feel free to join in the discussion or comments any time you want. 🙂
Hi, I hope you noticed the Social Security Numbers link on the right sidebar of the site. It will take you right to articles on that topic.
Speaking of Social Security Numbers, the latest myth I’ve seen spread is that Obama’s Social Security Number belonged to Jean Paul Ludwig who died in June 1981 and Obama’s grandmother was the one who stole it from him. The sites say: “Obama’s maternal grandmother Madelyn Dunham, worked as a part-timer or volunteer in the Probate Office in the Honolulu Hawaii Courthouse. Thus she would have access to the estate files of anyone who died there.”
The birthers fail to mention the huge hole in this theory. They claim that they know Obama’s social security number from his registration for Selective Service. He registered in July 1980 and the registration was recorded in September 1980. He registered about 11 months BEFORE Jean Paul Ludwig died. How very amazing that Grandma Dunham knew Jean Paul Ludwig was going to die in 11 months, so she could steal his social security number for Obama!
The bigger hole is that they don’t have the same ssn.
Jean Paul Ludwig – 045-26-8722