Causecast

by ASHISH SHARMA, Causecast Editor

The economy is in shambles, our healthcare system is on the verge of a much-needed overhaul and North Korea’s foreign policy involves making fun of our Secretary of State (to be fair, Hillary called them ‘unruly teenagers’ first). With a myriad of problems to choose from, one would think the press would have trouble trying to cover everything. However, it is the national media’s intrigue with one man that always seems to take priority over everything else. As unbelievable as it sounds, all of your favorite networks are focusing on whether Barack Obama is a United States citizen.

Initially brought up during the presidential campaign, the validity of Barack Obama’s birth has spread through cyberspace like wildfire. Yesterday, conservative radio host G. Gordon Liddy went on Hardball to discuss the birth certificate. All we get from the interview is that Libby believes Obama was born in Kenya, but he fails to come up with any verifiable documentation. Despite confirmation from the Hawaii State Department of Health, Hawaii’s Governor, and the White House, ‘birthers’ continue to make the claim that our Commander-in-Chief is an illegal alien.

Civil rights groups are demanding that Lou Dobbs be removed from CNN because he speculated that Obama may be ‘undocumented.’ According to Jon Stewart, America’s most trusted news reporter, the issue was settled by the announcement of Barack Obama’s birth in Hawaii’s local papers in 1961. If all this isn’t enough to prove Obama’s citizenship, then it surely must be an elaborate scheme by his relatives to deceive every U.S. government agency en route to the most powerful position in the world. Even Dan Brown’s conspiracy stories have nothing on that!

So, just so we can say there’s no longer any doubt, this is the verifiable evidence: below is a scanned image of Barack Obama’s Certification of Live Birth, a copy of which was made available to the public in 2008.

Conspiracy theorists believe that this is a forgery and that it does not qualify as a “birth certificate.” However, this certification is printed as verification that health officials in Hawaii have seen the original birth certificate and can guarantee that the birth took place in the state. As Hawaii health department officials have said, there is “no doubt” that Obama was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, on August 4, 1961.

If we take a step back, we’ll find that the interest in our President’s citizenship is generated by people that can’t accept an African-American President. Race is still a sensitive issue and needs to be addressed in public settings. It is disheartening to see people in Delaware applaud a woman that “wants her country back” and claims that the flag will change under Obama, despite House Representative Mike Castle’s reassurance that Obama is a citizen. Instead of having pride in a historical election, we hear the same words of ignorance. On a positive note, millions have shown that they are ready to elect leaders based on credentials and character.

For a little fun, here’s Jon Stewart’s clip on the “birther” commotion.

UPDATE: Here are a few others videos ’n things that have cropped up that are just too funny to ignore.

First up, a video of Mike Stark from FireDogLake, asking congressional republicans if they believe Barack Obama is a citizen of the United States. Very few were even willing to speak to him, or gave a very ambiguous answer. In fact, the only guy who is “reasonable” at all is Arizona republican Trent Franks, who, despite disagreeing with Obama on nearly everything, does concede that he was born in Hawaii and is thus a United States citizen and eligible to be president.

Photo by spacedustdesign, flickr