Last week the Rockland County Times reported that Barack Obamaโs own literary agents at Acton & Dystel were the original โbirthersโ who promoted that he was born in Kenya, presumably for the purpose of gaining attention for his books. Oddly enough the actual books themselves tell the normal narrative that he was born in Hawaii, but the inside-industry promotional material says he was born in Kenya.
At the time of last weekโs issue it was thought that the bio ran in 1991 as a one-time thing. However, further research by investigators at breitbart.com shows that, unbelievably, Obama and his agents ran with the โBorn in Kenyaโ literary bio for a full 17 years. Despite many other changes over the years, they did not pull the โBorn in Kenyaโ bio information until 2007, when he announced his run for president!
This indicates that the president certainly was aware of his Born In Kenya bio promoted by the agency for many year.
What this all means is up to you.
While the birthers have been ridiculed by a majority of Americans, many strange reports have kept the story alive, the โBorn in Kenyaโ bio just being the latest. For example when Obamaโs friend Neil Abercrombie was elected governor of Hawaii in November of 2010 he made a big to-do, publicly promising heโd put the issue to rest once and for all by verifying Obamaโs birth.
But within a month of taking office he brushed the issue aside as being beyond his means to settle; even after a prominent Hawaiian journalist said on national radio Abercrombie told him privately that no birth certificate existed!
Now can you see how birtherism became a phenomena and even Donald Trump got involved?
Rockland County Times editor Dylan Skriloff said, โFollowing the bizarre dance by Abercrombie, I actually started paying attention to the birther story, which I had previously assumed was wishful thinking by Obama opponents. One interesting fact about โbirtherismโ is that the first โbirthersโ (not including Obamaโs publicists) were actually Hillary Clinton activists, some who have continued on the birther story to this day.โ
When Obama did release a birth certificate it seemed to lay the issue to rest for the most part, but several months later after receiving requests from Tea Party activists, Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County in Arizona decided to investigate the documentโs veracity and in March 2012 declared reasonable suspicion that it is a forgery. He has also claimed the government is hiding reams of documents pertaining to Obamaโs origin.
Arpaio is arguably the most famous sitting sheriff in the United States, so if nothing else, the Obama birther story is newsworthy on the premise that a famous law enforcement official is going to war with the president of the United States.
It is worth nothing that due to the wording of citizenship law in 1961, Obama would in fact NOT be eligible to be president if he was born outside the country.
While much fuss is made by birthers that his father was not a U.S. citizen, the law at the time [INA 301(g)] of Obamaโs birth did define that a child could be a โnatural born citizenโ of the United States even if they were born outside the U.S. territory and only one parent was a citizen. However, the law said certain requirements must be met.
Namely that the American citizen parent had lived five of the previous 10 years in the United States since turning 14. Obamaโs mom was only 18 when she delivered the future president, so you do the math! Also the fact that they were not married seems to also have been of some legal concern.
RCT editor Skriloff said, โIn light of Arpaioโs continuing campaign against Obama, and the recent Born in Kenya bio from Obamaโs agents at Acton & Dystel, I consider the birther conspiracy theory to be a live story worth tracking and I will continue to report on it in the Rockland County Times. Arpaio is a well established law enforcement official and I cannot simply write him off, even if he has political motivations.โ
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