Obama's prayer: 'Don't question my citizenship' Raises issue of eligibility in speech at annual breakfast gathering

Posted: February 04, 2010
11:34 am Eastern
© 2010 WorldNetDaily

President Obama today at the National Prayer Breakfast raised the issue of his own eligibility for office – saying that people shouldn't be questioning his "citizenship."
Talking about the issue of "civility," he said, "Now, I am the first to confess I am not always right. Michelle will testify to that. But surely you can question my policies without questioning my faith, or, for that matter, my citizenship."
The video:
Obama continues, "Challenging each other's ideas can renew our democracy. But when we challenge each other's motives, it becomes harder to see what we hold in common. We forget that we share at some deep level the same dreams – even when we don't share the same plans on how to fulfill them."
The questions, however, over Obama's "citizenship," actually go to the core of the American republic. Multiple lawsuits have challenged that he is not qualified for the Oval Office under the Constitution's requirement that U.S. presidents be a "natural born citizen."
The plaintiffs – who run into the hundreds so far and who still have a number of cases pending at the appellate level – have alleged that failing to meet that constitutional requirement means he actually is a usurper, with no actual authority to be president.
On a forum page at The Hill newspaper, one commenter wrote that the president has only himself to blame for the questions.
"Personally I am no birther … but I am curious as to why Obama continues to beat on this issue .. is it a political ploy by his handlers to continue to use this as a divisive issue? To try and embarrass a certain segment of the population? And if not, why doesn't he just provide the certificate and end all the speculation for the conspirators once and for all? Obama has certainly been a little less than forthcoming on his grades, his Harvard review publications and many other accomplishments…"
The reference apparently was the first time the issue has been addressed by Obama, even though he did not provide any answers. His press secretary, Robert Gibbs, repeatedly has ridiculed questions related to the subject, and the White House itself has declined to respond to any of a multitude of questions submitted by WND over months on the issue.
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The multiple Obama eligibility cases have cited Article 2, Section 1 of the Constitution, which states, "No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President."
Some of the lawsuits question whether Obama was actually born in Hawaii, as he insists. If he was born out of the country, Obama's American mother, the suits contend, was too young at the time of his birth to confer American citizenship to her son under the law at the time.
See the movie Obama does not want you to see: Own the DVD that probes this unprecedented presidential eligibility mystery!
Other challenges have focused on Obama's citizenship through his father, a Kenyan subject to the jurisdiction of the United Kingdom at the time of his birth, thus making him a dual citizen. The cases contend the framers of the Constitution excluded dual citizens from qualifying as natural born.
Further, others question his citizenship by virtue of his attendance in Indonesian schools during his childhood and question on what passport did he travel to Pakistan three decades ago.
Adding fuel to the fire is Obama's persistent refusal to release documents that could provide answers and the appointment – at a cost confirmed to be at least $1.7 million – of myriad lawyers to defend against all requests for his documentation, such as his original birth certificate. While his supporters cite an online version of a "Certification of Live Birth" from Hawaii as his birth verification, critics point out such documents actually were issued for children not born in the state.
Among documentation not yet available for Obama is his kindergarten records, Punahou school records, Occidental College records, Columbia University records, Columbia thesis, Harvard Law School records, Harvard Law Review articles, scholarly articles from the University of Chicago, passport, medical records, files from his years as an Illinois state senator, his Illinois State Bar Association records, any baptism records and his adoption records.
Because of the dearth of information about Obama's eligibility, WND founder Joseph Farah has launched a campaign to raise contributions to post billboards asking a simple question: "Where's the birth certificate?"

"Where's The Birth Certificate?" billboard at the Mandalay Bay resort on the Las Vegas Strip

The campaign followed a petition that has collected more than 490,000 signatures demanding proof of his eligibility, the availability of yard signs raising the question and the production of permanent, detachable magnetic bumper stickers asking the question.
The "certification of live birth" posted online and widely touted as "Obama's birth certificate" does not in any way prove he was born in Hawaii, since the same "short-form" document is easily obtainable for children not born in Hawaii. The true "long-form" birth certificate – which includes information such as the name of the birth hospital and attending physician – is the only document that can prove Obama was born in Hawaii, but to date he has not permitted its release for public or press scrutiny. Oddly, though congressional hearings were held to determine whether Sen. John McCain was constitutionally eligible to be president as a "natural born citizen," no controlling legal authority ever sought to verify Obama's claim to a Hawaiian birth.