MYTH 11: Obama's paternal step-grandmother, Sarah Hussein Obama, stated that Obama was born in Kenya.[/b]
FACT: This myth stemmed from the partial transcript of an October 16, 2008 phone call from Anabaptist preacher Ron McRae to Sarah Obama in Kenya, that was widely spread among conservative circles before the full trancript was released.
There never was a statement by Sarah Obama at any point in this phone call saying or intending to say that Barack Obama Jr. was born in Kenya. In fact, her translator repeatedly says that Obama Jr. was born in Hawaii (audio below.)
MCRAE: Amen. I am so thankful. Could I ask her, uh, about his, uh, his actual birthplace? I would like to see his actual birthplace when I, when I come to Kenya in December. Uh, was she present when he was, was she present when he was born in Kenya?
OGOMBE (TRANSLATOR): (unintelligible)
KWELI SHUHUBIA: He is asking her, he wants to know something was ah she present when he was born?
OGOMBE: Yes. She says "Yes she was. She was present when Obama was born."
MCRAE: Okay.
This was the only part of the interview which McRae originally released. It wasn't until later that the rest of the interview was made public:
MCRAE: Okay, when I come in December. I would like to come by the place, the hospital, where he was born. Could you tell me where he was born? Was he born in Mombasa?
OGOMBE: No, Obama was not born in Mombasa. He was born in America.
MCRAE: Whereabouts was he born? I thought he was born in Kenya.
OGOMBE: No, he was born in America, not in Mombasa.
MCRAE: Okay. Do you know whereabouts he was born? Do you know where he was born? I thought he was born in Kenya. I was going to go by and see where he was born.
OGOMBE: Hawaii. Hawaii. Sir, she says he was born in Hawaii.
MCRAE: Okay.
OGOMBE: In the state of Hawaii, where his father was also learning, there. The state of Hawaii.
Audio of the full interview (transcript above is from 3:58 to 7:53)
MYTH 12: Hawaii at the time of Obama's birth allowed births that took place in foreign countries to be registered in Hawaii.[/b]
FACT: HRS 338-17.8 allows for certificates to be given to children born outside the state; however, this law wasn't enacted until 20 years after Obama was born, and still would require the place of birth to be listed on the certificate,
according to Janice Okubo, Communications Director for the Hawaii DoH:
"If you were born in Bali, for example," Okubo explained, "you could get a certificate from the state of Hawaii saying you were born in Bali. You could not get a certificate saying you were born in Honolulu."
MYTH 13: The Department of Hawaiian Homelands (DHHL) does not accept the short form certification of live birth as proof of Hawaiian birth.[/b]
FACT: On June 7, 2009, the website wnd.com pointed to a
DHHL webpage that required information beyond what is found on the short form in order to determine
native Hawaiian blood. The DHHL website never indicated that the short form was inadequate for proof of
Hawaiian birth. The difference between "Hawaiian birth" and "native Hawaiian blood" is synonymous to the difference between having been born in Illinois and having ancestors who were in the Illini Native American tribe.
Regardless, by July 7, 2009, the DHHL website had been updated to clarify the difference between Hawaiian birth and native Hawaiian blood, as well as to indicate that the short form is valid for DHHL purposes.
MYTH 14: In the summer of 1981, Obama travelled to Pakistan when there was a travel ban on U.S. Passport holders, so he must have been travelling on a foreign passport.[/b]
FACT: There was no travel ban on U.S. passport holders to Pakistan in 1981.
This 1981 State Department travel advisory about updated Pakistan tourist visa requirements, along with
this June 1981 New York Times article about a trip to Lahore, corroborate this fact.
MYTH 15: Obama is a citizen of Kenya, because the Kenyan constitution specifies that children of Kenyan citizens are automatically Kenyan citizens as well.[/b]
FACT: This myth is actually partially true - but not to the extent that it calls Obama's eligibility for the Presidency into question.
When Barack Obama Jr. was born in 1961, Kenya was a British colony. As a Kenyan native, Barack Obama Sr. was a British subject whose citizenship status was governed by
The British Nationality Act of 1948. In other words, at the time of his birth, Barack Obama Jr. was both a U.S. citizen (by virtue of being born in Hawaii) and a citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies (or the UKC) by virtue of being born to a father who was a citizen of the UKC.
On Dec. 12, 1963, Kenya formally gained its independence from the United Kingdom.
Chapter VI, Section 87 of the Kenyan Constitution specifies that:
1. Every person who, having been born in Kenya, is on 11th December, 1963 a citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies or a British protected person shall become a citizen of Kenya on 12th December, 1963...
2. Every person who, having been born outside Kenya, is on 11th December, 1963 a citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies or a British protected person shall, if his father becomes, or would but for his death have become, a citizen of Kenya by virtue of subsection (1), become a citizen of Kenya on 12th December, 1963.
As a citizen of the UKC who was born in Kenya, Obama's father automatically received Kenyan citizenship via subsection (1). So given that Obama qualified for citizen of the UKC status at birth and given that Obama's father became a Kenyan citizen via subsection (1), it follows that Obama did in fact have Kenyan citizenship after 1963.
But the Kenyan Constitution prohibits dual citizenship for adults (
Chapter VI, Section 97.) Kenya recognizes dual citizenship for children, but Kenya's Constitution specifies that at age 21, Kenyan citizens who possesses citizenship in more than one country automatically lose their Kenyan citizenship unless they formally renounce any non-Kenyan citizenship and swear an oath of allegiance to Kenya.
Since Obama has neither renounced his U.S. citizenship nor sworn an oath of allegiance to Kenya, his Kenyan citizenship automatically expired on Aug. 4, 1982.MYTH 16: Obama, on his first full day in residence in the Oval Office, issued an executive order restricting the release of presidential records, and thus his birth certificate.[/b]
FACT: Obama's
Executive Order 13489 is identical to
Executive Order 12667 which was in effect during the presidencies of Reagan, Bush 1, and Clinton, and Obama's birth certificate does not fall under EO 13489 jurisdiction as it is not a presidential record created during Obama's presidency.
In fact, EO 13489 creates MORE transparency than was present previously, by revoking G.W. Bush's
EO 13233, which had severely limited transparency.
Obama's EO 13489 states that only living former Presidents can make claims of executive privilege. This removed one of the most egregious sections of the Bush EO that allowed heirs or designees to make claims of executive privilege for an indefinite period after the death of a former President.
MYTH 17: Major Stefan F. Cook, who believes Obama is not a natural born citizen, was allowed to circumvent his deployment because of the merits of his lawsuit against Obama.[/b]
FACT: Lt. Col. Maria Quon, U.S. Army Public Affairs Officer
said, "A reserve soldier who volunteers for an active duty tour may ask for a revocation of orders up until the day he is scheduled to report for active duty."
Furthermore, Lt. Comm. William Speaks, an Army CENTCOM spokesman,
rejected claims that the revocation validated Cook's lawsuit: "This in no way validates any of the outlandish claims made by Maj. Cook or his attorney. The idea that this validates those charges about the president's fitness for office is simply false."
