I met in Tel Aviv a young, educated American, who self-identified as a lefty. Everything went fine, until he discovered that I was a partial-birther (no pun intended).
"So you think he was born in Africa?". "I really don't care", I answer, "It is just that the records of the Commander in Chief are funny!".
Published on April 27, 2011 by Dan Pfeiffer White House Communications Director:
So then I had to go back with him through the records online, looking again at some of these things after quite a while. (see the guided tour below).
After about half the guided tour the guy asks me: "So why did they do such an amateurish job at it?
My radical answer on that is two-fold:
a) Because it was just a joke from the beginning, and
b) Because they can get away with it.
JZ
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Let's take for example the "Certificate of Live Birth" and "Birth Certificate", on the "White House Blog".
A. CERTIFICATE OF LIVE BIRTH:
1) The 2011 blog post starts:
"In 2008, in response to media inquiries, the President’s campaign requested his birth certificate from the state of Hawaii. The state sent the campaign the President’s birth certificate, the same legal documentation provided to all Hawaiians as proof of birth in state, and the campaign immediately posted it on the internet. That birth certificate can be seen here (PDF)."
2) When you go to that link:
You find a PDF image, titled "Certification of Live Birth", where the certificate number is redacted, an obvious alteration, while the bottom of the same image says: "Any alterations invalidate this certificate"...
3) And what is the source of this important document on the "White House Blog"?
The bottom of the PDF indicates that it was printed out from http://msgboard.snopes,com/
That particular link does not go anywhere now, but the site itself, the source of the "White House Blog" record is:
Which defines itself as:
"the definitive Internet reference source for urban legends, folklore, myths, rumors, and misinformation. "
B. LONG FORM BIRTH CERTIFICATE
1) The immediate source of the record was advertised as the Hawaii State government. That notion is supported on the "White House Blog" by the following note: "Correspondence with the Hawaii State Department of Health can be seen here (PDF)."
2) When you go to that link:
You find a letter by Loretta Fuddy, Director of Health at State of Hawaii Department of Health, dated April 25, 2011, which states that in response to request by our Dear President, "two certified copies of the original certificate of live birth" are provided as Enclosure.
3) The "Enclosures" of Ms Fuddy's letter are however missing.
4) The correspondence with the State of Hawaii, was presumably paper based, as shown.
However, instead of the paper certified copy of the Certificate of Live Birth, we are shown on the White House Blog a digital image, the infamous one:
5) Wait a minute, didn't Ms Fuddy say that she certified the copies?
You would expect the copy to show somewhere a wet ink stamp "True Copy of the Original" with the hand signature of Ms Fuddy. None appears with the image of the LFBC on the White House Blog.
6) That image of the LFBC is further shown at:
It originated on paper, then bound in a book, which created the curl on the left side of the record. It was then microfilmed, then printed or captured and processed electronically, to add the green mesh background. However, the digital green mesh did not match the curl from the bound paper, and when an attempt was made to compensate for that, a funny hole in the green mesh was created at the top left corner of the document...
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White House Blog: http://www.whitehouse.
President Obama's Long Form Birth Certificate
Ed. Note: Read the transcript of the President's remarks following this release or watch the video here.
In 2008, in response to media inquiries, the President’s campaign requested his birth certificate from the state of Hawaii. The state sent the campaign the President’s birth certificate, the same legal documentation provided to all Hawaiians as proof of birth in state, and the campaign immediately posted it on the internet. That birth certificate can be seen here (PDF).
When any citizen born in Hawaii requests their birth certificate, they receive exactly what the President received. In fact, the document posted on the campaign website is what Hawaiians use to get a driver’s license from the state and the document recognized by the Federal Government and the courts for all legal purposes. That’s because it is the birth certificate. This is not and should not be an open question.
The President believed the distraction over his birth certificate wasn’t good for the country. It may have been good politics and good TV, but it was bad for the American people and distracting from the many challenges we face as a country. Therefore, the President directed his counsel to review the legal authority for seeking access to the long form certificate and to request on that basis that the Hawaii State Department of Health make an exception to release a copy of his long form birth certificate. They granted that exception in part because of the tremendous volume of requests they had been getting.President Barack Obama's long form birth certificate can be seen here (PDF):
At a time of great consequence for this country – when we should be debating how we win the future, reduce our deficit, deal with high gas prices, and bring stability to the Middle East, Washington, DC, was once again distracted by a fake issue. The President’s hope is that with this step, we can move on to debating the bigger issues that matter to the American people and the future of the country.
Dan Pfeiffer is White House Communications Director
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