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Governor wants end to 'birthist' theories
Source: Agencies |
December 30, 2010, Thursday
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HAWAII'S Democratic governor, Neil Abercrombie, wants to find a way to release more information about President Barack Obama's Hawaii birth and dispel conspiracy theories that he was born elsewhere.
Abercrombie was a friend of Obama's parents and knew him as a child, and said that he is troubled by efforts to cast doubt on his citizenship.
The newly elected governor will ask the state attorney general's office about what can be done to finally put an end to questions about Obama's birth documentation from August 4, 1961, spokeswoman Donalyn Dela Cruz said on Tuesday.
"He had a friendship with Mr Obama's parents, and so there is a personal issue at hand," Dela Cruz said. "Is it going to be done immediately? No, the first thing on our list is the economy."
It's unclear what Abercrombie could do as Hawaii's privacy laws bar the release of a certified birth certificate to anyone who doesn't have a tangible interest.
Hawaii's health director said last year and in 2008 that she had seen and verified Obama's original vital records, and birth notices in two Honolulu newspapers were published within days of Obama's birth at Kapiolani Maternity and Gynecological Hospital in Honolulu.
So-called "birthers" claim Obama is ineligible to be president because they say there is no evidence that he was born in the United States, with many of the skeptics asking whether he was actually born in Kenya, his father's home country.
"What bothers me is that some people who should know better are trying to use this for political reasons," Abercrombie told the Los Angeles Times last week. "Maybe I'm the only one in the country that could look you right in the eye right now and tell you, 'I was here when that baby was born.'"
The Obama campaign issued a certificate of live birth in 2008, an official document from the state showing the president's birth date, city and name, along with his parents' names and races.
Abercrombie, 72, has said he remembers seeing Obama as a child with his parents at social events, although he acknowledged that he didn't see his parents with their newborn son at the hospital.
Abercrombie was a friend of Obama's parents and knew him as a child, and said that he is troubled by efforts to cast doubt on his citizenship.
The newly elected governor will ask the state attorney general's office about what can be done to finally put an end to questions about Obama's birth documentation from August 4, 1961, spokeswoman Donalyn Dela Cruz said on Tuesday.
"He had a friendship with Mr Obama's parents, and so there is a personal issue at hand," Dela Cruz said. "Is it going to be done immediately? No, the first thing on our list is the economy."
It's unclear what Abercrombie could do as Hawaii's privacy laws bar the release of a certified birth certificate to anyone who doesn't have a tangible interest.
Hawaii's health director said last year and in 2008 that she had seen and verified Obama's original vital records, and birth notices in two Honolulu newspapers were published within days of Obama's birth at Kapiolani Maternity and Gynecological Hospital in Honolulu.
So-called "birthers" claim Obama is ineligible to be president because they say there is no evidence that he was born in the United States, with many of the skeptics asking whether he was actually born in Kenya, his father's home country.
"What bothers me is that some people who should know better are trying to use this for political reasons," Abercrombie told the Los Angeles Times last week. "Maybe I'm the only one in the country that could look you right in the eye right now and tell you, 'I was here when that baby was born.'"
The Obama campaign issued a certificate of live birth in 2008, an official document from the state showing the president's birth date, city and name, along with his parents' names and races.
Abercrombie, 72, has said he remembers seeing Obama as a child with his parents at social events, although he acknowledged that he didn't see his parents with their newborn son at the hospital.
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