Why Do Doubts Persist About Where President Obama Was Born?

Questions about issues in the news for students 13 and older.

Last week, a New York Times/CBS News Poll found that 45 percent of Republicans think that President Obama was born in another country, even though Hawaii state officials have repeatedly confirmed that the president was born in Honolulu. Why do you think doubts about Mr. Obama’s status as a natural-born citizen of the United States persist despite factual evidence?

In “The Psychology of the ‘Birther’ Myth,” the Room for Debate blog asks seven experts about the psychology of the myth. This is their introduction:

Hawaii state officials have repeatedly confirmed President Obama’s birth in Honolulu, and his Hawaiian birth certificate has long been made public. Yet doubts about where Mr. Obama was born persist among a segment of Americans, despite all factual evidence.

A New York Times/CBS News Poll released on Thursday found that 45 percent of Republicans think that Mr. Obama was born in another country, while 33 percent said he was born in America.

Several states are now considering bills to require presidential candidates to provide certified proof that they were born in the United States before they can appear on the ballot. Arizona’s governor vetoed the bill there, but Oklahoma lawmakers and those in Georgia are moving forward with similar legislation.

What drives this kind of false political belief and why is it so hard to dispel?

Students: Tell us what you think about the “birther” movement. Why do you think so many people believe that President Obama was not born in the United States despite factual evidence that he was? With which of the seven experts polled in the Room for Debate post do you most agree? For instance, do you think the root of this belief is “racial resentment”? The popularity of conspiracy theories in general and the way they are spread by modern media? Or is it because of the “increasingly disconnected ideological echo chambers” that have polarized us as a society?

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How can Obama be truisted with anything that involves integrity? Transparency has become opacity, the man is not to be trusted with anything. He just gives the impression he’s slimy and hiding something. Ask the African American community, they vote for him regardless but we are not to say they are merely going along racial lines? Where is the balance here, or is balance impossible when talking about Obama?

I think that the birther movement is based in racial discrimination. People in the South have deep-seated racial feelings, so since they then dont like Obama because he is black, they want to believe any theory or grab at anything that might disqualify him from being president.
Some of these people are aware of what they are doing, and others are just told the theory and go with it, because it give them an easy way to explain why they think he shouldnt be president.
I think this is racist and wrong, because alot of people know they are being racist.

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I apologize for my adult comments in previous posts of this blog.

Let’s just hope there are no student opinions appearing in the rest of the Times blogs.

Hi–Adults are welcome to post on this blog on any feature except the daily Student Opinion question, though even here we occasionally allow comments by self-identified adults if the writer has something germane to say. The note we’ve added to this particular S.O. question is one we often add to questions about “hot” controversial topics since we’ve noticed that people who stumble on us via a search engine don’t always realize this feature is meant just for students. So feel free to continue posting on our other features! –Katherine

This is the result of racism. He doesn’t look like former presidents. So how could he be American? And some of it is racism against Hawaiians, who are not quite considered a “regular state” by many white Americans. But they never had to admit this until now. Add it up: African father, black, and born in Hawaii. Clearly a foreigner. And after all, we are talking about people who now want to deny citizenship to babies (Mexican babies) born in the USA, based on their parents’ status. This violates the Constitution, but strict constructionists make plenty of exceptions when it suits them.

It is not racism, it is more important: it is about power. The “birthers” tend to be individuals opposed to President Obama in general and seek to deny the president legitimacy by declaring him to not an American citizen. They cannot conceive of President Obama as president and seek to remove him from power. If he were not born an American citizen, the president would be illegitimate and powerless. Like Weimar Germany, the birthers, unable to comprehend defeat, resort to conspiracy.

Based the law in Hawaii laws during that time it was possible to file for birth certificate without being born in Hawaii or anywhere in U.S. I’m a African America and a democrat who does believe he was born in the U.S. An just a bit of info McCain was not born on a U.S base in Panama, he was born at local hospital. But I guess no one cares about that either.

The only “birth certificate” I’ve seen is a certification that his birth certificate is on file, NOT a copy of his actual birth certificate. This debate could’ve easily been put to rest years ago if a copy of the actual birth certificate been. Why hasn’t it?

This is NOT racially motivated and I’m tired of being accused of racism because I do not like Obama or his political agenda.

Doubts about where the president exists becuase republicans are trying to discredit him. I belive they should just let him discredit himself.

People say he was born in a different country. If that is true then he should not be a legal president. People blame the president for everything, so blame away!

Did you know that President Obama was NOT born in the Unites States Of America? Well, for the longest amount of time, I didn’t. In the Constitution, it states that “He who is not born in the U.S., shall not be eligable for presidency.” (Yeah, it may not be the exact wording, but it’s there.) So as you see, he was not born here and should NOT be President. How would you feel if a child from Europe became the President of the U.S.? You wouldn’t agree to it, would you? So you see my point. Case closed.

President Obama was not born in the United States, and he souldnt be aloud to be president. The people in congress know that he is not a legal citizen of the U.S., but continue to let him be president. He was not born in hawaii.

Because people are stupid. His birth certificate says he was born in America. End of story. People need to leave it alone.

There are multiple reasons to doubt Obama’s origin, newspaper articles in Kenya, remarks by Michelle Obama and Obama’s grandmother in Kenya among them.
It’s really beside the point, to be a natural born citizen BOTH parents must be citizens and Obama certainly doesn’t meet this standard.

It exists because he refuses to release it. Duh!

I don’t understand why he doesn’t just release it. That would put an end to all of this.

I am concerned with why every single academic transcript, test score, records from his time in the Illinois State Senate, his State Bar application, everything, is being suppressed. Why? The press raced to discover and release hundreds of records about Tiger Wood’s infidelity, and yet they seem curiously uninterested in the President of the United States’ background. Why? Makes no sense.

Maybe because ALL of his records are under lock & key

I think that there is a possibility that Obama was born in another country due to relatives and other remarks, however there are certificates stating he was born in Hawaii. If Obama were white, people probably wouldn’t have been so doubtful of where he was born so yes, for some if very well could be racial statement. But even if he weren’t born in the U.S. would it really be that big of a deal?

The man is has no paper trail, how is that possible?

Katherine Schulten’s text here is misleading. The governor of Hawaii HAS NEVER shown Obama’s birth certificate. Only another piece of paper, something about living there as a child, which anyone can get.

As late as January 2011 Governor Neil Abercrombie of Hawaii said that “Obama’s birth certificate exists, but we can’t find it.”

The female governor of Hawaii before him swore that she “do everything in my power” to prevent anyone from seeing Obama’s birth certificate. It was kept locked up in a vault, she said.

The Obama presidential campaign, which is now a part of the Democratic Party, has made it their top priority to prevent anyone from seeing the birth certificate. Their money is now spent almost exclusively on fighting in courts to prevent that the birth certificate be revealed to those who have asked to see it.

In an interview, the president of Kenya said he was proud that a man born in Kenya was now president of the United States.

Obama’s OWN GRANDMOTHER said in a BBC interview that Obama was born in her Kenyan village. But BBC falsified the subtitles, turning the text into “spent time in this village.”

But since Obama is a left-wing extremist, of course he doesn’t care about American law. That law is the extreme left’s primary enemy.

Arianna M, the Constitution sets standards for the office of president and the Constitution is the supreme law. It is vital that the Constitution be honored, by government in particular.
Obama took an oath to protect and defend the Constitution, If he has violated that oath he should be removed from office.
This isn’t an issue of race or color, the law must apply to everyone equally.
The Constitution exists to protect you from the abuses of government, you will be wise to honor the Constitution.
You may agree with everything Obama wants to do, but he won’t be president forever. A government may come along which wants to do things to you, rather than for you, and without the Constitution you will have no protection at all.

Hey Arianna M–what does it matter? Do we have a constitution or not? Even if he was born in Hawaii, his father was NOT a US citizen, and therefore Obama is not eligble to be President. By the way, he is half-white or don’t you know that either?

I think it would be a good thing if candidates would have to prove they were born in America in case a terrorist wants to run for president. (Not implying anything).

In some respects, it is easy to see why people focus on a “birther” issue. To the average American, economic and social phenomena are presented for a few minutes at a time on a news outlet or more in-depth by a focus show although colored by the bias of involved parties.

Raising questions about or leveling xenophobic ideals at an individual, President or not, are much easier to identify with than a comprehensive analysis. One can have a long-winded debate about economic policy now and for the past hundred years to measure the success of various measures, but the bottom-line is that viewers are likely more interested in the conclusion than the argument.

It is a combination of several factors that give the “birther” movement its popular base. Casting suspicion in order to discredit by political adversaries was, in some ways, capitalized upon by the media. The desire for sensationalism that has existed in media along with the bias of its purveyors blows the issue out of proportion.

The idea of prohibiting foreign born people from becoming President was originally to thwart any attempt by Colonial Britain at the beginning of the 19th Century from subverting our independence. Whatever reasons exist for the ambiguity of Obama’s records and the “ambiguities” themselves become largely irrelevant.

Is there such little disagreement or fault with Obama’s Presidential policies that the political sphere utilizes ad hominem attacks based upon outdated technicalities? Or is that too extreme of an accusation to adequately apply here?

The doubts persist because a Certification of Live Birth is NOT the same thing as a full, LONG-FORM birth certificate. And Barack Obama has steadfastly refused to release a copy of his LONG-FORM birth certificate. Since people could get a Certification of Live Birth without being born in the US, the COLB does not prove he was born here.

We know that other people have gotten a copy of their full LONG-FORM birth certificate from Hawaii for $10. So why has the President of the United States hired lawyers to file dozens of pages of legal papers in court, as well as write threatening letters, in order to avoid producing a $10 LONG-FORM birth certificate?

There are also bigger questions about whether he is a “natural-born citizen” as required by the Constitution, since his father was NOT an American, and his mother was only 18 years old.

Yes I think that the President of the United States should be born in the United States. Though I do not know why this question has been coming up if Hawaii state officials have confirmed that he was born in Hawaii. I think the only reason this is coming up is to give a reason to impeach Obama.