Since President Obama’s campaign in 2008, a growing number of Americans have raised questions regarding Obama’s birthplace and whether he is indeed eligible to serve as President of the United States. Those citizens have been labeled “birthers” and have been assigned a reputation as looney conspiracy theorists by the mainstream media.
Now Globe magazine has jumped into the citizenship controversy with a July 12 cover story that states, “Obama was not born in the U.S.” The supermarket tabloid may not have the best track record for accurate reporting among mainstream publications, but it does have a large circulation and its voice and what it has to say will undoubtedly bring the issue of Obama’s citizenship to the attention of a lot more people and cause them to consider seriously if there is anything to it.
The introduction of the article reads:
A former Hawaii records official is sending shock waves through Washington, D.C., by revealing there is absolutely no birth certificate for Barack Obama!
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The bombshell revelation backs up long-standing claims that Obama — who insists he was born in a Honolulu hospital — really took his first breath in Kenya and, as a result, violates the U.S. Consitution’s requirements for the President to be a “natural born” American.
The official, Timothy Adams, claims to have had access to Social Security records, drivers’ license, and passport information, and “just about anything you can imagine to get someone’s identity.” He reportedly confirmed that there exists no proof that President Obama was born in Honolulu.
Adams alleges that upon his request for two different local hospitals to provide Obama’s birth certificate, he was told that no such record exists, defending his inquisition by asserting that it was part of his job requirements to “verify the voters’ identity and citizenship.”
The Globe goes on to claim, “America’s current Commander-in-Chief, 48, has not only refused to produce his official birth certificate but has gone to great lengths — and expense — to seal records from his past, according to sources. He once mistakenly named two different hospitals where he was supposed to be born — and his paternal grandmother insists she witnessed his birth in Kenya!”
In addition to the coverage of Adams’ shocking accusations, the Globe published an incriminating photograph of President Obama from 1987, where he appeared with his entire family in Kenya. The magazine reports:
Coming on the heels of Adams’ charges, a damning photo of Obama in Kenya with relatives has surfaced. Snapped in 1987, some people believe it offers more proof that the President was born in his father’s African homeland.
This is not the first time the Globe has reported on Obama’s eligibility concerns. In January 2009, the Globe indicated that a Kenyan birth certificate revealed that Obama was born at Mombassa’s Coast Provincial General Hospital at 7:24 p.m., where Obama’s grandmother claimed to be present at the time of Obama’s birth. Officials were unable to confirm the report, however.
The White House has reacted to claims disputing Obama’s eligibility by producing a Hawaiin Certificate of Live Birth, though the validity of the document has been called into question. An official at the Hawaii State Department of Health, as well as Hawaii’s Republican Governor Linda Lingle, claims to have confirmed that Obama was born in Hawaii.
While Globe magazine has a deserved reputation as a tabloid, like most tabloids, there is often an element of truth to the stories covered in the magazine. In fact, the Washington Post wrote an article defending tabloids in May 2009 called “Tabloid Trash — Or Treasure?” Post writer Tom Scocca wrote, “Without the National Enquirer, Elizabeth Edwards never would have sat down with Oprah Winfrey to discuss her husband’s infidelity and her new book about it…. The reputable media don’t traffic in that sort of tenuous speculation about people’s lives…. No one else does what it does, but in some situations, you need it.”
In fact, that is the very reason Americans are flocking to the shelves to read Globe’s recent installment. In particular, blogsters all over the country are attracted to the cover story on Obama’s eligibility because they are aware that the mainstream media can no longer be trusted to inform the public.
According to one blogster, “The tabloids have often uncovered more truth than even the syndicated columns and reputable news sources have been able to uncover. Right now that is very much needed because the press and most newspapers and magazines are being told to keep their mouth shut. Anyone, news reporter, blogger, or just curiosity seeker can’t go near the gulf or say anything about it.” (For further information on the latter comment, click here.)
The birther controversy has been an ongoing debate and in fact, a hearing was set for June 11 to determine President Obama’s eligibility after Lt. Col. Lakin refused to report for military duty until Obama proved his legal citizenship. Since then, however, Lakin has waived his preliminary hearing, claiming that the United States Army made it “impossible for me to present a defense,” according to the press release issued after Lakin waived his rights to the hearing. According to the release:
Lakin … requested the testimony of Dr. Chiyome Fukino of the Hawaii Dept. of Health, and all of that agency’s records that exist concerning the president’s birth. Lakin had also requested the testimony of the custodians of records of, and the records relating to Obama’s admission and financial aid that exist, of the Punahou School, Occidental College, Columbia University and Harvard Law School. All these records were also summarily denied, leaving Lakin without any ability to mount a defense at the hearing.
Lakin has released a five-minute video, where he outlines his argument that President Obama is “Constitututionally ineligible to serve as Commander-in-Chief”.
If these claims are investigated and it is found that President Obama was indeed born outside of the United States, Obama stands to risk facing Impeachment hearings.
