The Birther movment: A ridiculous conspiracy theory

Have I been living under a rock? Until today I had never heard the term "birthers". I knew that there are some who believe that President Barrack Obama should not have been elected president due to their own insistent belief that he is of Muslim faith. I was unaware that there was a movement or that they called themselves "birthers."

First lets get some things straight. Barrack Hussein Obama was born August 4th, 1961 in Honolulu, Hawaii.


(retrieved from http://gawker.com/5320465/the-birthers-who-are-they-and-what-do-they-want)

Obama has lived in the United States since 1971 and was 47 years of age when he was elected President. The Constitution states that the president of the United States must be a natural born citizen, who has lived in the U.S. for at least 14 years and must be at least 35 years of age.

Well, President Obama meets these requirements, so it is beyond me as to why the birther movement feels they have any ground to stand on.

I ran into a website that I am unfamiliar with called Gawker.com. The site gave a list of popular birther beliefs and I will post them here.

Popular Birther Theories:

• Barack Obama was born in Kenya. Obama's mother was living in Kenya with Obama's father, and after his birth, she took him back to Hawaii to register his birth, because... she knew one day he would run for president? Birthers claim Obama's paternal grandmother admitted to being present during Obama's birth, in Kenya.
• Barack Obama is a citizen of Indonesia, where his sister was born.
• Barack Obama's real middle name is "Muhammed."
• Barack Obama's birth certificate is a forgery.
• Barack Obama's birth certificate isn't a forgery, but they used to give those out to people who were born overseas (this was what they had to settle on once Hawaiian officials confirmed that his birth certificate was real).
• Hawaii didn't give out birth certificates to kids born overseas at the time of Obama's birth, but his mother lied about where he was born (and sent out two newspaper announcements!) in order to procure one.

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Today TheExaminer.com released an article that mentions Rep. Jean Schmit and her private support of the birther movement. Apparently in the past Schmit had publicly stated that she believes Obama is citizen of this country.



"The President is indeed a Citizen of this country. I voted as a Member of the House to certify the vote of the Electoral College electing him as our President. I may not agree with his politics but there is no doubt he is our President and has my full respect as such."
-------------------------Rep. Jean Schmit

She contradicts herself as she was caught consoling a woman who believes Obama is not a citizen of the U.S. Here she says "I agree with you - but the courts don't."


West Chester, Ohio 9/5/09 - Rep. Schmidt was among the members of Congress to run away from Mike Stark's cameras in his "Know Your Birthers" video. When speaking to a constituent that believes Barack Obama cannot be President under the U.S. Constitution, Schmidt said "I agree with you". Immediately after, it was clear that Schmidt's staffers did not want the conversation to be on camera.

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What Birthers Believe
(originally posted by jackandjillpolitics.com)

As I mentioned earlier I am simply amazed that this movement has so many followers. I am I just too naive? Perhaps I just want to believe that our country isn't THIS racist.

Republicans and some others may not agree with Obama's policies. That's one thing. But it really does seem that some are very unhappy with the fact that we have a black president. So, much that they put forth radical myths.

It is unfortunate that Obama receives this kind of scruitiny. I hope that he is able to brush it off and focus on his duties and his own state of wellness.