No doubts as to Obama’s Irish Ancestry now
By Samson Reiny Playing with one of the more enduring controversies of his administration, President Obama joked on Tuesday that he had the perfect place for a gift confirming his Irish heritage: right next to his much ballyhooed birth certificate.
Visiting Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny gave Obama the “formal certificate” at an evening reception in honor of St. Patrick’s Day, which earlier saw Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley singing upbeat Gaelic-inspired tunes alongside a band.
“This will have a special place of honor alongside my birth certificate,” Obama said to raucous applause and laughter.
A lot of brouhaha was made over Obama’s ancestral ties to the island nation.
The president recounted his third great grandfather Falmouth Kearney’s immigration from the town of Moneygall — which Obama visited as part of his official trip to Ireland last May– to New York City in 1850. He went on to praise Irish influence in American culture and history.
“The green strands they have woven into America’s heart, from their tiniest villages to our greatest cities, is something truly unique on the world stage,” Obama said.
On hand to help the president celebrate the occasion was his eighth cousin Henry Healy, whom the president met on his visit last year. Healy had also accompanied the president Saturday to the The Dubliner, a Washington pub , where they shared a pint of Guinness.
“Birther” talk bubbles up again
The “birther” question rises again in a wide-ranging interview with Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry in “Parade.”
The Texas governor dismissed the questioning of whether President Barack Obama is a native-born U.S. citizen as a “distractive issue” — after responding to several questions about the issue.
Asked whether he believes Obama was born in the USA, Perry said he had no reason to think otherwise. But the governor suggested he was not certain about the birth certificate released by Obama.
“Well, I don’t have a definitive answer, because he’s never seen my birth certificate,” Perry said.
But you’ve seen his, the interviewer said. “I don’t know. Have I?” Perry asks.
Perry said the birth certificate came up at his meeting last month with Donald Trump and that the real estate mogul and TV reality show host doesn’t think it’s real.
“I don’t have any idea. It doesn’t matter,” Perry said. “He’s (Obama) the president of the United States. He’s elected. It’s a distractive issue.”
Mr. Trump I’m convinced has a double digit IQ and doesn’t even have the common sense to get a decent toupee. He certainly can afford one.In my opinion his stupid freaking hairdo reflects his intelligence.
He certainly doesn’t have any where near the smarts that his father had.
Yes he’s really lucky his father came first. If Donald was born into a poor or even a middle class family, he most likely would have some simple 9 to 5 job like an office mail clerk, or a Walmart stock boy,etc.
Obama has ‘better stuff’ to do than birth certificate ‘sideshows’
President Barack Obama tried to put the kibosh on birther speculation by releasing his Hawaiian birth certificate and calling questions about the authenticity of the document a distraction from bigger issues by “sideshows and carnival barkers.”
“We do not have time for this kind of silliness,” he said to reporters after the White House released a long-form copy of his birth certificate. Potential Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump stirred up the controversy in recent weeks by demanding Obama prove he was born in Hawaii, not Kenya.
“We’ve got better stuff to do. I’ve got better stuff to do,” Obama said. “We’ve got big problems to solve, and I’m confident we can solve them, but we’re going to have to focus on them, not on this.”
Here’s some of that “better stuff” Obama has on his plate:
- Gasoline prices that are over $4 a gallon in some parts of the United States
- Sell his plan to cut tax breaks for oil and gas companies
- Convince Congress to raise the debt ceiling before the U.S. hits its limit, likely in mid-May
- Shake-up his national security advisers
- Juggle wars and ongoing protests in the Middle East
- Negotiate a 2012 budget that both creates jobs and cuts spending
- Run for re-election
Probably a good thing he isn’t going to the royal wedding.
Photo credit: Reuters/Mike Segar (fire breathing at the Coney Island Sideshow school, April 10, 2008)
I hope all of those doubters who questioned what President Obama has been up to in the past week have shoved their feet in their mouths. He was busy killing Osama bin Laden and, no surprise, he wasn’t telling you about it. The people who make such a big deal about a birth certificate are missing the point- he is a great leader and he is doing a great job as president. Go ahead and vote for Donald Trump but, at this moment, I can assure you that you are sitting in the minority of people who can’t recognize the work that he is currently doing to advance and unite this nation.
Obama to make statement about birth certificate
The White House on Wednesday released a longer version of President Barack Obama’s U.S. birth certificate to try to quiet a debate within Republican circles that he was not born in the United States. The new document confirms what a shorter version has said, that Obama was born in Hawaii on Aug 4, 1961, but provides a little more information, such as that he was born at Kapiolani Maternity and Gynecological Hospital.
Obama is to make a White House statement at 9:45 am EDT about the controversy, which you can watch live on this page.
Obama releasing his birth certificate (again) had its pros and cons. One one hand, it again showed his willingness to do what is best for the country despite the opposition’s best efforts to undermine him regardless of the cost TO the country.
On the other hand, letting the right go on and on about something so patently ridiculous gave Americans an excellent view of how petty and juvenile the right can be in their relentless effort to undermine him regardless of the cost to themselves and the country.
Obama on conspiracy theories, birth certificates
President Barack Obama says most Americans are confident that he is American-born and bred and says the “birther” issue could be a problem for Republican challengers in the 2012 presidential campaign.
Obama addressed the persistent questions about his place of birth when he was invited, during an ABC News interview, to size up his potential opponents.
He was also asked his thoughts on Donald Trump’s rise to the top of the Republican field on “fantasies” about the president’s background.
Obama seemed amused.
“Over the past two-and-a-half years there’s been an effort to go at me in a way that is politically expedient in the short-term for Republicans — but creates, I think, a problem for them when they want to actually run in a general election where most people feel pretty confident the president was born where he says he was, in Hawaii,” Obama said.
“He doesn’t have horns,” he added, laughing.
Obama said people may disagree with him on some issues and worry about the unemployment rate and gas prices but they are “not really worrying about conspiracy theories or — or birth certificates.”
http://oig.hhs.gov/oei/reports/oei-07-99 -00570.pdf
It is extremely naive to believe any government official given their own reports on rampant birth certificate fraud. Falsified birth certificates are used routinely by illegal aliens to gain access to SSN, mortgages, and public services. According to the report above 85% of all birth certificate fraud is based on genuine documents issued by those same “honest” and “hardworking” public officials. I somehow doubt Hawaii is any different than any other state. The real issue is that any honest individual who is expecting to lead the whole country would feel compelled to address this issue to his full measure. Instead Obama thumbs his nose at almost 1/2 the population and hides behind a team of high priced attorneys. No wonder he wants amnesty for illegal aliens so badly he probably needs it for himself. Obama’s father had the motivation, means, and connections to get American citizenship for his son no matter where he was actually born. Personally his birth place does not matter to me one way or the other. What does matter is that Obama has shown that he has no honor and therefore does not deserve my respect or support.
