The News Tribune (Lite) - Obama a foreigner? Time to get over it

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Section: Opinion

Obama a foreigner? Time to get over it

THE NEWS TRIBUNE
It is the Internet rumor that will not die.

It goes something like this: Barack Obama is ineligible to be president because he (pick one or more) was not really born in Hawaii, he relinquished his U.S. citizenship as a child in Indonesia, his mother was too young or – for those who allow that he might have been born in Hawaii – he was born before Hawaii became a state.

Wrong, wrong, wrong and so wrong.

Hawaii officials who have inspected Obama’s birth certificate have vouched for its authenticity, and an announcement of his birth on Aug. 4, 1961 was published nine days later in the Honolulu Advertiser. There is no evidence that Obama ever renounced his citizenship. His mother’s age is of no consequence, because Obama was born on American soil. And Hawaii had been a state for two years when he was born.

Hardly a day goes by that The News Tribune doesn’t receive at least one missive – electronic or “snail mail” – expressing outrage that the supposedly foreign-born Barack Hussein Obama will become president and providing the sender’s rationale in lengthy detail. Because the authors of these diatribes almost always misspell Obama’s name, it’s hard to take their scholarship seriously.

Although the charges have been dispelled time and time again, the e-mails keep circulating – sent by those who apparently prefer to believe farfetched rumors rather than facts.

Lawsuits have been filed in a variety of courts and tossed out. The strategy seems to be: If you can’t beat ‘em, take ‘em to court. And clog the nation’s e-mail in-boxes with your crackpot ideas.

On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court turned down a request to hear one of the lawsuits by a New York anti-tax activist challenging whether Obama is a “natural-born citizen.” Legal experts say similar cases are likely to meet the same fate.

With any luck, the e-mails will dissipate now that the Supreme Court has determined that the charge against Obama is ridiculous.

But they will almost certainly be replaced by the next wave of delusion du jour, for which there is a one-word solution:

Delete.