It's not citizenship, but 'there's some other issue there'
 Rep. Trent Franks, R-Ar |
A congressman who once considered a lawsuit over Barack Obama's eligibility to be president says he's convinced the president doesn't have a problem with that issue. But there is something else Obama desperately wants to keep concealed, according to Rep. Trent Franks, R-Ariz.,
WND reported earlier when a tempest erupted over a newspaper's report that Franks was considering a lawsuit to challenge Obama's eligibility. Franks explained he had considered a lawsuit before and immediately after the election, but he said he was convinced Obama was born in Hawaii because of newspaper announcements.
Franks, at that time, signed onto a measure in Congress that would subject Obama to a verification process if he chooses to run for another term.
He repeated the explanation in a new interview with the Washington Independent:
Franks confirmed he considered legal action right around the time of the election.
"Information was brought to me that put Mr. Obama's citizenship in question in my mind," he said. "I ... found material, papers in Hawaii, newspapers, that I don't think could have been forged that showed he was indeed born in Hawaii about two years after statehood," he said.
"That solved the issue for me. I believe he's a natural born citizen of the United States. Therefore, even if he acts un-American and seems to go against American interests, he's still an American-born citizen," he continued.
"All that being said, probably Barack Obama could solve this problem and make the birthers back off by simply showing ... his long form birth certificate," he continued.
Because that hasn't happened, he concluded, "There's some other issue there.
"I don't know what it is that he doesn't want people to see the birth certificate. I don't think it has to do with his natural-born citizenship," Franks continued. "He's spent an awful lot of money to keep people from seeing the birth certificate. ... I think it has to do with something else."
When Franks was considering a lawsuit, WND confirmed with his spokeswoman the plan had been reviewed but then dropped.
But spokeswoman Bethany Haley pointed out the irony of Obama's campaign on "transparency" and "accountability" and his subsequent refusal to "disclose even the simplest form" proving his ability to meet constitutional requirements of a president. Those demands include the president be a "natural born" citizen.
The plan to which Franks added his name is H.R. 1503 by Rep. Bill Posey, R-Fla.
The provisions of H.R. 1503 are:
"To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to require the principal campaign committee of a candidate for election to the office of President to include with the committee's statement of organization a copy of the candidate's birth certificate, together with such other documentation as may be necessary to establish that the candidate meets the qualifications for eligibility to the Office of President under the Constitution."
The bill also provides:
"Congress finds that under … the Constitution of the United States, in order to be eligible to serve as President, an individual must be a natural born citizen of the United States who has attained the age of 35 years and has been a resident within the United States for at least 14 years."
The sponsors' goal is to have the bill become effective for the 2012 presidential election. The legislation now is pending in a committee of the U.S. House of Representatives.
WND has reported on dozens of legal challenges to Obama's status as a "natural born citizen." The Constitution, Article 2, Section 1, states, "No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President."
Some of the lawsuits question whether he was actually born in Hawaii, as he insists. If he was born out of the country, Obama's American mother, the suits contend, was too young at the time of his birth to confer American citizenship to her son under the law at the time.
Other challenges have focused on Obama's citizenship through his father, a Kenyan subject to the jurisdiction of the United Kingdom at the time of his birth, thus making him a dual citizen. The cases contend the framers of the Constitution excluded dual citizens from qualifying as natural born.
Complicating the situation is Obama's decision to spend sums estimated in the hundreds of thousands of dollars to avoid releasing a state birth certificate that would put to rest all of the questions.
WND has reported that among the documentation not yet available for Obama includes kindergarten records, Punahou school records, Occidental College records, Columbia University records, Columbia thesis, Harvard Law School records, Harvard Law Review articles, scholarly articles from the University of Chicago, passport, medical records, his files from his years as an Illinois state senator, his Illinois State Bar Association records, any baptism records, and his adoption records.
 "Where's The Birth Certificate?" billboard helps light up the night at the Mandalay Bay resort on the Las Vegas Strip. |
The campaign followed a petition that has collected about 475,000 signatures demanding proof of his eligibility, the availability of yard signs raising the question and the production of permanent, detachable magnetic bumper stickers asking the question.
The "certification of live birth" posted online and widely touted as "Obama's birth certificate" does not in any way prove he was born in Hawaii, since the same "short-form" document is easily obtainable for children not born in Hawaii. The true "long-form" birth certificate – which includes information such as the name of the birth hospital and attending physician – is the only document that can prove Obama was born in Hawaii, but to date he has not permitted its release for public or press scrutiny.
Oddly, though congressional hearings were held to determine whether Sen. John McCain was constitutionally eligible to be president as a "natural born citizen," no controlling legal authority ever sought to verify Obama's claim to a Hawaiian birth.
