BruceSpeaks

By: Bruce R. Porter

One of my favorite talk-show hosts is Michael Medved. I often listen to him late at night lying in bed using ear buds so I don’t disturb my sleeping beauty next to me. He is a brilliant host, well-versed in most subjects, and nearly always treats his call-in guests with deferential courtesy.

One subject, however, that seems to really get under Michael’s skin and provoke near-rants of indignation, is the subject of President Obama’s citizenship status and his qualifications to hold the highest office in the land. Under Article 2 of the constitution, only a “natural born” citizen is eligible to be president. Mr. Medved becomes nearly apoplectic when people question the veracity of the Certificate of Live Birth, released by the State of Hawaii and the Obama campaign as proof of his “natural born” citizenship.

Mr. Medved, with all due respect, thou “doth protest too much, methinks.” ¹

Perhaps the seriousness of this issue is lost on you, but I’m starting to think that we are facing potentially the most dangerous constitutional crisis in the history of our 233 year-old nation. Consider the following facts…

President Obama has not produced (despite repeated requests by citizens and members of the news media) any of the following information most people would consider customary and ordinary to anyone seeking high office.

• His kindergarten records
• His Punahou school records
• His Occidental College records
• His Columbia University records
• His Columbia thesis
• His Harvard Law School records
• His Harvard Law Review articles
• His scholarly articles from the University of Chicago
• His passport
• His medical records
• His files from his years as an Illinois state senator
• His Illinois State Bar Association records
• His baptism records
• His adoption records

These records are important insofar as they would give us valuable insights into Obama’s background and philosophy. However, they pale in comparison to the paramount importance of his producing a certified copy of his Long Form Birth Certificate. This document, above all others, would settle once and for all the growing controversy over his constitutional qualifications to serve as POTUS.  Some, like Michael Medved, have argued that this is a moot point since he was elected to the office. The fly in the ointment however, remains—the constitutionality of an Obama presidency.

The implications, if he is not qualified, are nearly unthinkable. For one thing, every order he gives as Commander in Chief is an illegal order. We’re already beginning to see some members of the military question the legitimacy of his authority. Maj. Stefan Frederick Cook, an Army Engineer, has refused orders for deployment to Afghanistan because without proof of the commander-in-chief’s eligibility for office, the entire army “becomes merely a corps of chattel slaves under the illegitimate control of a private citizen.” ²

If other members of the military begin taking such a bold stand, we could see a severe crisis unfold in our national security. More than this, if our men and women in uniform begin to be regarded as illegitimate mercenaries without proper authority, they could be arrested in foreign nations and tried for “war crimes” without the protections of the Geneva Conventions. This would spell disaster. 

Mr. Medved, you may want to re-examine you position on this controversy. Even CNN’s Lou Dobbs, a man of the left, has openly called for Obama to produce his Long Form Birth Certificate so that this crisis can be put to rest. However, instead of complying with this seemingly reasonable request, the Obama administration has thrown up their legal shields at a cost of millions of dollars in attorney fees to stonewall any such disclosure. Now Dobbs himself is coming under fire by the far-left to basically “shut up” about this. ³

I leave you here with the following relevant quote from the Constitution in case you hadn’t read it recently. I fervently wish that every High School student—as a requirement for graduation—be compelled to memorize and recite the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. But that’s a subject for another blog.

“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; neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty-five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States.”
U.S. Constitution, Article 2, Section 1.

Tags: Birth Certificate | Commander in Chief | Constitution | Obama | Presidency