Politico: Whisper campaign persists despite election [View All]

[Thrill]

Even with the election decided, the widely debunked whisper campaign claiming that Barack Obama is secretly not an American, and thus not qualified to be president, is going strong.

The Supreme Court is expected to announce on Monday whether or not it will consider two cases contending that Barack Obama is not a "natural born citizen," as the president is required to be under Article II, Section 1 of the U.S. Constitution. One case, referred to the court by Justice Clarence Thomas after Justice David Souter had rejected it, argues that because Obama's father was a citizen of Kenya, at the time a British colony, the president-elect was born with dual citizenship. The other, filed by Attorney Phillip J. Berg, effectively contends that Obama has outright lied about having been born on American soil.

At least four of the court's nine judges must approve before a case is heard, and the great majority of the petitions brought before the Court are dismissed without comment. Still, it's further grist for what's been an active conspiracy mill.

"I think there are just a lot of people who just want to believe it," said Paul Waldman, who has studied the conspiracy theories over Obama's citizenship for Media Matters.

Waldman said that like with the claims that the Clintons killed White House Counsel Vince Foster, a certain segment of the population will continue to believe Obama won on illegitimate grounds no matter how often the claim is disproved.

"When something gets refuted there a certain number of people that just won't believe it," he said. "If they are predisposed to believe it, refuting it will have no impact."

For those who believe the story, Obama's electoral victory is a constitutional and legal crisis of epic proportions that is not being given its fair due in the press or in the courts.

"This is the biggest attempted hoax in the history of our country," insists Berg, whose suit aimed to compel Obama and the Democratic National Committee to produce the candidate's birth certificate and other documents - which he does not believe exist.

Berg, who served as both counsel and plantiff, had his suit dismissed in U.S. district court in October. He then filed a writ of certiorari asking the Supreme Court to take on the case.

The attorney, who identifies himself as a "solid Democrat," believes that "they really have to take a look at it."

"Obama and Howard Dean should all be criminally indicted, tried and criminally jailed," he added.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1208/16257.html

Will the Supreme Court finally put an end to this nonsense?