Obama's October surprise-ish: State of Hawaii says his birth certificate is genuine (but...)

[See the 12/05/08 update below]

The Associated Press offers an article perhaps misleadingly titled "State declares Obama birth certificate genuine" (link). There are some problems with the article, as will be discussed below.

State officials say there's no doubt Barack Obama was born in Hawaii.

Health Department Director Dr. Chiyome Fukino said Friday she and the registrar of vital statistics, Alvin Onaka, have personally verified that the health department holds Obama's original birth certificate.

Fukino says that no state official, including Republican Gov. Linda Lingle, ever instructed that Obama's certificate be handled differently.

She says state law bars release of a certified birth certificate to anyone who does not have a tangible interest.

First, Obama could have been born somewhere else and still have a Hawaii birth certificate; see the provision of their state law linked from here. The AP's first sentence above could be an accurate representative of what those state officials explicitly said, or it could be simply the AP's assumption or spin that if they have his birth certificate that means he was born there.

And, what exactly is the "original birth certificate"? Are they talking about the Certification of Live Birth ("COLB"), information provided by the hospital, or something else? Why aren't there more details? While there's a good chance we can trust they're telling the truth about something, it would be foolish to completely trust them, especially because they aren't providing enough details to tell what they're referring to.

And, why was this announced four days before the election, and shortly after Obama making a special trip to that state?

As always, I don't suggest spending a lot of time on this and instead concentrating on things that will actually have an impact. However, some of the things about this just don't add up.

12/05/08 UPDATE: A longer article is in November 1, 2008's "Obama's certificate of birth OK, state says" from Dan Nakaso of the Honolulu Advertiser. The article is here, which is reprinted in full below (retrieved 12/05/08).

The Hawaii officials do not verify that Obama was born in Hawaii, nor do they verify that the COLB as shown at FactCheck matches the one on file. All they say is that Obama has a valid certificate on file.

And, it would be illegal under Hawaiian law for them to have done that. In fact, the article references §338-18 of the Hawaii Revised Statutes, which is here (bolding added):

Disclosure of records. (a) To protect the integrity of vital statistics records, to ensure their proper use, and to ensure the efficient and proper administration of the vital statistics system, it shall be unlawful for any person to permit inspection of, or to disclose information contained in vital statistics records, or to copy or issue a copy of all or part of any such record, except as authorized by this part or by rules adopted by the department of health.

Once again: under Hawaiian law, it would be illegal for them to verify what's on Obama's certificate. However, the penalties are small; see §338-30 here.

Note also §338-17.8 (link), under which Obama could have been born outside of Hawaii and still have a Hawaiian birth certificate on file:

Certificates for children born out of State. (a) Upon application of an adult or the legal parents of a minor child, the director of health shall issue a birth certificate for such adult or minor, provided that proof has been submitted to the director of health that the legal parents of such individual while living without the Territory or State of Hawaii had declared the Territory or State of Hawaii as their legal residence for at least one year immediately preceding the birth or adoption of such child.

(b) Proof of legal residency shall be submitted to the director of health in any manner that the director shall deem appropriate. The director of health may also adopt any rules pursuant to chapter 91 that he or she may deem necessary or proper to prevent fraudulent applications for birth certificates and to require any further information or proof of events necessary for completion of a birth certificate.

Here's the full text of the 11/01/08 Honolulu Advertiser article linked above:

State Health Department employees continue to be barraged by requests from people demanding to see Barack Obama's birth certificate, including some who have called the department's registrar of vital statistics at home — in the middle of the night.

"This has gotten ridiculous," state health director Dr. Chiyome Fukino said yesterday. "There are plenty of other, important things to focus on, like the economy, taxes, energy."

So, in what likely will be a vain attempt to halt the inquiries, Fukino yesterday issued a statement saying that she and the registrar of vital statistics personally inspected Obama's birth certificate and found it to be valid.

Will this be enough to quiet the doubters?

"I hope so," Fukino said. "We need to get some work done."

Fukino issued her statement to try to stomp out persistent rumors that Obama was not born in Honolulu — and is therefore not a U.S. citizen and thus ineligible to run for president.

Fukino, however, repeated the Health Department's position that state law prohibits her or any other officials from actually releasing the birth certificate, which Obama's campaign says shows he was born in Honolulu on Aug. 4, 1961.

"There have been numerous requests for Sen. Barack Hussein Obama's official birth certificate," Fukino said in the statement. "State law (Hawai'i Revised Statutes ¤338-18) prohibits the release of a certified birth certificate to persons who do not have a tangible interest in the vital record. ... No state official, including Gov. Linda Lingle, has ever instructed that this vital record be handled in a manner different from any other vital record in the possession of the State of Hawai'i."

The issue has generated attention from around the world — and court challenges across the country.

Obama critics in Ohio, Seattle and Philadelphia have tried to get their state officials to remove Obama's name from their election ballots until his birthplace could be confirmed. Judges, so far, have dismissed all of the suits.

A New York Internet author named Andy Martin has a Circuit Court hearing date set for Friday in Honolulu — three days after Tuesday's presidential election — on his lawsuit to get a certified copy of Obama's birth certificate. Hawai'i's Supreme Court denied Martin's request on Oct. 22 to expedite the hearing.

In Hawai'i, birth, death, marriage and certain divorce documents can only be released to people with a "tangible interest," such as the people themselves, their parents, spouses, grandparents or other relatives.

As a result, Fukino said she does not believe Health Department officials could release Obama's birth certificate to the public even with his permission, although she would need to get a legal ruling to be certain.

Bloggers and Obama critics allege that Obama actually was born in Kenya, but have provided no documentation. Obama supporters and satirists, such as Jon Stewart of "The Daily Show" on Comedy Central, counter that he actually was born on Superman's home planet of Krypton.

Obama's campaign has posted a copy of the Honolulu birth certificate on its Web site at www.fightthesmears.com/articles/5/birthcertificate. The nonpartisan Web site www.Factcheck.org says the document appears to be authentic.

But the Web site documentation has only generated more fuel for skeptics.

They point to the lack of an official state seal on the document, although Health Department officials say seals often are placed on the backs of birth certificates.

Bloggers and other skeptics also wonder why a large black rectangle appears next to the words "CERTIFICATE NO."

Health Department spokeswoman Janice Okubo said the blackened portion is a department file number that was redacted to prevent hackers from breaking into the Health Department's system.

UPDATE: To be precise, it's a "Certification of Live Birth", not a "Certificate of Live Birth".

Politics · Fri, 10/31/2008 - 18:40 · · Importance: 19