Breaking 17May2012: Obama's literary agent's '91 material has him born in Kenya

[ingemann]

The article goes out if its way to disavow the "conspiracy theory nonsense".  This is part of Breitbart's vetting Obama series - something the media and McCain campaign did a terrible job of in 2008.  The relevant question is who gave Obama's literary agent the false impression that Obama was born in Kenya?  From where did they get this information?  If it was from Obama himself, why did he want to say he was born in Kenya?

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2012/05/17/literary_agent_says_1991_booklet_was_a_mistake.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+PoliticalWire+%28Political+Wire%29&pos=rrtxt

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Miriam Goderich claims Obama did not give her the information that resulted in her "mistakenly" placing his birth in Kenya.  OK, but she so far fails to state who did give her the information.  This is an omission that cannot long survive.

Btw, I'm not a Birther.  I note that Birtherism originated among Democrats -- Hillary supporters -- and it never gained the currency among Republicans that, for example, "9/11 Trooferism" gained among Democrats.

Obama father was Kenyan economist, something which easily transform when it has been through a few people (like in the telefon game) to "Obama was born in Kenya to a Kenyan finance minister", especially as Obama wasn't important enough at that point, that anyone cared to fact check it . That's a much easier explanation than any conspiracy.

[m4567]

Obama could lose, but he's getting more than 191.

 The way the electoral map is nowadays. Plus, the fact Romney is not that great of a candidate, and Obama is not Carter/Hoover, no matter how much some people wishes he was.

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

While I do believe the birther issue is mostly born out of xenophobia, there are certainly some strange elements in the story. This is one of them.

No there's not and no it isn't.

Dude, I think I've made my position that the birthers have little basis in reality quite clear, but even I think you're being a bit dismissive here.  Was Obama born in Kenya?  Probably not... and I'd be willing to bet a lot on that.  But nobody should be able to say with a straight face that there haven't been some strange elements to the story.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Dude, I think I've made my position that the birthers have little basis in reality quite clear, but even I think you're being a bit dismissive here.  Was Obama born in Kenya?  Probably not... and I'd be willing to bet a lot on that.  But nobody should be able to say with a straight face that there haven't been some strange elements to the story.

Why so craven?

[Tetro Kornbluth]

Having for some perverse reason decided to read through this thread, I can now only echo the sentiments of Oakvale when he said that we (as in the human race) needed to be bombed at once. BOMB IT. BOMB IT NOW.

[Middle-aged Europe]

Barack Obama was "probably" born on this planet.

[Grumpier Than Thou]

Barack Obama was "probably" born on this planet.

His mom was "probably" white. His father was "probably" African. He "probably" is the President of the United States.

But we'll never know.

[HagridOfTheDeep]

In all fairness, I don't even know if you people are real.

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

If Obama is really proven to be from Kenya, Republicans get to rewind time back to January 2009. It'll be like Democrats never won!

[Grumpier Than Thou]

In all fairness, I don't even know if you people are real.

I'm very real.

[old timey villain]

Maybe it was Obama himself who was the original birther because he wanted to create a more interesting life story, since being an upper middle class kid living with his white grandparents in Hawaii seems very Waspy. 

Perhaps he wanted to give the impression that he was a "foreigner" in America and it would be a compelling Horatio Alger story.  Certainly, his odd sounding name is very un-American and most intellectuals would surmise he was from Kenya.  Many second generation immigrants americanize their children's names. 

Obama has always embraced his international upbringing in Kenya and Indonesia.  I would imagine that conversations about his pre-high school days would center on time spent outside the US in foreign nations. 

If Obama really wanted to sell that book now, he can make some money selling it to birthers. 

Congratulations, you have exposed yourself as xenophobic. I have friends named Joey, Colin and Jocelyn, as well as ones named Fernando, Adekunle, Osman and Sanah. And guess what- all of them are Americans. If you seriously think that Obama's name is proof that he is not American, then you have lost all credibility in my eyes.

[HagridOfTheDeep]

All he's saying is "Barack" isn't exactly an Anglo name. Chill out. Have you ever met a white person named Barack?

Of course it's a leap to say "name is Barack=un-American," but it wouldn't be off-base to surmise that he might not be some fifth generation American.

[Oakvale]

Hopefully Obama's first move in his second term will be to have birthers imprisoned in his secret socialist FEMA concentration camps.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

If Obama is really proven to be from Kenya, Republicans get to rewind time back to January 2009. It'll be like Democrats never won!

Yeah, the Panamanian would have won.

[AmericanNation]

If Obama is really proven to be from Kenya, Republicans get to rewind time back to January 2009. It'll be like Democrats never won!

Yeah, the Panamanian would have won.

I wonder if it would have been different if he was born on say an aircraft carrier instead of the canal zone?  Or a US embassy?   

[Donerail]

If Obama is really proven to be from Kenya, Republicans get to rewind time back to January 2009. It'll be like Democrats never won!

Yeah, the Panamanian would have won.

I wonder if it would have been different if he was born on say an aircraft carrier instead of the canal zone?  Or a US embassy?   

If he were born on an aircraft carrier (assuming it was in international waters), certain folks would get very worked up because, obviously, since he was born in "international" waters he would be loyal to "international" elements such as TEH UN AGENDA 21 WORLD CURRENCY PLOT!!1!!!!!11!

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

All he's saying is "Barack" isn't exactly an Anglo name. Chill out. Have you ever met a white person named Barack?

Of course it's a leap to say "name is Barack=un-American," but it wouldn't be off-base to surmise that he might not be some fifth generation American.

I haven't met him personally, but I understand there's this guy in Israel called Ehud Barak, and he seems pretty 'white'.  I'll agree that as a name it doesn't exactly scream "Hi I'm Anglo-Saxon" but if I heard the name "Barack Obama" and was going to make a judgment about that person's ethnicity sight unseen, I'd probably guess Middle-Eastern. Or Irish. :-)

[politicus]

All he's saying is "Barack" isn't exactly an Anglo name. Chill out. Have you ever met a white person named Barack?
Of course it's a leap to say "name is Barack=un-American," but it wouldn't be off-base to surmise that he might not be some fifth generation American.

I haven't met him personally, but I understand there's this guy in Israel called Ehud Barak, and he seems pretty 'white'.  I'll agree that as a name it doesn't exactly scream "Hi I'm Anglo-Saxon" but if I heard the name "Barack Obama" and was going to make a judgment about that person's ethnicity sight unseen, I'd probably guess Middle-Eastern. Or Irish. :-)

Barry O'Bama would be kinda cool

[milhouse24]

Maybe it was Obama himself who was the original birther because he wanted to create a more interesting life story, since being an upper middle class kid living with his white grandparents in Hawaii seems very Waspy. 

Perhaps he wanted to give the impression that he was a "foreigner" in America and it would be a compelling Horatio Alger story.  Certainly, his odd sounding name is very un-American and most intellectuals would surmise he was from Kenya.  Many second generation immigrants americanize their children's names. 

Obama has always embraced his international upbringing in Kenya and Indonesia.  I would imagine that conversations about his pre-high school days would center on time spent outside the US in foreign nations. 

If Obama really wanted to sell that book now, he can make some money selling it to birthers. 

Congratulations, you have exposed yourself as xenophobic. I have friends named Joey, Colin and Jocelyn, as well as ones named Fernando, Adekunle, Osman and Sanah. And guess what- all of them are Americans. If you seriously think that Obama's name is proof that he is not American, then you have lost all credibility in my eyes.

Liberals actually prefer internationally-friendly candidates, as opposed to nationalistic candidates like Bush.  Liberals are pro-immigration and probably want the constitution changed so that foreign born immigrants can become president, especially with the popularity of liberal Arnold Schwarz from california, and fake liberal arianna huffington.  If it were up to liberals, the US would be governed by the United Nations and Kofi Annan or whoever their leader is. 

[BigSkyBob]

The full image also includes Tip O'Neill's bio, which lists him as becoming Speaker of the House in 1976. In actuality, he didn't become speaker until 1977. Looks like the fact checking on these bios was non-existent.

No, the article lists Tip O'Neill as being "named" Speaker of the House in 1976. I believe that the Democratic caucus vote to nominate O'Neill as the Democratic nominee for Speaker occured in 1976.

[BigSkyBob]

I don't appreciate being highlighted as if I'm some imbecile, Oakvale. There ARE strange things about the birther issue. I don't believe Obama was born in Kenya because, finally, Obama released his birth certificate. End of story. But it's certainly strange that something like this biography was dug up. It was strange that Obama took so long to release his birth certificate and instead chose to let the issue gain steam. That's all I'm saying.

Oh, that's easy enough to explain: Obama didn't release his transcripts from Columbia, his articles at the Harvard Law review, and a series of other issues. Coming clean on one issue won't look good for the others.

[HagridOfTheDeep]

The media likes to hype up the idea that Mitt Romney is, at this point, unknown to the public. But really, we know very little about Obama because they gave him a free pass. And what we do know isn't exactly that reassuring.

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

The media likes to hype up the idea that Mitt Romney is, at this point, unknown to the public. But really, we know very little about Obama because they gave him a free pass. And what we do know isn't exactly that reassuring.

a) obviously not reassuring to you... and
b) it's not like the information on Obama isn't there for you to find...

and it's Romney's strategy to make sure you don't know anything about him.

[AmericanNation]

The media likes to hype up the idea that Mitt Romney is, at this point, unknown to the public. But really, we know very little about Obama because they gave him a free pass. And what we do know isn't exactly that reassuring.

b) it's not like the information on Obama isn't there for you to find...

let me just find the detailed reporting on how Tony Resco bought Obama's house ...O wait.
Let's see how BO's campaigns have 'magically' unsealed sealed court documents ...O wait. 
you could do a lot of these, so your statement doesn't really hold up.   
 

[BigSkyBob]

The media likes to hype up the idea that Mitt Romney is, at this point, unknown to the public. But really, we know very little about Obama because they gave him a free pass. And what we do know isn't exactly that reassuring.

a) obviously not reassuring to you... and
b) it's not like the information on Obama isn't there for you to find...

and it's Romney's strategy to make sure you don't know anything about him.

Where, exactly, can I find his college transcripts? The articles he wrote for the Harvard Law Review?