'Birther' Debate: Growing Movement Looks to Keep Obama Off State Ballots
After President Barack Obama boycotted a Georgia court hearing that was set to determine his eligibility to appear on the state ballot during the 2012 election, the "birther" movement attempting to delegitimize his citizenship is seeking more support.
Those in support of the birther movement claim that the Department of Health never specifically identified that the president was born in Hawaii, only that his original birth certificate was filed there, according to the birthers.org website. Various people attached to the birther movement have stated that Obama's questionable citizenship should stand in the way of his presidential status.
"This office is simply too important to trust to anyone but a person who was born to parents who were both U.S. citizens at the time of the child's birth," the birther website states.
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Orly Taitz, a California lawyer who has led the "birther" movement against Obama in Georgia courts, recently called on Republican representative Alan West to help her speak out against the president in court.
"Contact Alan West [sic] ask him to join as a plaintiff, bring eligibility before congress," Taitz wrote on her blog Monday. "Talk is cheap, actions matter."
Taitz' commission came after West, a Florida republican representative, spoke out about the state standing against Obama at a Lincoln Day Dinner at West Palm Beach Saturday.
"We need to let President Obama, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, and my dear friend the chairman of the Democratic National Committee, we need to let them know that Florida ain't on the table," West said Saturday at a Lincoln Day Dinner in West Palm Beach.
Although Taitz seems to be looking for West's support to question Obama's natural born citizenship, the Florida representative has stated that the president's policies matter most to him.
"He is a citizen. He's the president. I mean, that's all I know," West said in a townhall meeting last year. "I am concerned about his policies."
Even without West's support the birther movement managed to continue on in a Georgia courtroom. Some people have been concerned that Obama's father was never a citizen and questioning if he was born in the country.
Regardless of the results in Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, Arizona, New Hampshire and Illinois also seem to be propelling their own birther movements. The Obama Ballot Challenge is a website that is monitoring news concerning the constitutional validity of the president appearing on ballots in each state.
"A candidate that is not legally qualified to be on the ballot, such as Barack Obama, steals votes from other candidates who are legally on the ballot," the website states.
The hearing that was held in a Georgia courtroom to question Obama's citizenship on Jan. 26, could potentially impact the president appearing on a Georgia ballot in November. However, Obama's lawyer, Michael Jablonski, informed Georgia's secretary of state that the president would not attend the proceedings on Jan. 26.
In his letter to Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp, Jablonski explained that President Obama had already proven that his citizenship is legitimate.
"It is well established that there is no legitimate issue here -- a conclusion validated time and again by courts around the country. The State of Hawaii produced official records documenting birth there; the President made documents available to the general public by placing them on his website," Jablonski wrote in the letter made public. "We await your taking the requested action, and as we do so, we will, of course, suspend further participation in these proceedings, including the hearing scheduled for January 26."
Kemp responded by warning Obama and Jablonski about skipping the court proceedings.
"If you and your client choose to suspend your participation in the …proceedings, please understand that you do so at your own peril," Kemp replied to the president's attorney.
True to their word, neither President Obama nor Jablonski appeared in court.
After hearing evidence with neither Obama nor his lawyers in attendance, Deputy Chief Judge Michael Malihi has yet to issue his recommendation to Kemp who will make the final decision about Obama appearing on the Georgia ballot in November.
