CNN Poll Shocker: Only 42% of Americans Believe Obama's Birth Story

Only 42% of Americans are definitely certain Barack Obama was born in the United States. 29% would only say they think he probably was. That leaves 27% who think Barack Obama was at least probably born elsewhere.

CNN reported:

The president celebrates his 49th birthday Wednesday. On the same day, a new national poll indicates some Americans continue to doubt the president was born in the United States. According to a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey, more than a quarter of the public have doubts about Obama's citizenship, with 11 percent saying Obama was definitely not born in the United States and another 16 percent saying the president was probably not born in the country.

How did such a large percentage of Americans come to doubt a sitting President's birth story? The fault lies with President Obama. For some unknown reason, he has refused to release the original long form of his birth certificate. Obama has released a computer generated short form (see above) from Hawaii and there is a record of his birth announcement in two Hawaiian newspapers. This post from the middle of last year addresses some of the reasons there people who still have questions about Obama's birth. Of course, Obama could clear this up today by releasing the long form with the hospital and attending physician's name. He most likely has the original document. He wrote about it on page 26 of his 1995 book "Dreams of my Father."

“I discovered this article, folded away among my birth certificate and old vaccination forms, when I was in high school,”

The real question Barack Obama may be trying to avoid is his 'natural born citizen' status. Presidents are required to be 'natural born citizens' under the Constitution. President Obama's mother was an American, but Barack Obama Sr. was a British subject. The Constitution is murky on what exactly was meant by 'natural born.' The purpose of this requirement was to prevent people with divided loyalties from becoming president. The founding fathers didn't want people with loyalty to another country, mainly Great Britain at the time, to become president. Since Obama would have held dual American-British citizenship at birth, he would seem to possibly be in the category our founding fathers intended to exclude. Of course, the British are our allies now and this provision seems archaic to many. There were also questions in 2008 about John McCain's 'natural born' status, since he was born on U.S. territory in Panama. The Senate passed a resolution affirming their belief he met the 'natural born' rquirement. Barack Obama's status was never discussed by the Senate. Since the law is murky, the issue would now have to be resolved by the courts. They won't touch it with a ten foot pole because a finding that Obama isn't a 'natural born citizen' would overturn a popular U.S. election of the first African-American President.