Urban Myths Legends - Essay Example

The term “urban” does not refer to being city centered, but rather to the fact beliefs are widely held. The myths and legends are allegations purported to be true, but by impartial analysis cannot be verified. They may arise out of deliberate distortions and/or ignorance. The “Birther” Myth Ironically, the allegation that Barrack Obama was not born in the United States originated with Hilary Clinton supporters during her battle with Obama for the Democratic presidential nomination.(A 60-Second History of the “Birther” Movement 2011) A rumor developed that Obama was not born in Hawaii but in Kenya and therefore was not a US citizen eligible to become president.

No doubt Obama’s “funny name” ( the President’s own words) including the middle name of Hussain (bringing up images of Sadam Hussain in peoples minds) helped fuel negative speculation about his real background and intended agenda. However, when Obama won the nomination, Democrats including Hilary Clinton supporters forgot their misgivings and rallied behind him. After Obama was elected president, some Republicans and Republican sympathizers looking to score political points seized on the birther controversy to discredit him.

The group actively pursuing the notion Obama was not a legitimate US president because of his birth location was called the “birther movement”, Their website claims that they have proof Obama’s Hawaii state birth certificate (released to the public) is a forgery and therefore he is not a US citizen and as such is not eligible to be US president under the American Constitution. (birthers.org) While I am not competent to assess the scientific argument put forward that the birth certificate is a forgery, this allegation flies in the face of other evidence supporting his birth, such as that from the Hawaii governor and others who knew his parents and Obama as a child, as well as a newspaper notice shortly after the birth (Silverlieib 2011).

The famous business tycoon, Donald Trump, flirted with running for the Republican presidential nomination argued that Obama should provide his hospital “birth certificate” to prove where he was born as Trump did. Aside from the fact that such a record may no longer be in existence, the hospital certificate, while likely valid, is not an official birth certificate proving citizenship.(Urban Myths Debunk Your Life) The state certificate documents citizenship in the particular state involved and by extension in the United States.

Thus, I submit the birthers have not proven the argument that Obama is not a US citizen by “natural birth” as required by the US constitution. (bithers.org) It is therefore not surprising that most responsible Republicans, while opposing Obama’s policies, disavow themselves from the flimsy (not) US natural birth argument about Obama. Of course, members of the birther movement do not stop just at questioning Obama’s actual birth location and therefore his constitutional eligibility to be US president.

They rationalize that because of his alleged birth status, bear allegiance to the US alone. To support their argument, they point to Secretary of Defence , Leon Panetta’s statement on behalf of the administration that Obama would not engage in military missions abroad without the “permission” of its’ allies and/or international organizations such as NATO and the UN (bithers.org). While I think Panetta’s use of the word “permission” was a poor choice, in the context he did not mean get permission in the same way a child would do so if he asked his parents for something he wanted to do.

Rather, I submit he meant the US would seek a consensus on an appropriate course of action as this would lend legitimacy and justification for the enterprise