From what I can gather, proving one is eligible involves making your original birth certificate public. Has any President done so? Could we just as easily say Bush and Clinton didn't show themselves to be eligible either?
No, there has been no President who has ever been required to show his birth certificate. It's never been a legal requirement. All that the previous Presidents of this country have ever had to do is sign legal paperwork affirming that they are qualified per the Constitution and give that to each Secretary of State for the various states and that gets them on the ballot. I also believe that the political parties also have their candidate sign legal paperwork in which the candidate affirms that he is legally qualified.
That's pretty much all that has ever been done in the past with all our Presidents.
However, it would be a good idea for the states to make it a legal requirement that any candidate must produce his birth certificate or else that state will not place the candidate on the ballot.
That's something that I've been saying (since right after the election of Obama) should be done. And there have been several states that have tried to push through legislation for that, too. I believe it's been Arizona, Texas, Oklahoma and Missouri. But, I don't think any of them have succeeded in getting it passed yet. I would like to see a few states pass that legislation. Then I would like to see Obama be required to show it or not be on the ballot in those states ... LOL ...
That’s something that I’ve been saying (since right after the election of Obama) should be done. And there have been several states that have tried to push through legislation for that, too. I believe it’s been Arizona, Texas, Oklahoma and Missouri. But, I don’t think any of them have succeeded in getting it passed yet. I would like to see a few states pass that legislation. Then I would like to see Obama be required to show it or not be on the ballot in those states ... LOL ...
The computerized short form birth certificates are utilized in many states these days as the official state birth certificate. Hawaii is one of those states.
Here’s the law: The Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004, Section 7211, mandated that minimum standards be set for birth certificates acceptable for federal purposes. The Department of Health and Human Services (of which the National Center for Health Statistics is a part) was tasked with issuing the standard. The statute defined a “birth certificate” as follows:
(a) DEFINITION- In this section, the term `birth certificate’ means a certificate of birth–
(1) for an individual (regardless of where born)–
(A) who is a citizen or national of the United States at birth; and
(B) whose birth is registered in the United States; and
(2) that–
(A) is issued by a Federal, State, or local government agency or authorized custodian of record and produced from birth records maintained by such agency or custodian of record; or
(B) is an authenticated copy, issued by a Federal, State, or local government agency or authorized custodian of record, of an original certificate of birth issued by such agency or custodian of record.
The Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act specifically mandates three categories of minimum standards for vital registration, including standards on (1) the certification of birth certificates and the use of safety paper, (2) proof and verification of identity as a condition of issuance of a birth certificate, and (3) processing of birth certificate applications to prevent fraud.
Obama’s short form COLB has been authenticated by the state of Hawaii and he will/would use it to get on the ballot in 2012. The short form contains all of the Constitutionally required information which is place of birth and date of birth.
“I, Dr. Chiyome Fukino, director of the Hawaii State Department of Health, have seen the original vital records maintained on file by the Hawaii State Department of Health verifying Barack Hussein Obama was born in Hawaii and is a natural-born American citizen. I have nothing further to add to this statement or my original statement issued in October 2008 over eight months ago.”—July 27, 2009