While Britain prepared to celebrate the marriage of Prince William and Kate Middleton with traditional pomp and ceremony, due to take place on April 29, in the United States headlines were captured on April 27 by the release of President Obama’s birth certificate.
According to the U.S. Constitution, only persons born in the United States are eligible to hold the position of President. Ever since Obama, whose father was Kenyan, announced his intention to run for the presidential elections of 2008, there have been those who have sought to disqualify him on the grounds that he was born outside of the United States. Followers of this conspiracy theory are known as “birthers”.
As the birth certificate above shows, Obama was born in the State of Hawaii in 1961.
Hawaii is the newest of the U.S. states. It became a State on August 21, 1959. It is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands.
In displaying his birth certificate, Obama suggested that Americans put an end to the “silliness”.
This subject will hopefully now become a “non-issue”.
Meanwhile, most Britons look forward to the issue of a marriage certificate for Harry and Kate. For the moment, we can only display the official invitation: