Obama's Kenyan Clan Adjusts to Fame

Family members question 'car accident' story

(NEWSER) - The official story is that President Obama’s father died after crashing his car into a tree—but Obama’s family in Kenya fears foul play had a hand in his death, according to a book Peter Firstbrook is working on about the Obamas. Though Barack Sr.’s car appeared to have hit a tree, “he didn’t look like somebody who was involved in an accident,” the president’s cousin told Firstbrook. His grandmother told a similar tale. "His body was never broken, his vehicle was not badly crashed. He was just dead after the accident. Not even much blood was seen." More»

His father told immigrations officials he'd be given up at birth

(NEWSER) - Barack Obama’s father once told immigration officials that he and Ann Dunham were planning to give their then-unborn child up for adoption, writes Sally Jacobs for the Boston Globe . The elder Obama had been under scrutiny from federal immigration officials, who feared that he had another wife in Kenya. In writing a biography of the elder Obama, Jacobs recently obtained a memo from 1961 that reads: “Although they were married they do not live together and Miss Dunham is making arrangements with the Salvation Army to give the baby away." More»

And as for Kenya comment, 'I made a mistake, I corrected it'

(NEWSER) - Mike Huckabee has more to say on both of his recent headline-making statements: That Barack Obama grew up in Kenya , and that Natalie Portman is setting a bad example with her out-of-wedlock pregnancy. Mediaite reports Huckabee’s comments from Sirius Radio’s POTUS channel:

• On Kenya: “The reaction ranged from, ‘This guy is so dumb he doesn’t know that Barack Obama grew up in Indonesia not Kenya,’ all the way to the other extreme, I saw people like Andrea Mitchell saying, ‘Oh no, he did this on purpose, he is very smart and shrewd, he did this in a calculating way.' Well, I can’t be both. I can’t be the dumbest guy in the room and the smartest guy in the room at the same time. I have to be one or the other, or maybe it was just that I made a mistake, I corrected it.”

In response to question about race, president checks one box

(NEWSER) - When he filled out his census form yesterday, President Obama identified himself as African-American. The son of a black Kenyan and a white Kansan, Obama had the option to check more than one box. He didn't hesitate before choosing "Black, African Am., or Negro," White House press secretary Robert Gibbs tells USA Today . The first family's form also reflected the fact that Michelle Obama's mother, Marian Robinson, lives with the Obamas in the White House, notes the AP . More»

Forgery by birthers 'so laughable it’s ridiculous'

(NEWSER) - President Obama’s “Kenyan” birth certificate, posted online by lawyer Orly Taitz, has been debunked as a forgery, and the original document—an old Australian certificate—it was based on has even been discovered. The Australian Broadcast Channel tracked down David Bomford, the man whose genuine birth certificate was used for the forgery. Bomford was quite shocked to have been an unwitting pawn for the US birther movement: More»