Rush Limbaugh opened his top-rated program today asking why Hawaii Gov. Neil Abercrombie appears to have no support from the White House in his publicized quest to resolve the growing doubt about Barack Obama's eligibility for the Oval Office.

"Where's Obama? Where's the White House? Is this guy flying alone? Neil Abercrombie on his own on this? So much of this is difficult to fathom, to believe," the king of talk radio said.

Limbaugh noted WND's story Wednesday that has led to established media such as the Daily Mail of London declaring in a headline: "Hawaii governor claims record of Obama's birth 'exists in archives' but cannot produce the vital document."

"The story originated at WorldNetDaily in this country earlier, and of course if it originates anywhere outside the mainstream press, the mainstream press will not acknowledge it," Limbaugh told his listeners.

Get the free, in-depth special report on eligibility that could bring an end to Obama's presidency

Abercrombie said in a Honolulu Star-Advertiser interview published Tuesday that he wanted to resolve the issue because he feared it would jeopardize Obama's re-election in 2012.

"But he's done the exact opposite now," Limbaugh said. "How many of us could get away with saying, 'Yeah there's a little notation somewhere there in the archives, but we can't find the birth certificate.'"

ABC News ran a story on its website leading with, "Officials in Hawaii say they have located President Obama's birth certificate indicating that he was born in the state, but have yet to produce the document at the heart of a long-simmering conspiracy theory."

Hear part of Limbaugh's opening segment:

Puzzling over Abercrombie's investigation, Limbaugh began by pointing out the governor's knowledge of the "ins and outs of electoral politics" as a veteran of 20 years in the U.S. House of Representatives.

But Abercrombie made a mistake, Limbaugh said, in announcing his investigation in December before he was sure that he could produce the proof.

Abercrombie told the Honolulu paper that resolving the issue is "a matter of principle with me."

"I knew his mom and dad. I was here when he was born. Anybody who wants to ask a question honestly could have had their answer already," Abercrombie said.

However, Limbaugh countered, nobody has "come forward to definitively prove it."

"In fact, most government officials have apparently done their best to seal it all off," he said. "Whatever there is, they've sealed it all off, and they've tried to pooh-pooh any interest in it. And they have attempted to impugn those who have interest in it."

For liberals, he said, the issue is no big deal, "It's merely a presidential, constitutional requirement."

The Constitution, as far as liberals are concerned, he said, is an "impediment to them."

Limbaugh commented on the Daily Mail story's statement that most theories about Obama's birth "have been dismissed by many in public office and the media, and have been found to be misleading or generally untrue."

"It doesn't say most theories have been dismissed by public records officials," Limbaugh said. "It just says dismissed by many in public office and in the media. Well, big whoop."

Limbaugh launched into speculation about why Abercrombie would take up the quest, seemingly on his own.

"I would think that if Abercrombie is going to do this, he's not the Lone Ranger," Limbaugh said. "He's gotta be calling the White House, 'OK, look, we've got a potential problem here; I want to find this thing, and I want to make it public.'"

If that happened, Limbaugh conjectured, somebody in the White House didn't say no, "because Abercrombie is still alive."

"If they had said don't do it, and Abercrombie is still doing it … I don't want to even think of the consequences of that."

The issue shouldn't be difficult to resolve, he insisted.

"If somebody wanted your birth certificate, and you don't have it, what do you do? You go to the state where you were born, go to the vital records, and you go down there and you make a copy of it, and produce it, and let it be seen," he said.

Originally, Limbaugh said, the speculation about why Obama has not released his long-form birth certificate was that he wanted to "toy" with "birthers," to illustrate that they are a bunch of "loony tune, kook right-wingers."

In the meantime, he said, numerous lawsuits challenging Obama's eligibility have been thrown out, leading to the conclusion that "he was born in Hawaii, it isn't any big deal."

But now, in the wake of Abercrombie's apparent admissions, Obama supporters, he said, still cannot produce the proof.

"This is stunning to me," Limbaugh said. "(They) still can't prove it."

Limbaugh then speculated that it's possible Abercrombie's moves could be "a giant head-fake."

"It's hard for me to believe that Neil Abercrombie just one day woke up and on his own and without consultation said, 'This birth thing bugs me. I'm going to call a press conference, and I'm going to tell people I was there when he was born, and I knew his mom and dad, and he was born here, and I can prove it."

If Abercrombie is acting on his own "that's just unbelievable," he said.

"The alternative is he's not acting on his own. This is all part of a continuing head-fake, and that at some point after a lot of people have gotten revved up – the U.K. Daily Mail online is more mainstream than anywhere else in America this has been – so it ratchets up, it ratchets up, and a couple of years down the road, guess what, the thing is found, and can you imagine the air that would be let out of people's sails then?"

Limbaugh said he believes the Obama administration is capable of that kind of "trick."

"Why is the governor of Hawaii vowing to do his best to end the controversy?" Limbaugh asked.

"Where is the president on this? Where is the president's vow to end the debate over his birth?"

Related story:

Old media now curious: Where's birth certificate?

Jan. 21, 2011

• Obama
• Go Back

Related in this Category