His campaign literature says that his name is Barack Hussein Obama II, that he is a U.S. Senator and that he is a U.S. citizen born in the city and county of Honolulu, Hawaii. 

In spite of his continuing declarations, questions of his birthplace persist.  Is it possible that he was born in Kenya, the home of his father?  His paternal grandmother, who is still alive and lives in Kenya, said recently that she was present when he was born in a hospital in Kenya.  On the other hand, his half-sister said he was born in one hospital in Honolulu while Obama says he was born in another, different hospital.

Why the disparity?  Who knows?  But, to clear things up, all Obama has to do is produce a legally sufficient birth certificate to prove his citizenship. He has repeatedly refused to do so. He has, in fact, been sued by a former deputy attorney general of Pennsylvania, and attorneys in other states, to prove his citizenship. Those cases are pending.

Why is his citizenship important? Because the U.S. constitution says that candidates for president must, among other things, be a U.S. citizen. John McCain, who was born in Panama to U.S. military parents, quickly produced his birth certificate when asked.

Here is another unsettling question about identity.  When his parents divorced, his mother remarried and she and Obama went to Indonesia to live with his stepfather. 

While there, Obama attended school in Indonesia for four years.  His school records show that he used the name of Barry Sentoro (his stepfather’s surname) and that he was registered as an Indonesian citizen and his religion was listed as Islam.

OK, I guess you can use any name you want, but was he a citizen of Indonesia?

 If so, he would have had to go through the naturalization process when he returned to the U.S.  Again, all he has to do to put this to rest is show a legally sufficient birth certificate.

And yes, you can change religions — lots of people do. He claims to be a Christian.  But, is he really?

 In his best-selling book Audacity of Hope, Obama says, ”I will stand with the Muslims should the political winds shift in an ugly direction.”  So, is he Christian or Muslim?

Racism has been rearing its ugly head during this long campaign and the charge is normally used against the whites.  Yet, in his other book, Dreams of My Father, Obama said, “I ceased to advertise my mother’s race at the age of 12 or 13, when I began to suspect that by doing so I was ingratiating myself to whites.”  Or, same source, “I found solace in nursing a pervasive sense of grievance against my mother’s race.”  The text of that book has numerous other such racial remarks also.  He says that he’s not a racist, but is he really?

There are questions about how he paid for his very expensive education.  He has been purposely vague and, in fact, will not allow his records to be released by the universities he attended.  Why not?

He claims to have severed all relationship with Rev. Wright, Father Pfleger and Louis Farrakhan, and he disclaims any relationship with William Ayers, Tony Rezko and a couple of other persons of questionable leanings and backgrounds.  But he has, in the past, had relationships with each and every one of those men. 

So, does that make him a religious radical, a terrorist or a crook?  Probably not but it does cause me to ask once more, who is this man?

(Ford lives in Napa.)