On April 3, 2007, Barack Obama’s publisher said he was “born in Kenya”
This is a link to the Internet Archive Wayback Machine. It is a copy of the website of Obama’s publisher (Dystel & Goderich Literary Management) dated April 3, 2007. It says that Obama was “born in Kenya.”
Dystel & Goderich Literary Management
April 3, 2007
BARACK OBAMA is the junior Democratic senator from Illinois and was the dynamic keynote speaker at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. He was also the first African-American president of the Harvard Law Review. He was born in Kenya to an American anthropologist and a Kenyan finance minister and was raised in Indonesia, Hawaii, and Chicago. His first book, DREAMS FROM MY FATHER: A STORY OF RACE AND INHERITANCE, has been a long time New York Times bestseller.
This does not mean that Obama was born in Kenya. Instead, what it does mean is that on April 3, 2007, his publisher said that he was “born in Kenya.”
In 2012, a former employee of his publisher said that this was a “fact checking error” that happened in 1991.
In my mind, this raises the following three questions:
1) If this was a “fact checking error,” where did this false information originate?
2) Why did this false information remain in place for sixteen years?
3) Why did it only get corrected in 2007, when Obama announced that he was running for President?
September 4, 2012. Tags: Barack Obama, Obama. Politics.
DYNAMOpolitics replied:
Could the fact-checking error have occurred because Barack Obama Sr. was born in Kenya, and not Jr.? It seems like a mistake an intern like myself would make.
September 4, 2012 at 9:13 pm. Permalink.
Gary Miller replied:
Jesus, give this crap a rest.
September 4, 2012 at 9:42 pm. Permalink.
HAHAHAno. replied:
Because EVERYTHING ON THE INTERNET IS TRUE.
September 6, 2012 at 9:42 am. Permalink.
danfromsquirrelhill replied:
ABC News is a pretty reliable source. They aren’t saying that Obama was born in Kenya. They are saying that for 16 years, from 1991 to 2007, his publisher said he was “born in Kenya.”
September 6, 2012 at 9:48 am. Permalink.
Lisa Baldry replied:
Oh People come on we aren’t stupid.. Obama was born in Kenya he just needs to cover it up now.. what does it matter he already has been president for 3 years. Let’s just hope America wakes up and sends him back to Kenya…
September 6, 2012 at 1:42 pm. Permalink.
Matty Dee replied:
Well, first off, this tidbit has not been online since 1991 for several reasons, most notably, the lack of a widely accessible, public WWW. Secondly, Dreams From My Father wasn’t even published yet in 1991. It was released in July, 1995. This research took me 18seconds to complete and an additional 26 to twice confirm.
The typo wasn’t in place for 16 years, nor 11 years. I realize the publisher’s statement implies this, but it’s clearly not true. All your reference
shows is that one website, in April of 2007, made an admitted factual error in its about me about one of its authors. A mistake that given his fathers name and birthplace is an easy one to make.
Like most of your posts, your facts are dubious at best and your conclusions are the worst kind of logic-defying.
September 6, 2012 at 2:43 pm. Permalink.
danfromsquirrelhill replied:
The ABC article says a paper pamphlet with the “born in Kenya” was first printed in 1991. The online bio was updated several times, but those updates still maintained the claim of “born in Kenya” until 2007. This is according to the ABC article. And it was not a “typo.” There is no “typo” so strong that it could turn “Hawaii” into “Kenya.”
September 6, 2012 at 6:27 pm. Permalink.