NASHVILLE – There's a new billboard in the capital of country music – and it's not promoting the Grand Ole Opry.
It asks simply, "Where's the birth certificate?"
And, with the latest polls showing 58 percent of Americans skeptical about Barack Obama's constitutional eligibility for office, it's the latest in a campaign by WND founder and Chief Executive Officer Joseph Farah's campaign to make Barack Obama prove it.
Billboard in Nashville, Tenn. |
The latest billboard is at 5000 Harding Place, right next to J. Barleycorn's Beverage Barn in a busy intersection.
The billboard campaign has posted dozens of signs throughout the country since it was launched in 2009.
Billboard near Panama City, Fla. |
Farah attributes widespread interest in the great "birth-certificate
controversy" to the billboard campaign that, he believes, rekindled the debate about
Obama's constitutional eligibility for office. The campaign asks the simple
but unanswered question, "Where's the birth certificate?"
The campaign has been sustained by contributions from WND visitors and others who have
discovered it from simply driving past a billboard.
Farah is convinced that it's working and promises to sustain it if he can continue to get financial help.
"No matter how hard my colleagues try to make the public forget about this issue,
no matter how hard they attempt to ridicule anyone who wants to see the proof, no matter
how much they demean even decorated military officers who take their own oaths seriously,
this issue will not go away. It's going to be around in 2012. It may even be the defining
issue in 2012," he said.
Billboard near Navarre, Fla. |
Farah says he could not have pulled off the campaign without the support of WND's
visitors. The cost of the
billboards has been offset by donations – and Farah says he wants to step up the
campaign because it's winning.
The latest
CBS–New York Times poll showed only 58 percent of Americans even think
Obama was born in the USA. Another later poll by CNN indicated six in 10 hold doubts about
Obama's birth and, therefore, eligibility.
Billboard near Talledega, Ala. |
"I'm quite sure based on our own polls that if those people were asked whether
they would like to see Obama release his birth certificate, more than half the country
would say 'yes' – and all the other personal papers he has refused to
disclose," Farah said.
Farah says the billboards have had a lot to do with changing popular opinion
– even if the media don't get it.
"People simply shouldn't have to conjecture about where they think their president
was born," he says. "It ought to be a matter of public record – and it
clearly is not."
Aside from the billboard campaign, WND has devoted more
investigative reporting to the issue of eligibility than "all other media outlets
combined," says Farah.
In addition, the billboard campaign was rejected by three major billboard companies,
all owned by major media outlets – CBS, Clear Channel and Lamar.
Billboard near Bethel, Pa. |
"What I need Americans to understand is that this billboard campaign is
working," said Farah. "There is no shortage of billboards available to us. The only thing there's a
shortage of is the money to erect them. We need to raise tens of thousands of dollars a
month just to keep them in place."
"The impact of the billboards is magnified by local television and talk-radio
shows in every market they enter," explains Farah. "It's not just the billboard.
It's the earned media that comes along with it. It's astounding. We have turned millions
of people around on this issue with the billboards. It's just that simple."
"What I need Americans to understand is that this billboard campaign is working," said Farah. "There is no shortage of billboards available to us. The only thing there's a shortage of is the money to erect them. We need to raise tens of thousands of dollars a month just to keep them in place."
"The impact of the billboards is magnified by local television and talk-radio shows in every market they enter," explains Farah. "It's not just the billboard. It's the earned media that comes along with it. It's astounding. We have turned millions of people around on this issue with the billboards. It's just that simple."
In addition to the billboard campaign, Farah has:
- produced a
video-documentary primer on the issue called "A Question of Eligibility"; - produced a 40-page
special report on the subject; - manufactured yard and
rally signs to bring attention to the topic; - pledged to donate at
least $15,000 to any hospital in Hawaii or anywhere else that provides proof Obama was
born there and given you an opportunity to raise the amount; - created a line of
T-shirts you can wear to appearances by the president to raise visibility of the issue; - created a fund to which
you can donate to further the kind of investigative reporting into this matter only this
company has performed over the last two years; - launched a line of
postcards you can use to keep the issue alive; - distributed thousands of
bumper stickers asking, "Where's the birth certificate?"; - perhaps
most notably, gathered more than 500,000 names on a petition demanding any and all
controlling legal authorities in this matter take appropriate action to see the
requirements of the Constitution of the United States are followed; - gathered another
25,000 names on a second petition attempting to rally state officials to make presidential
candidates prove their eligibility before getting on ballots.
"There are all kinds of things we need to do right now to get our country back on
track, but I can think of nothing more important than for us to see that our Constitution
is observed, followed, adhered to and honored, especially when it comes to such simple,
straightforward matters as the eligibility of the president of the United States,"
says Farah. "Please
help me bring this matter to a head right now."
See
birth-certificate signs around the country.
Related offers:
Get the most comprehensive
special report ever produced on the Obama eligibility issue.