John Boehner: 'Not my job' to convince skeptics on Obama birth, religion

House Speaker John Boehner says on 'Meet the Press' he believes President Obama is a Christian and an American: 'I'll take him at his word.' But he won't try to convince skeptical Americans.

By Andrew Zajac, Washington Bureau

February 13, 2011, 11:26 a.m.

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WASHINGTON -- Speaker John Boehner said Sunday that he believed President Obama was a U.S. citizen and a Christian but that it wasn't up to him to convince people who were skeptical of the president's birthplace and religion.

"I believe that the president is a citizen. I believe the president is a Christian. I'll take him at his word," said Boehner, appearing on NBC's "Meet the Press."

Boehner spoke after viewing a video of a Republican focus group in Iowa in which a number of people indicated that they believed Obama was a Muslim.

"As speaker of the House, as a leader, do you not think it's your responsibility to speak out against that kind of ignorance?" asked the host, David Gregory.

"David, it' not my job to tell the American people what to think," Boehner replied. "The American people have the right to think what they want to think."

Obama's citizenship and religion came under discussion during the 2008 presidential campaign and have persisted as topics of raging debate in corners of the conservative blogosphere ever since.

The son of a Kenyan father and an American mother, Obama was born in Hawaii on Aug. 4, 1961. He has said repeatedly that he is a Christian.

Comments (282)

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Archibald at 9:42 PM February 15, 2011

According the United States Constitution, the document that Tea Partiers claim to aver, Articles of Impeachment originate in the United States Congress: The House of Representatives.

Congressman John Boehner is the current Speaker of the House and is the person who has the authority to determine what the House considers, debates, and legislates.

I wish that Boehner would permit his Tea Party crazies to begin hearings into bringing Articles of Impeachment against President Barack Hussein Obama because such hearings would reveal the folly and stupidity of their Birther claims to the United States and the international community.

Boehner will never permit such hearing for that reason.

whataguy at 9:14 PM February 15, 2011

If Boehner spent his time trying to convince people to believe what Obama says, he wouldn't have time to do his job. Obama's credibility is a problem only Obama can solve.

TheZeeman at 9:05 PM February 15, 2011

To All Birthers, and especially SusanGate, why can't you produce a certificate showing that you're not a mongoloid? What are you trying to hide?

P.S. SusanGate, how'd all the campaigning on here for Meg Whitman and Carly Fiorinia work out for you?

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