[...]This chain e-mail is a transparent April Fools' Day hoax. It fabricates an AP news story about an nonexistent group, and makes false claims about Obama and the Fulbright program.


The claim is that Obama received a Fulbright scholarship for foreign students, proving that he is not a U.S. citizen and therefore not eligible to be president. Supposedly this was reported by The Associated Press. But the claim is false and the story is a hoax.

[center]April Fake[/center]
We contacted The Associated Press just to confirm what should be obvious, that no such news story ever appeared on the news agency's wires. Jack Stokes, the AP's manager of media relations, gave us this statement:

Furthermore, the group that the fake story credits with gaining release of the supposed "smoking gun" documents is also a fake. Searches of news accounts and Internet sites showed no trace of any group called "Americans for Freedom of Information," until recently. On May 6 such a group did appear, but only as a joke to make fun of anyone who had fallen for the April Fools' Day gag. An anonymous blogger set up a site calling itself "Americans for Freedom of Information: We Do Not Exist." Its first entry begins:


[center]Where Truth Ends[/center]

Not all versions of this e-mail carry the telltale April 1 dateline, however. And more than a month after it first appeared we continue to get questions about whether it is true, and to see postings on conservative blogs that seem to accept its claims as fact. But not only is the message a hoax, its key claims are as false as they can be.

Among the few claims that are true in this message is that from fall 1979 through spring 1981 Obama attended Occidental College, a small (currently 1,825 students, according to its Web site) school in Los Angeles. After that he transferred to Columbia University in New York City to finish his undergraduate education. The photo here is from his application to Occidental.

It's also true that Obama was on scholarship while at Occidental, according to articles in the Los Angeles Times and Boston Globe.

But that's about where the truth ends. For those who might believe that even a fake news story quoting a nonexistent organization might still have some validity, we offer these facts:
No Fulbright: Contrary to what this e-mail claims, Obama's scholarship wasn't a Fulbright. It's true that many foreign students come to the U.S. under the Fulbright program, sponsored by the United States Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. But Fulbrights for foreign students are primarily intended for graduate students studying for masters' degrees or Ph.D. degrees, not for college freshmen and sophomores.

No "Soetoro": Another false claim is that Obama attended and received financial aid "under the name Barry Soetoro," using the surname of his Indonesian stepfather Lolo Soetoro. The college's Director of Communications Jim Tranquada told us there's no record of that. He told us in an e-mail:

No Records: It's not even true that Occidental has released Obama's student records, as claimed in the message. Nor have courts ordered any such records to be made public. According to the college spokesman:

Furthermore there's no trace of the supposed Daily Mail story headlined "Obama Eligibility Questioned," either on the newspaper's Web site or in the Nexis database of stories published by the paper. The claim that the Supreme Court recently agreed to hear a case brought by Leo Donofrio is also false; the high court in fact refused to grant a hearing in that case back on Dec. 8, 2008.

There is a group called the "United States Justice Foundation," and it does list a Gary Kreep as its executive director. But we find no report of any study of Obama's legal spending on its Web site, or any mention of turning information over to Attorney General Eric Holder. We've asked Kreep about this in an e-mail message, and will update this item should we receive a reply.

Update: May 28: Kreep responded simply: "It's all a hoax."

-Brooks Jackson

AP Thursday, July 28, 2011 WASHINGTON D.C. In a move certain to fuel the debate over Obama's qualifications for the presidency, the group "Americans for Freedom of Information" has released copies of President Obama's college transcripts from Occidental College . Released today, the school transcript indicates that Obama, under the name Barry Soetoro, received financial aid as a foreign student from Indonesia as an undergraduate. The transcript was released by Occidental College in compliance with a court order in a suit brought by the group in the Superior Court of California.

The transcript shows that Obama (Soetoro) applied for financial aid and was awarded a fellowship for foreign students from the Fulbright Foundation Scholarship program. To qualify, for the scholarship, a
student must claim foreign citizenship. This document would seem to provide the smoking gun that many of Obama's detractors have been seeking. Along with the evidence that he was first born in Kenya and
there is no record of him ever applying for US citizenship, this is looking pretty grim.

The news has created a firestorm at the White House as the release casts increasing doubt about Obama's legitimacy and qualification to serve as President article titled, "Obama Eligibility Questioned,"
leading some to speculate that the story may overshadow economic issues on Obama's first official visit to the U.K. In a related matter, under growing pressure from several groups, _JUSTICE ANTONIN
SCALIA ANNOUNCED THAT THE SUPREME COURT AGREED ON TUESDAY TO HEAR ARGUMENTS CONCERNING OBAMA'S LEGAL ELIGIBILITY TO SERVE AS PRESIDENT IN A CASE BROUGHT BY LEO DONOFRIO OF __NEW JERSEY__. THIS LAWSUIT CLAIMS OBAMA'S DUAL CITIZENSHIP DISQUALIFIED HIM FROM SERVING AS
PRESIDENT. DONOFRIO'S CASE IS JUST ONE OF _ _18 SUITS__BROUGHT BY CITIZENS DEMANDING PROOF OF OBAMA'S CITIZENSHIP OR QUALIFICATION TO SERVE AS PRESIDENT._

That's what I love about the birthers -- they keep falling for the same half dozen hoaxes over and over. Slap a fresh date on it, re-post it, and watch the fun.

Has any birther ever been embarrassed about making a stupid mistake like that? I mean, ever??

'Birthers' claim Obama applied to college as a foreigner ...

And, the fake story said, the transcript was released by Occidental “in compliance with a court order.” ...

Occidental has no record of a “Barry Soetoro” ever attending, nor was there every any such court order, said Jim Tranquada, Occidental College’s communications director, who personally answers the inquiries, demands and pleas of people looking for proof that the president is not who he claims to be. ...

So who, exactly, has access to the president’s record at Occidental?

“The hard file for the president is under lock and key,” Tranquada said. The decision to protect the file from unauthorized eyes was made in 2008 by Occidental Registrar Victor Eggito, Tranquada said, not at the behest of Obama or his campaign.

If the implication is that the President's records are getting unique treatment, being afforded privacy beyond what is generally required by law, that does strike me as odd.

The records of famous people often become the object of peeping toms who have access to confidential records as a general matter. Securing Mr. Obama's records may have been as much to protect those records as to protect peeping toms from their own weaknesses. I see nothing wrong with what was done, if the records were more securely protected than those of Mary Hizzenhouzer.

The phrase "under lock and key" was not the best choice of words. All transcripts are under lock and key with access only by authorized persons in the Registrar's office. A better choice might have been to say that, currently only the Registrar has access to Obama's transcript.

If the implication is that the President's records are getting unique treatment, being afforded privacy beyond what is generally required by law, that does strike me as odd.

That being understood I'd agree with Stern's apparent common sense view that what they are doing is understandable, reasonable and consistent with what would be expected in the circumstances.