Huckabee claims inaccurately that Obama was raised in Kenya

By Emi Kolawole

Last updated at 5:17 p.m.:

Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee got his facts wrong when he claimed twice during an interview Monday that President Obama was raised in Kenya.

During an interview with The Steve Malzberg Show, Huckabee said the president, "having grown up in Kenya," would have a different - more hostile - perspective on the British:

I would love to know more. What I know is troubling enough. And one thing that I do know is his having grown up in Kenya, his view of the Brits, for example, [is] very different than the average American.

He repeated the claim, saying:

...if you think about it, his perspective as growing up in Kenya with a Kenyan father and grandfather, their view of the Mau Mau Revolution in Kenya is very different than ours because he probably grew up hearing that the British were a bunch of imperialists who persecuted his grandfather.

The Associated Press reports that a Huckabee adviser did not have an immediate explanation for Huckabee's comments

The president, a United States citizen, was in fact raised in Hawaii and Indonesia. The president's father was born in Kenya and his mother was born in Kansas.

Huckabee did not go as far as to say the president did not grow up in the United States or that his birth certificate was forged, as "birthers" believe. Asked if he would ask the president about his birth certification in a debate, Huckabee said:

The only reason I'm not as confident that there's something about the birth certificate, Steve, is because I know the Clintons [inaudible] and believe me, they have lots of investigators out on him, and I'm convinced if there was anything that they could have found on that, they would have found it, and I promise they would have used it.

Huckabee is a host on the FOX News Channel and is expected to consider a 2012 presidential bid.

The interview audio is available here, the conversation begins around minute 13:00.

UPDATE 5:17 p.m.: Huckabee spokesman Hogan Gidley gave the following statement to Politico:



"Governor Huckabee simply misspoke when he alluded to President Obama growing up in 'Kenya.' The Governor meant to say the President grew up in Indonesia."

"When the Governor mentioned he wanted to know more about the President, he wasn't talking about the President's place of birth - the Governor believes the President was born in Hawaii. The Governor would however like to know more about where President Obama's liberal policies come from and what else the President plans to do to this country - as do most Americans."

(h/t Media Matters