The End of the Birther Argument
Last week, while I was sent on several shopping expeditions, I noticed that the tabloid magazine The Globe had a shocking and disturbing article: they found the President’s actual birth certificate from Kenya, with all of the correct birth information.
It seems weird to me that after nearly two years of being President, people still believe that Obama wasn’t born in the United States. Never mind that Obama has already written a memoir about his childhood, including a considerable section about how he grew up for a while in America before moving to Indonesia.
People who honestly believe the lie that Obama is not a US citizen because he was born in Kenya are missing more than a few brain cells. If the lie were true, that Obama isn’t a US citizen, someone would have found out during the primaries and would have asked Obama to respectfully withdraw from running for President.
However, a co-worker of mine this summer pointed out something that was pretty interesting: even if Obama was born in Kenya, he would still be eligible for Presidency, and thus the administration is still legal.
The US Constitution states: “No person except a natural-born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty-five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States.” The language here is pretty clear: as long as the candidate in question is at least 35, lived in the US for 14 years, and is a natural-born US citizen, they can be President.
Which brings us to Obama. Assuming that The Globe is right and has clearly broken the story of the century (and curiously has no major news network covering the story), Obama being born in Kenya to an African father and an American mother still means that Obama is a natural-born citizen. 8 U.S.C. § 1401 says that “a person born in an outlying possession of the United States of parents one of whom is a citizen of the United States who has been physically present in the United States or one of its outlying possessions for a continuous period of one year at any time prior to the birth of such person” is a citizen of the United States. Obama’s mother falls under this category, being born and raised in Kansas before being whisked away to Kenya.
In this scenario, because Obama is still considered a citizen of the United States at birth, he would be a natural-born citizen, thus eligible for the Presidency. Check and mate, Birther Movement.
What’s even more interesting is that Obama’s rival in the Presidential election, John McCain, has similar questions about his citizenship, and yet no one seems to be calling him out on it. McCain was born in Panama to two American parents, but a technicality in 8 U.S.C. § 1403 means that he might not actually be a US citizen.
Then again, the language is pretty clear: “Any person born in the Canal Zone on or after February 26, 1904 … whose father or mother or both at the time of the birth of such person was or is a citizen of the United States, is declared to be a citizen of the United States.”
Bottom line is this: no matter what the Birther Movement tries to spew as fact, it isn’t going to work. Because Obama’s mother is a US citizen, Obama is a natural-born US citizen, and he met all three eligibility requirements for the Presidency. The administration is legal, and anyone who tries to say otherwise is either a racist, or really has zero grasp on the Constitution they cling so dearly to.
August 2, 2010 at 6:40 pm
This is clearly the most idiotic article I have ever read concerning Obama’s illegal presidency. The man was never once for even a half-second a “natural-born” U.S. citizen, was adopted as an Indonesian, attended college as a Foreign Student, travelled to Pakistan and used at least thirty different false Social Security Numbers. Officials and relatives in Kenya have stated it is common knowledge where in Kenya BHO was actually born. The ONLY birth certificate ever produced for BHO is from Kenya. Why was a certification of birth also made in Kenya in 1964? (Probably to do with the Obama’s divorce.) The first two Hawaiian COLBs provided as computer images online were both proven to be false. After Obama was elected prez an alleged authentic and ‘redacted’ Hawaiian COLB was finally provided by the Obama camp. And somebody please find the “birth certificate” Obama mentions having on page 26 of “Dreams from My father”! Obama is technically an illegal-alien.
August 2, 2010 at 7:33 pm
I sincerely hope that this comment was made in jest, because this is probably the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever read. If any of what you just said is remotely near true, don’t you think that would have come up in the vetting process? Being born in Kenya, or being adopted from Indonesia, or travelling to Pakistan and committing identity fraud, those sorts of things can’t just be swept under the rug.
If any of this were true, don’t you think that a whole lot of people would have stepped up and said something about it? Human nature dictates that when someone you know is gaining power and fame, all of the friends, enemies, and others come out of the woodwork to get their 15 minutes. All of Obama’s Kenyan, Indonesian, and Pakistani friends would have been all over the news, and especially all over Fox News. But were they? No. And Fox News would never pass up an opportunity to sabatoge a Democrat.
(And as for the 1964 birth certificate: do you realize how common of a name “Barack Obama” is in Kenya? It’s nearly on par with “Chris Smith” here in the States.)
I hope this sort of drivel can be used as an example of knowing what you’re talking about before saying something. Do a little research, please, before you make yourself look like a fool.
August 25, 2010 at 7:16 am
Obama is not President:
http://www.thepostemail.com/2010/08/17/there-is-no-president-obama/
August 27, 2010 at 1:35 pm
An amusing article, but it offers no conclusive proof. Really, it’s a bunch of hearsay disguised to look like hard hitting evidence. How is flying a Chinese flag proof that Obama is a Communist traitor? How is hanging a Communist party flag in your college dorm room proof that he subscribes to that line of thinking. And finally, who is actually saying that Obama might be the son of Malcolm X? When you’re ready to have a real discussion, let me know.