Question on Obama's Citizenship?

I brought this question up in an answer I gave someone before the election while I was researching which candidate to vote for.

While going through the personal histories of John McCain and Barack Obama, I discovered that Obama wasn't an American-born citizen, and actually held British citizenship for at least the first ten years of his life.

Article II of the Constitution of the United States states that, in order to be elected president, the candidate must be a natural-born American citizen (born in the United States or one of its territories, with the father also a US Citizen) and has to have been a permanent resident of the United States for at least 14 years (this has kept Governor Schwarzenegger from running for president - he was born in Austria).

Barack Obama was born of a father with British citizenship in Hawaii, and lived much of his younger years in Indonesia, not the United States.

The United States Supreme Court recently refused to review a case brought on by someone in New England (a Democratic stronghold) about this.

Under Article II, Section V of the Constitution of the United States of America, isn't Obama disqualified from being president? After all, he's not a natural-born citizen of the United States, but of England.

2008-12-08T14:15:30Z

So, in other words, what all of you are saying is that we should ignore the Constitution just because YOU want Obama to be president.

I'm just saying maybe we should replace him with Biden, who is a natural born citizen.

2008-12-08T14:17:04Z

Oh, and yes, I know he's born in Hawaii.

However, his father isn't an American citizen and never was. He was a British citizen, and Obama was born in Hawaii only because they were on vacation there.

Obama's father later moved to Kenya, where he died.

Obama's stepfather was Indonesian-born and an Indonesian citizen, but stepfather's don't count anyway.

2008-12-08T14:21:24Z

@ Burnt Bagel - Maybe you should brush up on your history. No, the Constitution doesn't say the word "father." It says "natural-born citizen."

The definition of natural born citizen is someone who is born on American soil (Hawaii was American soil in 1961 during Obama's birth) of parents who are American citizens. Obama's mother was an American citizen. Obama's father was an English citizen. Therefore, Obama's disqualified.

Read it and weep, my friend.

BEE712008-12-08T14:46:41Z

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You need to brush up on your Constitution a little bit. The Fourteenth Amendment states "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States." Clearly, someone born in the U.S. (i.e., President-Elect Obama in the State of Hawaii) is a U.S. citizen, end of story. The US Supreme Court already has ruled on the issue of whether a son of a foreigner born in the US is a citizen, 110 years ago. I recommend reading United States v. Wong Kim Ark, 169 US 649 (1898). It really drives a nail into the coffin of this whole President-Elect Obama isn't a citizen because of his Kenyan father bit. Can we get on with some real issues now?

Anonymous2008-12-08T14:28:56Z

Sorry, but your post just shows a lack of knowledge of Constitutional law and U.S. Government. As you admit, Obama was born in Hawaii to an American mother. Thus, he is a natural born American Citizen. Just because his father had British nationality doesn't change that fact. Your so-called definition is not endorsed by the Supreme Court, and the last time I checked, they are the final arbiters of what the Constitution actually means.

Anonymous2008-12-08T14:11:36Z

hey , nothing in the constitution about " the father also a US Citizen".

Feel like a retard for not actually having read the constitution? You should.

add: LOL! NEITHER of Obama's parents would need to be citizens of the USA for him to be a natural born citizen with the birthplace Hawaii in 1961. The term natural born citizen is undefined in the consitution.

So.. you are trying to show how stupid you are, right? This is a joke, right?

Williamson2008-12-08T14:09:50Z

I'm sorry to disappoint you but President Elect Barack Obama was born in Hawaii..

A birth announcement in the newspaper has been found on the a Aug. 4, 1961 edition of the Honolulu local newspaper..

Here is a scan of the paper:
http://texasdarlin.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/close-up.jpg

Here’s the full-page wider angle:
http://texasdarlin.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/page-view.jpg

yutsnark2008-12-08T14:04:34Z

He was born in Hawaii, which is part of the United States.

Why in the world would people think the U.S. Supreme Court, who gave the 2000 election to Bush, would now be biased in favor of Obama? Think about it.

"Barack Obama is, in fact, a natural-born citizen of the United States, for the simple reason that he was born on American soil (in Hawaii, two years after it acquired statehood). The age and citizenship status of Obama's parents at the time have no bearing on Obama's own citizenship.

Any confusion on this point is the result of misunderstanding the legal concepts of jus sanguinis (right of blood) and jus soli (right of birthplace). Here's how the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service explains the difference:

The 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution guarantees citizenship at birth to almost all individuals born in the United States or in U.S. jurisdictions, according to the principle of jus soli. Certain individuals born in the United States, such as children of foreign heads of state or children of foreign diplomats, do not obtain U.S. citizenship under jus soli.
Certain individuals born outside of the United States are born citizens because of their parents, according to the principle of jus sanguinis (which holds that the country of citizenship of a child is the same as that of his / her parents)."

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