"Birthers" Hit a Nerve

Those damn "birthers" -- they sure know where to stick the knife! Hopefully by now they've figured out that Hawaii is part of the US, and may soon even realize that New Mexico is also a part of the Union. But their cowardly insinuations that President Obama was born outside the U.S. exposed old wounds of mine. You see, I wasn't born in the U.S. My father was stationed on the northernmost island of Hokkaido when my mother gave birth to me. Talk about patriots -- he was willing to spend two years on a snow-encrusted island in service to the U.S. Air Force.

The consequences for me, however, were that I could never serve this country as President. You may think it's a small thing, but I was aware of it beginning in third grade civics class in Newfoundland, Canada. (Don't ask -- the Air Force had some wicked sense of humor posting my dad and his family to the coldest, most remote places where they could set up a base). It was then that I learned about the birth requirement for the loftiest job in the U.S. I was an early "unbirther." While I had never seriously considered being President -- not when there were such juicy jobs as newspaper writer, stewardess and secretary available -- but it still hurt that I was shut out of contention.

Over the years, I've endured lots of bad jokes about the place of my birth, mostly along the lines of "You don't look Japanese!" But it's this whole birth thing that has been most galling. There was a brief glimmer of hope when John McCain's origins in Panama were discussed, but of course who was going to question his credentials? So I was shocked to hear the right-wingers lob the "birth" bomb at President Obama last week. I know they are running out of credible challenges, but still... The man has made his birthplace a well-known part of his biography; it probably wouldn't even qualify as a question on Teen Jeopardy.

But perhaps the larger issue is whether the place of your birth even matters anymore. This big old melting pot that we call Home becomes more diffused with each passing day. Am I any less American because of where I spent the first few years of my life? Does it matter that President Obama spent the latter years of his childhood in Indonesia rather than the first? Are there well-qualified, smart people who would make stellar leaders of the Free World but will be unable to run because of their birthplace?

The "birthers" have done us a great favor by placing the issue front and center, if for the wrong reasons. I, for one, vote to eliminate this antiquated requirement. Presidents should be chosen for their acumen and not for a word or two on a birth certificate. And, please, let's move quickly on this one. I've already started preparing my platform.

Comments

[Joehorn1234]

I don't want to upset anyone but the actual requirement is to be a "natural born citizen" and while I was not in the writer's civics class, to be a natural born citizen at the writing of the Constitution, you had to be born on US soil and both of your parents had to be US citizens. There a only a few cases that deal with this question at the Supreme Court level and the Consitution itself does not define "natural born citizen clearly. As for someone in Obama's position with a US citizen mother and a foreign born father, it is at present an open question. That is why the pay money to fight the suits for reasons of standing. He may, and probably would get a favorable decision, especially after what happened in 2000, but then again maybe he would not. At any rate he has the job, and while it is an interesting legal quesiton, it will never be decided in Court.

[09Bruinlover]

Why does everybody forget the 14th amendment? Your parents don't have to be citizens of the United States for you to be a natural born citizen. YOU have to be born in the US to be natural citizenship. Remember slavery and the Civil War! Blacks were denied citizenship because of the your parents have been citizens, in order to for you become a citizen. There was also a Supreme Court ruling declaring American-born children of non-citizen Chinese immigrants were a American citizen. United States v. Wong Kim Ark, 169 U.S. 649 (1898).

[Helzapoppin]

Keep the requirement. But the author is wrong about how that requirement works.

[Jacques415]

I agree. Birth can have nothing to do with governing effectively. Yes, you technically arent eligible for the Presidency, but, you may be better suited to the position than many who have held the office. A case could be made for my neighbor's St. Bernard as a better CinC than the previous exemplar. Indeed, if you could find the right person, I would not insist that future presidents should neccisarily be US citizens.

An example in history may be found in the story of Charles XVI John of Sweden. Born Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte, he became a Marshal of France under Napoleon. Through some circumstances which we Americans would think odd, he was offered the crown of Sweden. When he accepted, he made it clear that, though he had served Napoleon well, with a few disagreements, his responsibility as the Swedish sovereign would be to the Swedish people. His political allies were Napoleon's enemies on occasion, and he served his adopted country well, better than some.

The moral of the story is, when kings rule by the grace of G-d, it's important to make sure G-d picks the right person. Also, there are damn few Marshal Bernadotte's in the world.

[Traci1965]

Hang on a minute: my understanding is that even if a child was born on foreign soil, as long as at least one of your parents was a natural born American citizen, that would automatically make the child an American citizen. My first college roommate had dual American/Australian citizenship, because her father was an American engineer working for an Australian firm at the time of her birth. She told me that when she turned 21, the State Department would send her a letter telling her to formally declare which citizenship she wanted to claim.

I spoke with another friend of mine on this subject. She was an Air Force brat (her words) whose father was stationed in Morocco. My friend's younger sister was born there; by the arguments I'm hearing, she wouldn't be able to run for president, either, even though she was born to two natural born American parents. Are we sure of our facts, here?

[LeftRight]

The general rule is that if you are born overseas to ONE American citizen then your parent must have at least 5 years residence in America, with at least 2 of those years after the age of 14. If BOTH of your parents are US citizens, then no matter what you automatically have US citizenship.

If you are born in another country, and not to diplomatic parents, then you will automatically receive dual citizenship. However, since the US government doesn't recognize adult dual citizenship, your friends will have to choose their country of citizenship, apparently at 21 (I thought it was 18, but I could be wrong.....)

My mother was just one such, when she was born to two US citizens in Guatemala, and had dual citizenship in both countries until she was an adult.

[euripedes923]

The birth requirement is not antiquated. It is but one of many requirements that are highly appropriate for an office that has only grown in stature and importance since this nation came into being. It is a bulwark against "political intrigue," for starters.
Furthermore, advocating for the abolishment of this requirement plays into the illogic of the birthers, whose response is already documented elsewhere as, to paraphrase, "Aha, so now that we've unmasked Obama as not an American you Democrats want to grandfather in a non-citizen becoming President. How convenient."
America may well be a melting pot, a mosaic, a diverse nation. But one still has to be born an American to lead this country, just as President Obama was. Let's not try to fix something that isn't broken.

[SethBLiNK]

I haven't read all the comments, so forgive me if this ground has been covered

My question is, if you can't be President, how come John McCain can. It seems to me that both of you share the same circumstances of birth, however he was only disqualified by poor judgement, not by unlucky birth venue.

The birth requirement always puzzled me. Why does it exist? Even if it were proven that Obama was born elsewhere, I'd still want him to be President.

[OswegoKayaker]

McCain was born on a military installation in the Canal Zone and there was a lot of discussion about this in his first presidential bid. The final consensus was that he would be considered a Natural Born American because his father was stationed there on orders from the US government and the Panama Canal Zone was a sovereign U.S. territory at the time of McCain's birth. I think the sovereign U.S. territory is the defining test here.

When Goldwater ran for president he might have had problems if he had won. He was born in 1909 in Arizona when it was a territory it did not become our 48th state until 1912.

The birth requirement was started way back when John Jay, George Washington's 1st Chief Justice of the United States, wrote a letter to him expressing his concern about the possibility of a foreign born president.

New-York, 25th July, 1787.

Dear Sir,

Permit me to hint whether it would not be wise and seasonable to provide a strong check to the admission of foreigners into the administration of our national government ; and to declare expressly that the command in chief of the American army shall not be given to, nor devolve on any but a natural born citizen.

I remain, dear sir,

Your faithful friend and servant,

John Jay.

[OswegoKayaker]

It is thought that, because the nation was so young and not that strong, there was fear that a foreign prince might be asked to serve as president of the United States -- and more importantly commander of its armies. This idea picked up steam and so we got this: Article II of the constitution states: "No person except a natural born citizen ... shall be eligible to the Office of President."

They never got around to a definition "cut in stone" as to what "natural born" meant. And so there is still debate -- McCain might have had his own "birthers" because it was reported that he was actually not born in the U.S. controlled zone but in a hospital nearby. And so it still is not really a cut and dried issue, so maybe Tamar should run so it could go up to the Supremes and be settled once and for all time.

[SethBLiNK]

If we were to disqualify Goldwater because Arizona wasn't a state when he was born, what would we do with Washington, Adams, Jefferson and the rest who were born in British Colonies?

[den1953]

Being our political venue of late with every one and every thing is under the microscope i personally would pass on the job ever and i can't understand why you would want the job if people don't hate you before your elected they sure as h*ll are going to hate you when your in office!

[Sir681]

From a little research I've done, the constitution does not define "Natural Born Citizen" and there have been various interpretations by the courts of it. So being born to two US citizens may very well make you a natural born citizen and, as such, eligible to run for president, if you so desire.

Of course, if you run as a Democrat, the noise machine would crank its volume up to the max.

Also, Obama may wery well be a citizen if Kenya, if it's law states that being born to a Kenyan father makes him a citizen.

[ZenBastard]

Obama was born in Hawai. But, just for the sake of argument, say he wasn't. The birth certificate is still a moot point.

http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.5af9bb95919f35e66f614176543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=85d3744a400ae010VgnVCM1000000ecd190aRCRD&vgnextchannel=96719c7755cb9010VgnVCM10000045f3d6a1RCRD

That's the United States Citizenship & Immigration Services website; specifically it's the page that details how the citizenship of children is determined. Obama's mother was an American citizen but Obama's father was a citizen of Kenya. In accordance with the USCIS he would have dual citizenship; American/Kenyan. Kenyan law states that an individual can have dual citizenship (Kenyan/other country) until they turn 21. When they turn 21 they can only retain their Kenyan citizenship if they renounce their citizenship of the other country. If they don't then they automatically lose their Kenyan citizenship.

So you see that the issue of the birth certificate is actually a moot point. Obama was born to parents with two different citizenships; American and Kenyan. When Obama turned 21 he didn't renounce his American citizenship so he automatically lost his Kenyan citizenship thereby making him a wholly American citizen.

Bottom line: even if he was born outside of the US he's still an American citizen because his mother was.

I keep posting this but no birthers have been able to refute it yet. C'mon all you people who keep insisting that Obama is not an American citizen, where are your arguments now? You demand proof of Obama's citizenship. I just provided it. Prove me wrong.

[jkpcguru]

I understand the argument now. Thanks

But the birthers have another argument to throw back at you.

The true definition of "Natural Born Citizen". No court has ever challenged just what that means. The birthers make it seem like they know exactly what the founding fathers meant by that phrase. Please.... thats just utter nonsense.

[LeftRight]

And don't forget the other side of the point you're making, where the US government doesn't recognize adult dual citizenship, so he would have had to do nothing if he was in America, because they would have dropped it as well!

[Joehorn1234]

Citizen, he may be, but is he a "natural born citizen"? Misread the Costitution I hope you have not.

[ZenBastard]

Perkins v. Elg, 307 U.S. 325 (1939): The U.S. Supreme Court concluded that Marie Elizabeth Elg, who was born in the United States of Swedish parents naturalized in the United States, had not lost her birthright U.S. citizenship because of her removal during minority to Sweden and was entitled to all the rights and privileges of that U.S. citizenship. In this case, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed the decree that declared Elg "to be a natural born citizen of the United States."

United States v. Wong Kim Ark, 169 U.S. 649 (1898): In this case, the majority of the Court held that a child born in U.S. territory to parents who were subjects of the emperor of China and who were not eligible for U.S. citizenship, but who had "a permanent domicile and residence in the United States, and are there carrying on business, and are not employed in any diplomatic or official capacity under the emperor of China" was a U.S. Citizen

[ZenBastard]

The Court stated that:

The constitution nowhere defines the meaning of these words [citizen and natural born citizen], either by way of inclusion or of exclusion, except in so far as this is done by the affirmative declaration that 'all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States.'

Since there was no definition of "natural born citizen" found in the constitution, the majority adopted the common law of England that was a carry over from feudal times.

The court ruled:

It thus clearly appears that by the law of England for the last three centuries, beginning before the settlement of this country, and continuing to the present day, aliens, while residing in the dominions possessed by the crown of England, were within the allegiance, the obedience, the faith or loyalty, the protection, the power, and the jurisdiction of the English sovereign; and therefore every child born in England of alien parents was a natural-born subject, unless the child of an ambassador or other diplomatic agent of a foreign state, or of an alien enemy in hostile occupation of the place where the child was born. III. The same rule was in force in all the English colonies upon this continent down to the time of the Declaration of Independence, and in the United States afterwards, and continued to prevail under the constitution as originally established.

[tnduffin]

Thank you Zen (love the name by the way). That was one of the best counter-arguments I have read on this site and about this issue.

[LeftRight]

First, the USA doesn't recognize dual citizenship once you reach 18, so even if he'd had it, it would have been revoked on his 18th birthday unless he specifically took it.

Second, it doesn't matter, because he was still born in the USA, which makes him a natural born us citizen.

[PlaceboStudman]

Frankly, considering the intensity of the Naturalization process given to prospective soon to be residents of the United States from other countries, I would be much more happy at this rate to have someone who is a naturalized, rather than natural born citizen as president. The amount of knowledge regarding history and civics that is required to BECOME a citizen of this country is leaps and bounds above what is required to BE a citizen of this country.

The first requirement, of course, being that they must speak English, and frankly, there are a whole lot of folks who were born in this country who don't speak proper English. And even those who do speak proper English have no sense of the spirit of the documents on which this country was founded. There needs to be a serious revamp of the educational system so that the preamble to The Constitution isn't the only thing that students have to memorize. I believe they need to memorize at least 5 or 10 of the ammendments and be able to craft an on the spot impromptu argument of how each amendment is applied to daily life

[dreadylocks]

Don't be sore. I think it's a good rule, to take it away would lead to some possibilities of serious abuse.

But fear not! As you even pointed out, John McCain was born in Panama. A US base is American soil (i've heard people say they literally fly it in from the US, but I'm skeptical about that part), if you were born on the base, you were legally a natural born citizen.

I'm sorry you never got to be president, don't don't go acting like a bad workman and blaming your tools.

Take care! :)

[Tamar Abrams - Huffpost Blogger]

Dear Dready,
I must confess that I never actually wanted to be president, ever. Not crazy about the house, the hours, the responsibilities or the kowtowing. I just wanted the possibility to be there.

[dreadylocks]

And I wish I could have had the possibility of being born with a silver spoon in my mouth, but like you, my parents screwed that up for me too...

[expatwing]

Congratulations - you CAN be the President (and Obama's birth certificate is irrelevant!)

http://www.fourmilab.ch/uscode/8usc/www/t8-12-III-I-1401.html

[tnduffin]

Good find. Takes care of everything in my eyes.

[LeftRight]

You qualify to run for President as long as you are at least 35 years old. My mother is in the same boat, she was born in Guatemala, but to two American citizens, so she is a Natural Born US Citizen.

[dreadylocks]

Well it does have to be US soil. So unless it was on a military base....

[Helzapoppin]

no, it doesn't

[LeftRight]

No it doesn't. She only has to be born to US citizens, provided that their own residency requirements are met. Currently that means that you must be a US citizen, have lived in the USA for at least 5 years, and at least 2 of those years have to be after age 14.

[hannahabrams1212]

You dont look japanese!

[Tkevan]

The administration could stop this dead with one act. Release the Hawaiian hospital records that show a live birth on the day he was born to his mother. Nonsense over.

[LeftRight]

That wouldn't stop them any more than the release of the Birth Certificate did! The fact of the matter is that these birthers will not change!

[HairFarmer]

they have ... where have you been ... not to mention the background check pres hopefuls have done on them , if there was something there it would have come out ..

[Tkevan]

No, they've released a state live birth certificate. I'm talking about the actual hospital records that show her being admitted, and all the procedures done, ending with the live birth recorded in the charts. It's all there, in whichever hospital he was born in.

[LeighAnnes]

Nothing anyone can do will stop this. I just saw one of the "birthers" on Colbert who said as much. According to her, you would have to dig up Obama's father from the grave and have him become a U.S. citizen or have him renounce Obama's Kenyon citizen ship. I'm not sure. She wasn't easy to follow.

[kensp]

That is so naive. Have you ever tried communicating with a birther over this subject? They are conspiracy theorists. There is no objective realty to them, only the conspiracy. Any documentation that might disprove their babbling is part of what sane people call reality, so it is to a birther a product of the conspiracy by definintion. They would say that any such records are forged or falsified no matter what it said.

It is also completely unnecessary to produce hospital records to prove that Obama was born in Hawaii. The Certificate of Live Birth says he was born there. If that is wrong than the State of Hawaii certified a false document. Why would they do that? You need to answer that question before you talk about looking behind the COLB.

[kensp]

Oh, and I am pretty sure the President has no authority to "release" any hospital records. That would be up to the State of Hawaii...who of course are part of the conspiracy, so why would you believe what they say?

[MF1951]

What planet are these birthers from? And who are the people that are egging them on? this all sounds like a bad joke! I am amazed at what some people will do for attention! Wasn't John McCain born in Panama? why don't they go after him? Hawaii is part of the United States!

[OverIt]

Yes it DOES still matter. I'm sorry for you that you can't be president. But I am too worried about a future President Schwarzenegger.

[Tamar Abrams - Huffpost Blogger]

While Pres. Schwarzenegger would be a nightmare, it's not because he was born in Austria or has an accent as far as I'm concerned. There have been many politicians who weren't born in this country but have improved our lot -- Madeleine Kunin, Madeleine Albright, Diane DeGette (shout out to Congresswoman DeGette who was also born in Japan!)

[OverIt]

That's not WHY I'm concerned either. My opposition to changing the requirement is purely situational. And will change as soon as a video of Arnold at the Donkey Show hits the YouTube. I just think that the admittedly archaic "natural born" requirement is THE ONLY thing saving us from such an unfortunate event. I am a big fan of Terminator myself and having seen how grown men and teenaged boys who weren't even alive when Ah-Nold was in his heyday react to his movies, I am TERRIFIED that they would show up to the polls in droves!

[DASChicago]

Since, Schwarz is mentioned, didn't Austria toss him out with the bath water?