BIRTHER

BIRTHER

August 4, 1961 born Kenya Honolulu, Hawaii

A cranky opinion for

CRANKY OPINION SATURDAY

Before I go on a rant about this President Obama Birther thing that should have been put to bed by now let me state unequivocally:

It is my opinion that “Natural born citizen” means one who is a citizen at birth, not just one who is born in this country.  Barack Obama wherever he was born, (and his birth certificate says it was Hawaii) was born to a citizen mother and by that alone he is a “Natural Born Citizen.”  After all, why would the child of an illegal immigrant who snuck over the border to give birth, and then was taken back to his parent’s country be more qualified to be President than someone born to a US citizen in another country and then brought back to the US?

End of argument. *

Now about the Birther issue, who is to blame for that argument?  His opponents in the 2008 primary election and then after the general election latched on to the suspicion that Obama was not born in the US and therefore is not eligible as a “Natural Born Citizen,” hogwash (see above) but still where did this come from and why was it not squashed right away?

Obama’s own biography claims he was born in Kenya.  Either he was born in Kenya as his biography claims or he failed to edit his own biography.  I self-published two crappy books and the first thing I did before publishing was to write a short biography.  I would think that Obama also wrote his own biography.  Who would write a book and have someone else write the biography or at least not edit it if it was written by someone else? 

The source of the Birther movement comes from Barack Obama who either wrote and edited his biography and for some reason wanted to show his birthplace as Kenya, or he did not write or even edit his own biography…even after his book was published.

That and the little publicized fact (in 2008 and before) that Barack Obama was known for most of his young life as Barry Soetoro, which is at least a little bit unusual.

When the first request to prove he was born in the US was raised by the media, and according to many was questioned by Hillary Clinton or her campaign staff, Obama produced a short form birth certificate.

This short form certificate is legal in Hawaii for most identification.  It looks pretty official, but truth be told it would not be very hard to fake it and given the Kenyan birth claim on his own biography it did not seem enough to put the question at rest.  I doubt this certificate would pass muster in New Jersey as proof of age for a Little League team never mind President of the United States.

I have a birth certificate that I need for a driver’s license and Passport that is the original with hand and foot prints on it for crispy sake.

When pressed for a long form complete original Obama did not produce one until April 2011.

Why did this take so long?

So in summary, the Birther issue is bogus in the first place because Obama is a “Natural Born Citizen” regardless of his country of birth by virtue of his mother’s citizenship.

It became an issue because Obama himself claimed he was born in Kenya and some people choose to interpret “Natural Born” as “born in this country”, not “a citizen at birth.”

The issue could have been put at rest immediately if the long form original certificate had been produced immediately instead of dragging it out and arguing that the form they did produce was proof enough.

Anyone who made a big deal out of the Birther issue was foolish, but the foolishness was raised by Barack himself and not decisively quashed as quickly as possible.

At this point, the issue is closed.  Barack Obama’s Presidency is almost over and the question of “Natural born Citizen” was bogus in the first place, but the blame for the question being raised and the question dragged on for so long (2008- 2011) and the blame for inevitable conspiracy theories lies with Barack Obama himself.

Regardless, at this point…What difference does it make?

The preceding was the opinion of a cranky old man and not necessarily that of management…Mrs. Cranky. 

* From travel.state.gov

A child born abroad to one U.S. citizen parent and one alien parent acquires U.S. citizenship at birth under Section 301(g) of the INA provided the U.S. citizen parent was physically present in the United States or one of its outlying possessions for the time period required by the law applicable at the time of the child's birth. (For birth on or after November 14, 1986, a period of five years physical presence, two after the age of fourteen, is required. For birth between December 24, 1952 and November 13, 1986, a period of ten years, five after the age of fourteen, is required for physical presence in the United States or one of its outlying possessions to transmit U.S. citizenship to the child.) The U.S. citizen parent must be the genetic or the gestational parent and the legal parent of the child under local law at the time and place of the child’s birth to transmit U.S. citizenship.