Christian Science Monitor Covers Controversy Over Obama Qualifications

The November 26 Christian Science Monitor has this article about the efforts of some to question Barack Obama’s eligibility to be president. Thanks to Bill Van Allen for the link.


Comments

Christian Science Monitor Covers Controversy Over Obama Qualifications — 14 Comments

  1. Curiously, the article claims that “Many news organizations have debunked claims that Obama was born in Kenya to his 19-year-old American mother and his father, a Kenyan.”

    The basis for claims of the junior Barack not being a natural-born citizen are that he was born outside the USA and his USA-citizen parent could not have been present in the USA for 5 years after age 14, since she was 18 (and 8 months at the time of his birth).

  2. Why should it matter anyway, surely Obama’s record in the United States is more than enough to prove his commitment to the country. I’d happily elect (albeit indirectly :p) a non-British born citizen to the office of Prime Minister here in the UK if he or she was fit for the job.

    Who cares where we’re born, if we live in a country and we love that country, what does it matter where we come from?

  3. @mikebloke, who asks “Why should it matter anyway”?

    Primarily the concern of those who worry about such things is that our Constitution requires that (Article II, Section 1) “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.”

    Either the plain words of our Constitution means something, or they don’t. We have a way to amend or change our Constitution, defined in Article V. Ignoring our nation’s clearly documented law is not an appropriate way to change our it.

    Similar questions were raised regarding John McCain, because he was born on a military base in Panama. Unlike the handling of the questions raised about Obama, the Courts actually looked into the question, reviewed the actual birth certificate and applicable laws, and determined that McCain was eligible because he was born on US soil (which overseas military bases are defined as by law, as are embasy grounds).

    For some reason, Barak Obama is unable or unwilling to provide documentation showing where he was born, and instead has argued in court that those bringing suit have no standing to question his qualifications.

    If registered voters, citizens, and other candidates for the office don’t have standing, who does?

  4. We The People Foundation
    For Constitutional Education, Inc.

    http://www.WeThePeopleFoundation.org

    2458 Ridge Road, Queensbury, NY 12804
    Phone: (518) 656-3578 Fax: (518) 656-9724

    November 30, 2008 Contact: Bob Schulz, 518-573-8046
    info@GiveMeLiberty.org
    – For Immediate Release —

    Obama’s eligibility publicly challenged
    in next week’s Chicago Tribune

    Foundation runs two full-page “Open Letters” to Obama:

    Queensbury, NY – Using his hometown newspaper, the Chicago Tribune, the We The People Foundation will publicly challenge President-elect Barack Obama to direct the State of Hawaii to provide access to his original (“vault”) birth certificate. The Foundation’s full-page “Open Letter to Barack Obama” will appear in the Chicago Tribune next Monday and Wednesday.

    “Under our Constitution, no one is eligible to assume the Office of the President unless he or she is a “natural born citizen,” said Bob Schulz, Chairman of the Foundation. “To date, Mr. Obama has refused all requests to release his original birth certificate or other documents that would definitively establish his citizenship status and thus his eligibility.”

    The Open Letter to Mr. Obama summarizes the evidence against Mr. Obama and the adverse consequences that would befall the Nation should he assume the Office of the President as a usurper.

    “Should the state members of the Electoral College cast their votes for Mr. Obama in the face of such overwhelming evidence, and without verification of Mr. Obama’s eligibility, they would be committing treason to the Constitution,” said Schulz.

    A copy of the Open Letter can be viewed at:

    http://www.wethepeoplefoundation.org/UPDATE/misc2008/ChicagoTribune-ObamaLtr-Nov-2008.pdf

  5. ” who cares ?” Anybody that knows how many lives have been lost over the last 2+ hundred years giving and protecting this great experiment should care !!!!

  6. Yeah, go figure. I’m sure things would change if the UK had a Constitution, instead of their Magna Carta. ???

  7. Obama’s father was a subject of the U.K. (i.e. the colony of Kenya) when Obama was born.

    See 14th Amdt, Sec. 1. first sentence — All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.

    Was Obama’s father OR Obama *subject to the jurisdiction* of the United States when Obama was born — WHEREVER Obama was born ???

    Natural born parents >>> natural born kids

    Naturalized parents >>> natural born kids

    ALL other parents (i.e. ALL foreign folks) >>> NOT natural born or naturalized kids (at best can become naturalized U.S.A. citizens — see Guv. S. in CA (born in Austria) and Guv. G. in MI (born in Canada).

    See also Art. III, Sec. 2 — NO mention of any *dual* citizenship stuff.

    NOT an infinite number of combinations.

    The *natural born* stuff has to do with AT BIRTH ***ALLEGIANCE*** to a regime — from feudal times — i.e. the Dark Age after the fall of the Roman Empire in Europe.

    Sorry — ONLY natural born folks are allowed to be Commander- in- Chief of the military forces of the U.S.A. — for very obvious historical reasons.

    See the PBS Monarchy series — all sorts of murders, treason trials and civil wars in England for centuries about exactly who had the best claim to become a king or queen in England (after the incumbent died naturally or by murder/war) — who’s your daddy and mommy stuff.

  8. should be interesting tomorrow in the windy city.

    December 1, 2008
    Clinton to Be Introduced as Part of Obama Security Team
    By PETER BAKER
    CHICAGO — President-elect Barack Obama and Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton on Monday will seal their rapprochement when he announces her nomination as his secretary of state, Democrats close to the process said Sunday.

    Mrs. Clinton, once considered the Democratic frontrunner for president, is flying to Chicago to appear together with the man who beat her for the nomination, a person close to Mrs. Clinton said. The sight of them together, as she joins his administration, would have been thought unlikely just weeks ago, but Mr. Obama concluded she would strengthen his team.

    At a time when the country remains engaged in two wars and still faces the threat of international terrorism, Mrs. Clinton will anchor a national security team with more of a centrist character than some of Mr. Obama’s liberal supporters once hoped to see. In addition to her, Democrats said, Mr. Obama plans to announce that he is keeping Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, who has run the Pentagon for the last two years, and will appoint Gen. James L. Jones, a retired Marine commandant, as national security adviser.

    Rounding out his national security team, Mr. Obama will name former Deputy Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. as his choice for attorney general and Governor Janet Napolitano of Arizona as secretary of homeland security, the Democrats said. Mr. Obama also will nominate Susan E. Rice, his foreign policy adviser and a former assistant secretary of state, as ambassador to the United Nations, a job that will be given cabinet rank, as it had under President Bill Clinton.

    The Obama and Clinton teams have been preparing the ground for this announcement for days. Mr. Clinton, who has extensive business and philanthropic interests around the world, agreed to a nine-point plan covering disclosure, vetting and other areas to avoid potential conflicts of interest, including for the first time the release of more than 200,000 donors to his foundation by the end of the year. That goes beyond the requirements of existing law.

    The Obama team has planned for a while to unveil the national security team after the Thanksgiving holiday, but the timing took on additional urgency after the terrorist attacks in Mumbai. The attacks, which killed at least 180, including six Americans, offered a stark reminder that for all of Mr. Obama’s focus on fixing the economy, national security can capture a president’s attention at any moment.

    Reports of the selections drew praise from a retiring Republican elder. “The triumvirate of Gates, Clinton and Jones to lead Obama’s national security team instills great confidence at home and abroad,” said Senator John W. Warner of Virginia, a former chairman of the Armed Services Committee, “and further strengthens the growing respect for the president-elect’s courage and ability to exercise sound judgment in selecting the best and the brightest to implement our nation’s security policies.”.

    While the choices have generated praise across the aisle, some critics have pointed out that the team represents experience rather than the change Mr. Obama promised on the campaign trail. All of his top choices served in either the Clinton or Bush administration.

    At a news conference last week, Mr. Obama said he was trying to “combine experience with fresh thinking” an added that “the vision for change comes” from him.

  9. Senator Clinton (and all members of the most recent Congress) are Constitutionally ineligible to serve as Secretary of State — due to the clause in the Constitution that prohibits members of the legislative branch from accepting positions in the executive branch when the remuneration for that position increased during their term in Congress.

    It’ll be interesting to see if this gains any media coverage today or in the coming weeks.

    This was also an issue during the Nixon administration, and I believe the solution was to lower the salary back to its earlier level — although that may not have met the Constitutional requirement — one designed to limit the ability of the executive to hire members of Congress.

    Cf

    http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/11/is_clinton_barred_from_state_j.php

  10. No. 08A407
    Title: Leo C. Donofrio, Applicant
    v.
    Nina Mitchell Wells, New Jersey Secretary of State

    Docketed:
    Lower Ct: Supreme Court of New Jersey
    Case Nos.: (AM-0153-08T2 at the New Jersey Appellate Division without a docket number)

    ~~~Date~~~ ~~~~~~~Proceedings and Orders~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    Nov 3 2008 Application (08A407) for stay pending the filing and disposition of a petition for a writ of certiorari, submitted to Justice Souter.
    Nov 6 2008 Application (08A407) denied by Justice Souter.
    Nov 14 2008 Application (08A407) refiled and submitted to Justice Thomas.
    Nov 19 2008 DISTRIBUTED for Conference of December 5, 2008.
    Nov 19 2008 Application (08A407) referred to the Court by Justice Thomas.
    Nov 26 2008 Supplemental brief of applicant Leo C. Donofrio filed. (Distributed)

    ——————————————————————————–

    ~~Name~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~Address~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~Phone~~~
    Attorneys for Petitioner:
    Leo C. Donofrio P.O. Box 93
    East Brunswick, NJ 08816
    Party name: Leo C. Donofrio

  11. SCOTUS report from A Natural Born Citizen… posted by: Orly?

    http://drorly.blogspot.com/2008/12/5th-obamagate-case-reaches-supreme.html

    Monday, December 1, 2008
    5th Obamagate case reaches the Supreme Court

    5Th Obama case has reached the Supreme Court:
    1. Philip J berg PA
    2. Leo C Donofrio NJ
    3. Chris Strunck NY
    4. Cort Wrotnowski CT
    5. Darrel Hunter TX
    Cases from 15 more states are moving towards the Supreme Court.
    We the People foundation has placed a full page add in the Chicago Tribune, Obama home turf demanding disclosure of birth certificate and all other pertinent documents.
    More sabotage by the Supreme Court: Mr. Wrotnowski was told that his case was delayed by 7 days, because his Emergency Petition for Stay of Elections was forwarded to the Anthrax lab. Numerous phone calls were placed to the Supreme Court demanding answers, why was that Petition sent to the Anthrax lab, Mr. Wrotnowski is a law abiding citizen, a business owner, was never in trouble with the law. Why was his petition delayed by a week via sending it to the Anthrax lab. No response was received, no name of the clerk was given. These clerks are sabotaging anti Obama cases to put a foreigner in the White House, this is bordering on aiding and abetting treason. Please write to all 9 judges, let them know what is going on, demand to join all 5 cases currently in the Supreme Court, you can send them a copy of our Keyes v Bowen petition for Writ of Mandate as a supporting document. Currently I am working on filing a second case, representing another group of candidates, party officials, Certified Electors and Registered voters and I am assisting other attorneys all around the country, that are preparing similar actions and trying to match voters and electors in different states with attorneys that can represent them. Heartfelt thanks to Mr. Bob Stevens and Mrs. Lisa Ostella that have been working day and night and conducting research. I thank some 1700 supporters that have sent me e-mails and warm wishes. I was informed by plains radio that my interview with Joe Thunder was downloaded 20,000 times within 1 week. With a usual chain of 10 e-mail forwards per download, it means that some 200,000 heard this one of 6 interviews.
    Please remember to write, e-mail, fax and keep calling all advertisers, sponsors and all your friends and relatives, ask all of them to boycott all the media outlets that are lying to the public, hiding the truth and are not disclosing the fact that Obama is not legally eligible to be the president. This media needs to feel, where it really hurts them, in their pockets.
    God Bless all of you, Orly Taitz
    Posted by Orly? at 6:34 PM

  12. . The article points out what some people, most of who have a political beef against Obama, simply cannot accept; he is probably fit to be president and people who suggest otherwise are probably a bit crazy or blinded by partisanship.

    By all credible accounts, Obama was born in Hawaii, to a woman who was certainly a natural U.S. citizen. That no one seemed to doubt this until after the election result, is telling.

    Thus the fact that Obama’s biological father was born in Kenya is, frankly, not really important for the accusation at hand. Likewise on his step-father; Lolo Soetoro.

    A kid born in the United States is a natural born citizen of the United Stats. Their parents may not be citizens, heck their parents can be space aliens from the planet Vulcan.

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