Monday, June 16, 2008

Johnson Has It Wrong On Obama's Citizenship

Democratic blogger and Clinton supporter Larry Johnson pens a grossly inaccurate post over the weekend questioning whether Sen. Barack Obama is a natural born citizen within the meaning of the U.S. Constitution to qualify to serve as president of the U.S. Citing an Internet friend, Johnson writes:

According to the state laws in Hawaii that were in effect at the time of Obama’s birth, a child must be born to “TWO” U.S. Citizen parents (this law was in effect from “December 24, 1952 to November 13, 1986,“ which means it applies to Barack’s birth.

If only one parent was a U.S. Citizen at the time of your birth, that parent must have resided in the United States for at least ten years, at least FIVE of which had to be after the age of 16.”

It appears that Obama’s mother was only 18 when Obama was born, which means she was shy of the 21 years of age required by the law. In other words, she was not old enough to qualify her son for automatic U.S. Citizenship. At what point was Barack Obama Jr., son of Barack Obama Sr., recognized by the U.S. Government as an American citizen? When he moved to Indonesia with his mother and step-father in the mid-1960s I am assuming he had a U.S. passport.

The law cited in Johnson's post is not a state law as claimed, but a provision of the federal Immigration and Naturalization Act. It applies only to children of U.S. citizens who are born abroad. Because Obama was born in the state of Hawaii, he became a natural born citizen upon birth, notwithstanding his father being a citizen of Kenya. I also note this post by Johnson to point out that a lot of the most strident anti-Obama posts on the Internet are being made by Democratic bloggers who supported the candidacy of Sen. Hillary Clinton. Many on the Left are blaming right wing Republican bloggers when they really ought to be taking a look in their own backyard. While I questioned the Obama campaign for earlier refusing to produce a copy of his birth certificate to reporters to demonstrate he met the constitutional qualification, once the campaign produced it, I accepted the legitimacy of it. Some Democratic bloggers, however, including Johnson, questioned its authenticity.

7 comments:

Mark said...

The left is also blaming shadowy "Right-wing blogs" for starting the whole "whitey tape" hoax...another Johnson invention.

ruth holladay said...

As we used to say at the paper, "good catch."
It's also good to read that you've accepted the birth certificate, once it was out there.
And interesting where some of hoo-hah in this campaign originates...

ruth holladay said...

To Lance: I know there is some of the blame game, but Rush Limbaugh has also talked up the whitey tape. Out here in Putnam, he's a staple. I believe I heard him on this subject as recently as Friday...
(Today he devoted some time to Tim Russert, and that was sweet).

artfuggins said...

There is some truth in your comment about much of the sliming being done to Obama. There is a website of Clinton supporters called Hillary44.com......the comments on the death of Tim Russert were almost party like. For some reason, they blame Russert for being biased against Hillary. Their comments are jubilant re: his death and how it was payback or karma...they even mention other people who need to suffer the same fate. They are mean spirited and bitter. Gary, these women are active Democrats...The GOP has nothing to do with this.

Gary R. Welsh said...

As a former CIA counter-terrorism officer and State Department employee, as well as a paid commentator for MSNBC, a lot of people put stock in what Johnson was saying. Although Johnson never claimed to see the whitey video, he claimed he had spoken to several reliable sources who had seen it. Rush cited Johnson and Democrat strategist Bob Beckel, who also seemed to be giving credence to the report on Fox News. After its release didn't happen when he said it would be released, Bob Beckel started backtracking big time. Rush took the brunt of the criticsm for quoting what these guys were telling.

Mark said...

"the comments on the death of Tim Russert were almost party like. For some reason, they blame Russert for being biased against Hillary. Their comments are jubilant re: his death and how it was payback or karma...they even mention other people who need to suffer the same fate. They are mean spirited and bitter."

Ditto for Huffington Post and DailyKos, both of whom had multiple blogs with 1000's of comments in that same vein. Classy. Almost as classy as Chris Matthews' on-air screed calling Russert a dupe.

Unknown said...

For anyone here that thinks Obama was born in Hawaii, let me know when you wake up. Liberals will fool themselves into believing anything.

Simply produce your birth certificate Obama.
Why fight the challenge to produce it? How did you attend an Indonesian school without Indonesian citizenship? How did you travel to Pakistan in 1981 without Indonesian status? Your Certificate of Live Birth don't count pal...you can't even register a child in little league with that - you need a REAL birth certificate.
Chew on those facts. Yeah...thought so.

OUR COUNTRY JUST GOT PUNKED! THANKS TO ANYONE WHO VOTED FOR OBAMA - YOU JUST HANDED THE REIGNS OVER TO A FOREIGNER!!! Hahahaha