Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Obama's College Years

I thought this picture was a joke when I first saw it on the Drudge Report. It's actually one of several photographs an aspiring young photographer, Lisa Jack, took of Barack Obama while he was a freshman at Occidental College. Time magazine has included her photo essay as part of its Person of the Year edition in which Obama, not surprisingly, is named.

7 comments:

jbargeusa said...

Something tells me that the photo of Obama puffing a doobie will be a common recurrance with future Presidents and Presidential candidates. Legalize the stuff already.

Gary R. Welsh said...

I think it is a cigarette, judging from the other photos in the collection.

Anonymous said...

Yes, but the way they've photoshopped it is quite funny regardless, the photo was not originally black and white, I think the knuckleheads that did it were looking for an "Al Capone" effect.

Besides, it is not possible to determine what he was smoking, hand rolled cigarettes look quit like a doobie, and those were fairly popular back then.

(Rolled cigarettes are still a pretty decent way around the cigarette tax)

Anonymous said...

Ted: The Supreme Court did nothing of the sort, they simply refused to hear the case, probably based on the lack of standing idea, but they've by no means taken the power away from themselves.

It would probably have to be a federal government agency (think State Department or something close to it) to have standing.

Obama at this point, I think you really have to go out of your way to think he's not a natural born citizen, the conspiracy theory simply hinges on too many weak points that all have to be so.

Unfortunately, since the Constitution never defines "Natural Born" it's widely speculative, I would say that if you're a US citizen and have never had to be naturalized or take the oath, you're a natural born citizen.

jbargeusa said...

It basically comes down to if Obama's dual citizenship from birth to age 21 with USA-Kenya yank the rug out from under him.
Despite what many say, it is pure speculation that the founding fathers meant this specific situation to be forbidden.
There would be a better case if he were still a dual citizen, as the FF were trying to stop undue foreign influence with the natural born clause.
But the loyalty/allegiance issue vis a vis Kenya in Obama's case was never acted upon.
It was theoritical, not actual, and the Kenyan citizenship then dissolved witout Obama having to take any steps.
He's a full fledged 100% American citizen.
Did it happen because he was "naturally born"?
Webster has several definitions of "natural"; here's the first:
"Fixed or determined by nature; pertaining to the constitution of a thing; belonging to native character; according to nature; essential; characteristic; innate; not artificial, foreign, assumed, put on, or acquired".
SCOTUS would have to decide that the Kenyan citizenship of his father was "foreign" and negates the natural born element.
Good luck with that.

Gary R. Welsh said...

This post is not about whether Obama is a natural born citizen. Let me say, Barge, since you've tried several times to make this point, whether Obama acted before he reached his 21st birthday on his Kenyan citizenship is irrelevant. NBC is determined at the time of birth. You don't look 21 years into the future to some act to make that determination. Regardless of the definition, he either was or was not an NBC at birth, depending on the interpretation. The clear weight of authority as determined by the interpretation of NBC at the time of the adoption of the constitution goes against him being an NBC.

reverend said...

Actually NBC can be influenced in later years..it can be renounced IF one did have it. Accepting that Obama was a NBC, he may have had it renounced when in Indonesia, through his citizenship there. This could be moot, as he was a minor and could legally have it reinstated, though no evidence for it exists. Worse however, is that he applied for college here in the USA as a Kenyan citizen. He did this after having attained the age of majority, and could be taken as tacitly renouncing NBC. This would make him no longer a citizen, period. Even if this minefield could be manipulated legally, and NBC reinstated...these events being common knowledge would have hurt him measurably in the polls, hence the cover-up.