Is Obama A U.S. Citizen?

With Obama's numbers falling fast in the polls, a hot-button issue that seems to be bubbling up to the surface is whether or not Barack Obama is actually a natural-born citizen and, therefore, even qualified to be President. Recently, Lou Dobbs, on the cable news channel, CNN, has been taking some heat for his broaching of that very subject (Click to See Full Story).

To try and put this topic to rest, I have simply assembled the following information and opinion about Barack's birth and his eligibility to be our President.

The Constitution of the United States clearly states that, in order for a person to be President, they must be a "natural-born" citizen of the United States and not a naturalized citizen; as in the case of someone like Arnold Schwarzenegger.

We also know that Obama was born in Hawaii in 1961 and Hawaii had only became a State in the prior year. He was born to an 18-year old mother who was a valid U.S. citizen. His father was not a U.S. citizen. Although Barack left the United States as a toddler, he returned at age 10 to live with his grandparents and remained in the United States from then on.

Right now, there are a lot of bogus theories on the Internet about whether or not Obama was actually born in the United States because of his failure to produce an authentic, not recreated, long-form birth certificate. However, I don't think any of them would really "stick" under legal scrutiny because there are two known Hawaiian newspaper notices from the year 1961 that clearly make note of his birth and clearly reference both of his parent's names. This simple fact substantiates his birth; with or without any birth certificate. It also puts to rest the belief that, somehow, Barack was actually born in Kenya.

The second reason that people claim that Barack is not a citizen goes to these words from U.S. law at that time that states: "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." But, these words only apply to children born outside of the United States or in U.S. territories. At the time that Barack was born, Hawaii was a true State with the United States of America and not a territory. So this language would not apply.

The truth about this really comes down to the Civil Rights Act of 1866 which stipulates that any child born in the United States is a natural born U.S. citizen unless that child, somehow, is under the control of a foreign government; such as a child born to a foreign diplomat who is working in the United States. The purpose of the Civil Rights Act of 1866 was to insure that any child born of non-U.S. citizens (primarily those born to slaves who were not citizens) would automatically become citizens. That's why, today, children of illegal aliens are all natural-born U.S. citizens; as illogical as that may seem.

I think, for the reasons above, Obama is a legitimate and natural-born U.S. citizen and there is no reason for him not to be our President. Whether or not he is still our President after 2012, is all up to the voters and it should not be left up to some frivolous court actions that are attempting to nullify his valid claim of being a natural-born citizen and our President.

Simply speaking, Barack Obama was born in the U.S.A!

End of story!