Let's say that Obama had been born in Kenya...

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Obama had an mother who was an American citizen, would the fact that Obama was born in Kenya matter at all?

Wouldn't someone who had an American mother be considered a "natural born citizen" and be eligible to be president of the United States in spite of the fact that he was born outside of the territorial border of the United States?

You might think that this is rehashing old news... but funny enough this issue might become very important over the next 2 or 3 years.

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Type: Question • Score: 11 • Views: 3,055 • Replies: 27

[+3] - parados - 08/23/2013And we have also established that you, by not doing anything substantial other than sitting around in your dirty underwear or lack of it*, also support lawlessness, terrorism, war crimes......

@maxdancona,

This the exact scenario for Ted Cruz. Except he was born in Canada. I don't think it is that big an issue to most of us.

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@edgarblythe,

Senator McCain was born in Panama, both parents Americans. A neighbor (american) has two children born to a German woman and both children have duel citizenship. Only one parent has to be an American, regardless of where the child is born.

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@edgarblythe,

It must have been to him, he renounced his Canadian citizenship.

Cruz renounces any claim to Canadian citizenship

Quote:

His statement read:

"Given the raft of stories today about my birth certificate, it must be a slow news day. The facts of my birth are straightforward: I was born in 1970 in Calgary, Canada. Because my mother was a U.S. citizen, born in Delaware, I was a U.S. citizen by birth. When I was a kid, my Mom told me that I could choose to claim Canadian citizenship if I wanted. I got my U.S. passport in high school.

"Because I was a U.S. citizen at birth, because I left Calgary when I was 4 and have lived my entire life since then in the U.S., and because I have never taken affirmative steps to claim Canadian citizenship, I assumed that was the end of the matter.

"Now the Dallas Morning News says that I may technically have dual citizenship. Assuming that is true, then sure, I will renounce any Canadian citizenship. Nothing against Canada, but I'm an American by birth and as a U.S. Senator, I believe I should be only an American."

1 Reply

@revelette,

He likely has the birthers, of whom he wants to be the leader, on his mind. It never bothered him at all, until he set his eyes on the White House.

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@edgarblythe,

Cruz has a real problem here. His situation is exactly what the birthers accuse President Obama of except that his is real. IMO, this isn't like McCain who was born on a military base to parents on military deployment. Cruz was not born in the US, straight and simple. When he shows his birth certificate, it is not going to say Hawaii, it is going to say Canada. Any self respecting birther can only draw one conclusion from that.

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@engineer,

Are there any self-respecting birthers?

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@maxdancona,

Self-respecting, yes. Respected by others, questionable.

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@maxdancona,

The laws have changed through the years. It partially depends on when he was born, which parent was a US citizen, and how long the parent lived outside the US prior to the birth.

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@maxdancona,

maxdancona wrote:

Obama had an mother who was an American citizen, would the fact that Obama was born in Kenya matter at all?

You're a cruel, cruel man, maxdancona. You heard about Ted Cruz, didn't you.

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@edgarblythe,

edgarblythe wrote:

This the exact scenario for Ted Cruz. Except he was born in Canada. I don't think it is that big an issue to most of us.

No it's not quite the same scenario. Barack Obama actually was born in the United States, and never depended on his mother for his American citizenship. Ted Cruz, by contrast, was born in Canada, is a Canadian, and would not be an American if his mother wasn't.

Is this affair a cheap shot against Ted Cruz? Sure! And I love it!

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@Thomas,

Quote:

For persons born between December 24, 1952 and November 14, 1986, a person is a U.S. citizen if all of the following are true:

The person's parents were married at the time of birth

One of the person's parents was a U.S. citizen when the person was born

The citizen parent lived at least ten years in the United States before the child's birth;

A minimum of 5 of these 10 years in the United States were after the citizen parent's 14th birthday.

Cruz may have some 'splainin' to do.

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@Thomas,

You are right, but the premise of the thread suggests we pretend Obama was born of an American mother in Kenya.

1 Reply

@edgarblythe,

Gotcha.

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For devoted American conservatives:

Avoiding service in Vietnam for Bill Clinton was traitorous.

Avoiding service in Vietnam for George W. Bush completely understandable.

The American conservative handbook should be Alice in Wonderland.

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What if the moon is made out of green cheese?

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As of last Friday, my sister, who has been an expat since her early twenties, is an Australian citizen too. She sang "Advance, Australia" with all the other new citizens in the Nlorth Adelaide council chamber. They had two choices, they could take the oath with ""under God" in it. Or not. She was with the group that didn't have it in their oath. She made sure that her two kids were born in the States, since the various American embassies where she was at the times gave her different answers on whether or not they would be unequivocally US citizens if they weren't born here. Apparently even high-ranking American diplomats don't know.

If there's a way we can deport Ted Cruz as an undesirable alien, let's take it.

1 Reply

@MontereyJack,

Quote:

Apparently even high-ranking American diplomats don't know.

Like Shirley Temple Black?

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wouldn't be surprised. some of the language in the laws/decisions is apparently ambiguous, judging from other discussions here. my sister played it safe.

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@Frank Apisa,

Frank Apisa wrote:

The American conservative handbook should be Alice in Wonderland.

Charles Lutwidge Dodgeson (aka, Lewis Carroll) wrote the book to entertain Alice Liddell, a young girl that in his Victorian thinking thought was a perfect model for the comparitively new technology of photography that was his hobby.

Anyway, Mr. Dodgeson was a mathematics lecturer at Christchurch. So, it appears that the book was written by an educated person, who wanted to entertain a child with a fabulous story.

Yes, I do believe conservatives are kind to children, and oftentimes very knowledgeable in arcane subjects.

2 Replies

Let's say that Obama had been born in Kenya...

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