{"id":954,"date":"2011-04-27T12:03:30","date_gmt":"2011-04-27T16:03:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/cityofbrass\/?p=954"},"modified":"2011-04-27T13:45:17","modified_gmt":"2011-04-27T17:45:17","slug":"barack-obama-natural-born-citizen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/2011\/04\/barack-obama-natural-born-citizen.html","title":{"rendered":"Barack Obama, natural-born citizen"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here is the law of the United States (Title 8 of the U.S. Code, Section 1401<\/a>) on what constitutes a “natural born citizen”:<\/p>\n

\nThe following shall be nationals and citizens of the United States at birth:
\n(a) a person born in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof;
\n<\/strong>(b) a person born in the United States to a member of an Indian, Eskimo, Aleutian, or other aboriginal tribe: Provided, That the granting of citizenship under this subsection shall not in any manner impair or otherwise affect the right of such person to tribal or other property;
\n(c) a person born outside of the United States and its outlying possessions of parents both of whom are citizens of the United States and one of whom has had a residence in the United States or one of its outlying possessions, prior to the birth of such person;
\n(d) a person born outside of the United States and its outlying possessions of parents one of whom is a citizen of the United States who has been physically present in the United States or one of its outlying possessions for a continuous period of one year prior to the birth of such person, and the other of whom is a national, but not a citizen of the United States;<\/strong>
\n(e) a person born in an outlying possession of the United States of parents one of whom is a citizen of the United States who has been physically present in the United States or one of its outlying possessions for a continuous period of one year at any time prior to the birth of such person;
\n(f) a person of unknown parentage found in the United States while under the age of five years, until shown, prior to his attaining the age of twenty-one years, not to have been born in the United States;
\n(g) a person born outside the geographical limits of the United States and its outlying possessions of parents one of whom is an alien, and the other a citizen of the United States who, prior to the birth of such person, was physically present in the United States or its outlying possessions for a period or periods totaling not less than five years, at least two of which were after attaining the age of fourteen years: Provided, That any periods of honorable service in the Armed Forces of the United States, or periods of employment with the United States Government or with an international organization as that term is defined in section 288 of title 22 by such citizen parent, or any periods during which such citizen parent is physically present abroad as the dependent unmarried son or daughter and a member of the household of a person
\n(A) honorably serving with the Armed Forces of the United States, or
\n(B) employed by the United States Government or an international organization as defined in section 288 of title 22, may be included in order to satisfy the physical-presence requirement of this paragraph. This proviso shall be applicable to persons born on or after December 24, 1952, to the same extent as if it had become effective in its present form on that date; and
\n(h) a person born before noon (Eastern Standard Time) May 24, 1934, outside the limits and jurisdiction of the United States of an alien father and a mother who is a citizen of the United States who, prior to the birth of such person, had resided in the United States.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/a>
One of hundreds of billboards around the country, funded by right wing groups<\/figcaption><\/figure>President Obama released his “long-form” birth certificate today, which can be downloaded from the White House website. I am also embedding a copy below. Now, no one seriously believes that this will put the issue of the President’s birth (and thus, eligibility to be President) to rest, since the Birthers are far beyond any hope of reason. After all, the portion of the law I bolded above applies to Obama even if he had been born outside the United States – his mother was a US citizen and his father spent 4 years in the United States attending the University of Hawai’i at M?noa and then Harvard. <\/p>\n

Of course, since Barack Obama was born in Hawai’i, at the Kapi?olani Maternity & Gynecological Hospital, on August 4th 1961, as his short-form certificate of birth<\/a>, and now his long-form certificate of birth<\/a> prove, you’d think that the birther movement would now be satisfied, having received everything they ever demanded of President Obama. <\/p>\n

Think again. The Republican Party as a whole has been deeply infected with the Birther bug. As Harold Myerson writes<\/a>,<\/p>\n

Republicans are massively distracted by birtherism. A New York Times-CBS News poll last week showed that while 57 percent of Americans believe that President Obama was born in the United States, against 25 percent who didn\u2019t, just 33 percent of Republicans believed him American-born, while 45 percent did not. The Republican level of birtherism was effectively identical to that of self-identified Tea Party supporters, 34 percent of whom thought Obama was U.S.-born, while 45 percent did not.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This is why Donald Trump cannily has risen to become front-runner of the Republican field – on this issue alone, he’s gone farther and than anyone else, and reaped the benefits. Meanwhile, leading Republicans with genuine aspirations to the Presidency like Haley Barbour are deciding to sit the 2012 race out<\/a>, because they know that they cannot thread a needle between appeasing the Tea Party on one side and the general electorate on the other. <\/p>\n

The release of the long form certificate promises to fuel the flames of Birtherism<\/a> even more. And this works to the President’s advantage<\/a>. <\/p>\n

President Obama’s birth certificate is here<\/a> (PDF) for downloading or can be viewed online here<\/a> or here<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Also, here are President Obama’s remarks<\/a> to the media about releasing the certificate:<\/p>\n