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You are here: Home / While We’re Strolling Down Memory Lane

While We’re Strolling Down Memory Lane

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Remember when a guy who wasn’t born in America was running for President?

During the 2008 campaign, questions about John McCain’s birth in the Panama Canal Zone on a U.S. military base prompted some to ask whether McCain was eligible to be president, since the Constitution stipulates that anyone not born in the United States is not eligible to be president.

Amid a flurry of news reports, McCain’s own campaign announced in February 2008 that it was conducting an investigation. When a bipartisan pair of lawyers announced the following month that McCain was indeed eligible, the issue virtually died–apart from a Senate resolution that pretty much laid the question to rest by attesting to the facts surrounding McCain’s birth and citizenship.

But the winner of the 2008 election, Barack Obama, has faced a relentless campaign questioning his U.S. citizenship–and thereby the legitimacy of his presidency–that has disregarded the facts.

IOKIYAR

This jogged my memory of Andrew Sullivan’s frequent, intense and bracing calls for an investigation into McCain’s citizenship, his howls of scorn at the media who failed to do their part, and his questioning of McCain’s delay in providing a long-form birth certificate to clear the whole matter up.

Also, too: A Senate or House vote on Barack Hussein Obama II’s birth and citizenship would be very fucking interesting right about now.

Reader Interactions

76Comments

  1. 1.

    Chris

    A Senate or House vote on Barack Hussein Obama II’s birth and citizenship would be very fucking interesting right about now.

    One wonders whether they won’t try to impeach him for that. I half-expect them to impeach him for something anyway, so…

  4. 4.

    aimai

    @Chris:

    I’m waiting for Boehner to impeach Obama for not inviting Ryan to lunch. But I can definitely see a good argument for impeaching Obama for making it necessary for the Republican party to waste its precious bodily fluids on authenticating Obama’s birth certificate.

    aimai

  6. 6.

    Xenocrates

    Try again, Mr./Ms. Reporter. The Constitution states, in part, that “No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States.” (Art. 2, Sec. 1) OK, so if we actually READ the text, there is absolutely no basis for the contention that “…anyone not born in the United States is not eligible to be president.” As it happens, there are a number of laws and regulations which allow a person to be a “natural born” citizen WITHOUT being born in the U.S. But let’s not forget, that this is really all about the color of the President’s skin, not his eligibility to hold the office. Why is it that he is the only person who has been asked this question? What exactly is it about Barack Obama that makes him different from his predecessors…hmm, let me think for a minute.

  8. 8.

    Dave

    @Chris: It’ll come after 2012 when Obama wins re-election if the GOP maintains control of the House. Another four years of “that guy” in the White House will put it over the top.

  9. 9.

    R-Jud

    This is neat: the Guardian reports on a story in the Arizona Independent about Barack Obama, Sr.’s immigration files from the ’60s:

    A memo dated August 31, 1961 from William Wood of Immigration and Naturalization Services indicates that Barack Obama, Sr, was attending the University of Hawaii on a student visa and that a son, Barack Obama, II, was born in Honolulu on August 4, 1961.

    Even the INS was in on it! Another layer of the onion, my friends….

  13. 13.

    daveNYC

    @Chris: I think any impeachment attempt will happen in his second term, should he win. It makes sense in an assholish sort of way. Spend the first term doing everything to undermine his policies in the hopes he won’t get re-elected, then spend the second term throwing shit at him in the hopes that the idiot independents will vote for someone to ‘restore honor to the White House’.

  14. 14.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @R-Jud:

    Another layer of the onion, my friends….

    Of course you know what you have left when you have peeled off all the layers of the onion, right?

  15. 15.

    jwb

    @R-Jud: I’m constantly amazed at how far deep, broad, and secret this conspiracy is. I mean they thought to pay off an INS agent to write a memo and put it in Obama, Sr’s file. And they managed to keep a wrap on the conspiracy all these years with no one stepping forward to brag about it and blow the operation. I must say I really, really admire the discipline here. They really had the long game down.

  17. 17.

    R-Jud

    @Omnes Omnibus: Delicious layers of onion for kebabs?

    @jwb:

    I really, really admire the discipline here. They really had the long game down.

    Yes, which makes me believe that “they” are not really Democrats.

  19. 19.

    Mike S

    @Xenocrates: I agree it is because of the President’s skin color. But just to clarify things; laws can’t amend the constitution! What matters is what the Constitution says and what it meant to the ratifiers, and how we interpret it. So the meaning of “Natural Born Citizen” should be what counts. See this article in the Michigan Law Review about John McCain and the irreconcilable ambiguity of our interpreting the phrase “Natural Born Citizen” over 200 years after it was written.

  22. 22.

    jwb

    @R-Jud: “Yes, which makes me believe that “they” are not really Democrats.”

    Of course not. They are Kenyan soshulist usurpers.

  23. 23.

    ThatLeftTurnInABQ

    @Dave:

    It’ll come after 2012 when Obama wins re-election if the GOP maintains control of the House. Another four years of “that guy” in the White House will put it over the top.

    Agreed. There’s more political mileage for the GOP running against Obama in 2012 than removing him from office now (only to have Biden step in anyway).

    Am I the only one thinking that the House will probably be close to dead-even split between the Dems and the GOP after the 2012 elections and that we are likely to see some mindblowingly nasty recount fights before it is settled as to which party really controls the House, an issue that may take until March 2013 (or later) to finally settle in court?

  24. 24.

    Davis X. Machina

    Didn’t then-senators Obama and Clinton move a sense-of-the-Senate resolution in ’08 that McCain’s Canal Zone birth was ‘native born’ for purposes of Article II?

    I have hazy memories of this, but may be wrong.

  26. 26.

    NobodySpecial

    You won’t see it in the Senate for the same reason you won’t see it in the House: It will die unvoted on.

  27. 27.

    Martin

    It should be noted that the Senate resolution clearing up the matter was introduced by Democrats.

  28. 28.

    Chris

    @jwb:

    @R-Jud: I’m constantly amazed at how far deep, broad, and secret this conspiracy is. I mean they thought to pay off an INS agent to write a memo and put it in Obama, Sr’s file. And they managed to keep a wrap on the conspiracy all these years with no one stepping forward to brag about it and blow the operation. I must say I really, really admire the discipline here. They really had the long game down.

    Birtherism is one of the many, many, many conspiracies where the cover-up would actually be more ridiculously labor-intensive than the official story. What I mean is, if you were that fucking dedicated, wouldn’t it be easier just to have the kid in the United States?

  30. 30.

    Southern Beale

    mistermix:

    Also, don’t forget the Bush/Cheney ticket had a little issue with both men being from Texas. Three Texans filed suit to have Texas electoral votes tossed out claiming they violated the 12th Amendment of the Constitution. Cheney had to reestablish Wyoming residency in July 2000. But he’d really lived in Texas since 1995.

    But the case eventually got thrown out. Don’t see the Teanutties and their cry of OMG BUT THE CONSTITUTION!!!!! remembering that. As usual, everything was perfectly OK when Bush and Cheney did it.

  31. 31.

    The Snarxist Formerly Known As Kryptik

    @rikryah:

    Powerful, and I agree with just about everything there. All this whole fucking thing stands as is a reminder is that this is No Country For Brown People.

    EDIT: …aaaaand I make the goddamned dumb mistake of reading the responses to Baratunde’s video on Youtube. What do I find? “You negros are the true racists . You are the only ones keeping racism alive.” I am not black. I do not carry the burden of what has happened to Black Americans with me or that emotional attachment to it. As a Filipino, I, my family, my ancestors have had a unique relationship with America, some good, some bad, none as heavy as African-Americans, Blacks, etc. have had. But seeing this, seeing that kind of bullshit, reminds me that again, as a “Brown” person, I have no place in this country, because apparently by calling out racism, I am racist and I am worse than the KKK in this country, because I dare find shame in the extra burdens of citizenship any brown folk has in this goddamn country.

  32. 32.

    LGRooney

    None of this shit matters! My son was not born in the US, his mother was not a US citizen at the time, and he is still considered eligible to be President of the US according to the rules laid out in our Constitution.

  33. 33.

    jwb

    @Chris: Where’s the challenge to starting with logical premises? You have to think more like a Hollywood scriptwriter who is brought in to salvage a story but is not allowed to alter the fundamental premise. The basic strategy is to drop a ridiculous distraction whenever you reach a logically implausible plot point.

  34. 34.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    @Chris:

    What I mean is, if you were that fucking dedicated, wouldn’t it be easier just to have the kid in the United States?

    .. and name him Ronald Reagan Dunham.

  35. 35.

    Ivan Ivanovich Renko

    @rikryah: It almost made me cry… but then it just made me fucking pissed. I mean, “beat some tea-partying fucker in the face with a fucking cricket bat” pissed.

    Thirty years I’ve been a black American man working as a professional in corporate environments, and I’ve seen this kind of shit (though more subtly) time and time and fucking time again. “Well, we all have our crosses to bear in this life,” I would remind myself; and figure out a way to carry on.

    But THIS… this…

    Those of you who have African-American colleagues and compatriots can ask for yourselves– I suspect most of us are rather peeved at this moment.

  37. 37.

    Mark S.

    Huh, George Romney shouldn’t have been eligible for president:

    George Romney (1907–1995), who ran for the Republican party nomination in 1968, was born in Mexico to U.S. parents. Romney’s grandfather had emigrated to Mexico in 1886 with his three wives and children after Utah outlawed polygamy. Romney’s monogamous parents retained their U.S. citizenship and returned to the United States with him in 1912.

    Lowell Weicker doesn’t seem eligible either, but who cares?

  38. 38.

    Jay C

    @ThatLeftTurnInABQ:

    Am I the only one thinking that the House will probably be close to dead-even split between the Dems and the GOP after the 2012 elections

    No. Well, there are at least two of us, now….

    that we are likely to see some mindblowingly nasty recount fights before it is settled as to which party really controls the House

    Less certain: My present-time WAG is that Obama wins reelection handily, House and Senate both end up near-tied, and gridlock ensues. Unfortunately, I don’t think we’re anywhere near Peak Wingnut, and despite the wildly negative opinions the 112th Congress has generated, there are still going to be enough Teabagger-type nuts in the GOP caucus to be a sort of permanent wrench-in-the-works.

    But impeachment? NFW. The Repubs blew their chance with that card in 1999 – and, barring exposure of some truly heinous “high crime [or] misdemeanor”* , i.e. verified videotape, with DNA, of Obama selling Alaska back to Russia for a suitcase steamer-trunk full of Euros – that dog not only won’t hunt: it won’t because it’s been shot dead and buried.

    I’m sure someone from the 27% Krazy Kaucus will talk about impeachment: but that’s probably where it will stay. Thank God.

    *and barring any major revisions of US law, “Presidenting While Black” doesn’t cut it…

  39. 39.

    The Snarxist Formerly Known As Kryptik

    @LGRooney:

    Fuck, I was born in this country, in fucking WEST VIRGINIA of all places, not exactly a hotbed of illegal immigration. My parents became citizens not long after I was born, because of the opportunity this country had, how good it was to them, how much it offered compared to Marcos Philippines from which they escaped. And if I dared ran for office, I would probably be forced to prove that I was not some kind of swarthy evil Mexican invader trying to help foster the Reconquista, solely because I don’t look the part of the good American, I have a hispanic last name, and I just may look possibly Middle Easterner as well, which is an even bigger flag for anyone who lays left of Rush Limbaugh on the scale.

    It doesn’t matter, if you’re brown, you’re not an American, you’re a suspect, and the fact that this has applied even to the President of the Fucking United States to this level, a man who I’ve disagreed with on his political and professional stances and lost respect for on many an issue, it tells me that again, this is No Country For Brown People.

  40. 40.

    John PM

    I like the title of the piece:

    Birtherist response highlights racial undertones of ‘debate

    Undertones? Really? Undertones suggests some type of subtlety, which the birther movement does not have.

  42. 42.

    The Snarxist Formerly Known As Kryptik

    @John PM:

    But you see, it’s not really about race, it’s about making sure the constitution is upheld! We can’t have any of THOSE folks sneaking their dark asses into the Presidency! It’s not racist, it’s patriotic!

  44. 44.

    The Snarxist Formerly Known As Kryptik

    @soonergrunt:

    Yes- NO! Wait, dammit, now what was I saying….damn, I could sure use a parfait right now, everybody loves parfaits.

  45. 45.

    Mark S.

    @ThatLeftTurnInABQ:

    Yeah, I think the House is definitely in play:

    But [Allan] West says that Medicare is too expensive and that raising taxes on the wealthy would do nothing more than drive job creators out of business.

    Only the most dedicated Teatards believe that job creator bullshit. The Republicans are going to get slammed on this issue.

  47. 47.

    KG

    Didn’t the Senate resolution about McCain’s citizenship also address Obama’s citizenship? Saying effectively, “yeah, both of these guys are natural born citizens.” And didn’t the House pass some resolution… maybe for the president’s birthday saying he was born in Hawaii (I also vaguely remember a birther in the House pitching a shit fit about that).

    This is what I really don’t get about the birther movement, to believe it, you have to believe the follow entities are in are it:

    The Hawaii state government, the Illinois state government, the US department of state (under GWB), the government of Kenya, the government of the UK, the INS (apparently now), two Hawaiian newspapers, the hospital in Hawaii, the entire Obama/Dunham family, the Clintons, the RNC, the DNC, the US Senate, Occidential College, Harvard, Columbia, possibly the University of Chicago SOL, and god knows who else.

    That’s a metric shit ton of bullshit to buy into.

  48. 48.

    Emma

    R-Jud: Neat? Bloody dynamite. Holy cow. Did you read the story it links to? Whoa, Nellie.

    THE INS WAS IN ON THE CONSPIRACY! :D

    Seriously, though, why haven’t any national media picked up on it? A weekly newspaper nobody has ever heard of managed it. Sigh.

  49. 49.

    The Snarxist Formerly Known As Kryptik

    …wow. Two things, one related and one not:

    1) Sally Kerr, that distinguished Okie lawmaker who brought us such hits as “Homosexuality brought down civilizations”, is now on record for a state constitutional amendment eliminating Affirmative Action. Why? Because they “don’t work as hard” as them good ol’ white folk.

    2) OT: Massachusetts of all places decides to go in on the anti-worker binge as the state House decides to pass a bill to curb collective rights for workers as well. I mean, I know it’s unlikely Gov. Patrick would sign off on a thing, but fuck all. Have we really just about lost the argument in every single state legislature at this point? How?

  50. 50.

    jwb

    @Martin: But I think the Goopers learned with Clinton that there is no reason to impeach unless you have a sufficient number of votes in the Senate to carry it through or you need some major distraction in order to divert the media’s attention. If it ever comes to impeachment, it will certainly be for the latter reason. I think it’s quite plausible that this recent surge in birtherism has been fed by the Goopers need to distract attention away from Ryan’s plan, which is killing them. The Goopers and their media team clearly did not count on both Trump and Obama doubling down on the issue in different ways.

  51. 51.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @rikryah: What an eloquent statement of both rage and sadness. Thank you for posting the link. He is absolutely correct when he talks about how much of an embarrassment this is for the country. As a white guy, I know that I cannot truly grasp all of the levels of shittiness that birtherism entails. I don’t have the life experiences to do that. But the embarrassment of sharing a country and a nationality with with people like Trump and those who celebrate him, in general and for this particular strain assholishness, that I can share. Fuck.

  52. 52.

    JordanRules

    @The Snarxist Formerly Known As Kryptik: I felt so strongly after Katrina that brown folks would never, ever be fully American…I could envision absolutely nothing to change how I felt. I was so traumatized by it…then came Obama.

    Now, I’m reminded again, the wound scraped back open just a little bit. They are trying to delegitemize him for exactly this reason. It meant too much. In one fell swoop it meant too much and those who hate what it meant and means, those who suck their own identity out of denying other folks theirs will do everything in their power to undo it.

  54. 54.

    Chris

    @jwb:

    The basic strategy is to drop a ridiculous distraction whenever you reach a logically implausible plot point

    Yes, I see.

    Ladies and gentlemen of the supposed jury, this is Chewbacca. Now Chewbacca is from Kenya, but Chewbacca lives in Indonesia. Now think about that for a minute: this does not make sense! But more important, you have to ask yourselves: what does this have to do with the affairs of the nation? Nothing. Ladies and gentlemen, it has nothing to do with the affairs of the nation! Look at me! I’m a presidential candidate running during a major crisis, and I’m talking about Chewbacca! Does that make sense? Ladies and gentlemen, I am not making any sense! None of this makes sense! Here, look at the monkey! Look at the silly monkey!

  55. 55.

    Southern Beale

    @The Snarxist Formerly Known As Kryptik:

    Have we really just about lost the argument in every single state legislature at this point? How?

    The industry-funded ALEC, operating in all 50 states. Look at their model legislation, that should answer any questions you have.

    While the Left was busy doing community organizing and forming ACORN and helping poor people have access to the legal system, the Right was organizing and funding these kinds of organizations, operating in all 50 states and pushing their agenda through.

    I’m not saying the Left’s efforts weren’t needed, worthy causes but if you aren’t doing the other the former is for naught.

  56. 56.

    ThatLeftTurnInABQ

    @The Snarxist Formerly Known As Kryptik:

    But seeing this, seeing that kind of bullshit, reminds me that again, as a “Brown” person, I have no place in this country

    I hope everybody pissed about this video remembers that there are a lot of people out there like me who think that being A Coat of Many Colors is one of the best things about the US and that the only people who are acting UnAmerican here are the KKK and their friends.

  57. 57.

    Gozer

    I generally try to keep my head held high (despite being a Dusky-American (mom is African/East Indian/French and dad is French/Japanese/African/Portuguese…which somehow makes me Puerto Rican)) but I often despair at the numerous encounters that I have that demonstrate that to a non-trivial number of my fellow Americans, despite whatever heights I’ve achieved, I’m just some some spic or some nigger.

    One lady in the DC area insulted my dear wife, calling her “Alien bitch” in a parking lot. My wife is part Native-American part Irish and with a Ph.D.

    As I said, I (we) generally keep a positive outlook on things…but Jeebus do people make it fucking difficult sometimes.

    And to see the President endure such abuse from the likes of these fucks…? Makes me want to down a bottle scotch with a Drano chaser.

  59. 59.

    Jay C

    @Martin:

    Not that I’m an expert on the niceties of the Constitutional interpretation of impeachment parameters: but even assuming that you are right, and that the House CAN “impeach for any reason”; it’s a completely different issue from whether or not they SHOULD. My own feeling, as I said in No. 38, is that barring some genuine “crime”, an Obama impeachment would be seen as the ultimate political distraction, and a heinous abuse of the Constitution in pursuit of political harassment of an incumbent.

    I mean, JHCOAFPS: the ’99 impeachment was a PR fiasco for the GOP, it didn’t work, and made a political martyr out of Bill Clinton – and he was actually guilty of something! (whether or not you think he deserved to be booted from office for it).

  60. 60.

    grandpajohn

    @Mark S.: Someone should ask him where are the jobs being created during the present low tax period. Oh, I forgot,he only answers pre-screened written questions his constituents questions and opinions are not worthy of being answered

  61. 61.

    The Snarxist Formerly Known As Kryptik

    @Jay C:

    Unfortunately, I’m convinced that an Obama impeachment proceeding might be more stomached now, if only for the same reflexive thing we’ve been talking about: If you’re brown, you’re not a citizen, you’re a suspect.

    Way too many folk who might reflexively think Obama is guilty of whatever dumb shit they would impeach him on, simply because, hey, he looks guilty.

  64. 64.

    grandpajohn

    @jwb: I think it’s quite plausible that this recent surge in birtherism has been fed by the Goopers need to distract attention away from Ryan’s plan, which is killing them.
    True and of course very ably aided by a complicit media.
    One opinion I am slowly becoming fixed on is that the downfall of our country will not be from enemies without, not even by a traitorous republican party, but by our inept, corrupt media.

  65. 65.

    Chris

    @jwb:

    But Hollywood’s liberal.

    Aren’t we nancy boys who get really upset when things are blown up? Isn’t that also why we never, ever, ever see guns in a Hollywood movie?

  66. 66.

    WereBear

    @Jay C: barring some genuine “crime”, an Obama impeachment would be seen as the ultimate political distraction, and a heinous abuse of the Constitution in pursuit of political harassment of an incumbent

    Yeah. Not like that’s seen as a downside by them.

  68. 68.

    squiregeek

    It can’t repeated often enough that there are only two classes of citizenship; natural (either by being born in the US or being born anywhere in the world of a mother who is a US citizen), and naturalized.As long as Obama’s mother was a citizen there is no question that he qualifies as “natural born,” unless it was Cesarean :)

  72. 72.

    A Conservative Teacher

    It is so racist that they are trying to make such a big deal of Chester Arthur’s birth just because he was black! I mean, just because George Romney was born in Mexico and was black so they made a big deal about it! So what if Charles Hughes was was a dual citizen, the only reason that it was ever mentioned was because Hughes was black! Racism!

  75. 75.

    alwhite

    @grandpajohn:

    Actually we are being brought down by the Republicans and those Democrats who Blew Dogs. Th media has just been an able hand maiden to the process.

    Its time to move past “if” they will do it, its done already. The thing we have to worry about now is the backlash. Will it be a fascist dictator ala 1930’s Germany? Will it be a peasant revolt like the Red Army of 1918?

  76. 76.

    David B.

    @Davis X. Machina:

    Yes, the Canal Zone, which at the time of McCain’s birth was an unincorporated territory, where he’d be a citizen if one parent (regardless of age) was a citizen. Also, both his parents were American citizens, so he could actually have been in Kenya and been a citizen, as could Obama under the law as it now reads (over sixteen versus over nineteen).

    The interesting question is why was it ok to amend the Constitution to make a teutonic alpha male eligible.

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