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Jim Geraghty reports on rumors regarding the reasons for the Obama campaign's reluctance to release the Senator's birth certificate, the most amusing of which is the speculation that he was actually born in Kenya, and is thus not a "natural born" citizen. That particular angle has some lovely symmetrical circularity...will the Senate Judiciary Committee feel the need to add their two cents worth on Obama's behalf?
Color me extremely skeptical on the Kenya claim. This sounds like an attempt to keep the anti-Obama rumor mill ginned up, or to force disclosure of potentially embarrassing information, some of which possibilities Geraghty details in a follow-up post.
I hear tell that Senator Obama now has an internet hit squad strike team war room in place to handle just such rumors. Sounds like a job for the War Room*! Cybernaut powers, ACTIVATE!!!
UPDATE 6-12-08: Obama's birth certificate released via DailyKos. Kos says the campaign released it to him--make of that what you will.
[H/T: Baldilocks]
[*--But who'll play the role of Major T. J. "King" Kong? Slim Pickens is gone...]
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I agree that it's unlikely -
I agree that it's unlikely - not least because it's too good to be true - that the born in Kenya story is true, but if it turns out to be, Obama wouldn't be eligible and would have to drop out immediately. As Pat and I have explained previously, McCain's birth in the PCZ does not deprive him of natural-born status for two independently-sufficient reasons, neither of which are applicable in Obama's case. If the rumor was proven - and again, to be crystal clear, I have no reason to suspect that there is anything in it whatsoever, making this purely hypothetical - then if he refused to drop out, litigation could and ought to ensue.
"When someone says their heart needs lifting, don't ask how come, ask how high."
The Kenya thing's just the
The Kenya thing's just the "denial gotcha" hook meant to draw out the document. I suspect there is something mildly embarassing in the document, if only because they've been somewhat weaselly about releasing it. As usual, the cover-up will be more damaging than the "crime."
There is getting to be a considerable file on the Obama campaign dropping things down the memory hole, and actively suppressing any Obama-critical parody.
So after looking at the
So after looking at the actual birth certificate I wonder if they delayed because it states clearly "Barack Hussein Obama".
And I didn't know he was a junior!
Chris
He's not a Jr.! He's a "II".
He's not a Jr.! He's a "II". ;-)
I suspect that any intentional withholding of the BC was due to the parent's last names being different, casting doubt on the legitimacy (existence) of their marriage. (Next irrelevant record search, the executed marriage license...followed by the divorce filings.) Of course, his father was already committing bigamy by marrying Dunham in the first place, as he was married in Kenya with two children and a wife there at the time of union with Dunham. He never divorced his first wife, and she's still alive and living in England. He married a third time and was eventually divorced from that wife, and was apparently engaged at the time of his death.
To be very very clear, some will make a big deal of all this, and I think that's pretty sleazy. Obama "II" had absolutely no choice or say in the matter, and tagging him with the actions of his forebearers is low. You don't get to pick your relatives and ancestors, just get the opportunity to come to terms with them.
Plus...
Plus, it's not like he was actually raised much by his mother and father, as I understand it. Certainly his dad left the scene quite early; I'm not as clear on how much time he spent with his mother in early life, but I understand he was largely raised by his mother's parents. To the extent one might look at the parents to see what kind of worldview (or neuroses) they might have imparted on the child, that's not terribly relevant here.
Not necessarily, Simon...
My position generally is that Congress has the power to set the rules for determining who is and is not a citizen, and if somebody is a citizen from the moment of their birth (and not some retroactive affiliation, but an actual citizen at the moment of birth by virtue of the laws then in effect), then they are a "natural born citizen." I think that is the best and most proper reading of the Constitution, because there is nothing inherent in the phrase "natural born citizen" which directly refers to any geographical jurisdictional test.
8 USC 1401 provides that the following persons are "citizens of the United States at birth" (and that has been the language, I believe, since 1789 or 1790):
Obama's mother was a citizen of the United States who, prior to Obama's birth, was physically present in the U.S. for a period or periods totaling not less than five years, at least two of which were after attaining the age of fourteen years. Accordingly, under that statute, he would be a citizen of the United States by virtue of his birth, even if he was born in Kenya.
Failing that reading, we fall back to the laws of England in 1789 about what constitutes a "natural born citizen." We'd have to do some more detailed analysis at that point to see if the child of a British mother and a foreign father born abroad would be a natural born subject of the crown.
This isn't fresh in my mind,
This isn't fresh in my mind, but I had thought that your position (which I'd agreed with) was that (1) by the time of the founding era, it was established in English law that the children of ambassadors were regarded as natural-born subjects of their parents' country; (2) it is reasonable to abstract from that to the premise that children born to subjects abroad who were abroad in service of the sovereign (chiefly diplomats); and therefore (3) it is reasonable to extract the rule that children born to Americans abroad in service of the federal government, including not only diplomats but also soldiers, are natural-born citizens.
If that's accurate, I agree with it, but I don't think it's applicable here. Only one of Obama's parents was an American, and so far as I know, she was never sent abroad at the behest of the federal government as a soldier, diplomat, or any equivalent role. Whether English law established that the foreign-born child of a foreigner and an English subject not abroad in service of the King would be a natural-born subject of the King - the relevant point here - is a distinct question.
I also remain convinced that whatever the original meaning of "natural born citizen," the meaning of the clause is governed by that meaning - exclusive of any power of Congress. Congress cannot unilaterally redefine the meaning of terms in the Constitution to suit its view of good policy, not least because that would usurp the function of the Supreme Court. I think I wrote at more length about this a few months ago, and I remain of the view that while Congress has the power to grant citizenship on whatever terms it considers wise, including granting citizenship ex partum, it does so pursuant to its naturalization power.
"When someone says their heart needs lifting, don't ask how come, ask how high."