One of the more bizarre controversies that refuses to die this campaign is the subject of Barack Obama’s birth certificate and whether in fact he is a “natural born citizen” of the United States and thus eligible to become president pursuant to Article II of the Constitution.
First, as A.J. Strata explains in elaborate detail, the electronic copy of Obama’s birth certificate confirming that he was born in Hawaii is not, as has been alleged, a forgery.
Second, as Dean Esmay points out, it makes no difference whatsoever where Obama was born because his mother was an American citizen at the time of his birth. (Because only 42 men have ever been elected president and they were all born here, this has technically never been tested in court. FindLaw explains, though, why there’s every reason to presume that someone who is, by statute, a citizen at the time of their birth would pass muster.)
UPDATE: In the spirit of parallelism, I should note that there are questions as to whether John McCain is a ‘Natural-Born Citizen.” He was born in Panama, don’t you know.
