Can Obama Legally Be President ?

WillowTheWhisp · 24-06-2008, 07:56

I've just received this intriguing email from my American cousin. I wonder what light any of our Stateside members can shed on this possible dilemma.

CAN OBAMA LEGALLY BE PRESIDENT ?

CAN OBAMA LEGALLY BE PRESIDENT ? It seems that Barack Obama is not qualified to be president after all for the following reason: Barack Obama is not legally a U.S. natural-born citizen according to the law on the books at the time of his birth, which falls between 'December 24, 1952 to November 13, 1986.? Presidential office requires a natural-born citizen if the child was not born to two U.S. citizen parents, which of course is what exempts John McCain though he was born in the Panama Canal. US Law very clearly stipulates: 'If only one parent was a U.S. citizen at the time of your birth, that parent must have resided in the United States for at least ten years, at least five of which had to be after the age of 16.' Barack Obama's father was not a U.S. citizen and Obama's mother was only 18 when Obama was born, which means though she had been a U.S. citizen for 10 years, (or citizen perhaps because of Hawaii being a territory) the mother fails the test for being so for at least 5 years *prior to* Barack Obama's birth, but *after* age 16. It doesn't matter *after*. In essence, she was not old enough to qualify her son for automatic U.S. citizenship. At most, there were only 2 years elapsed since his mother turned 16 at the time of Barack Obama's birth when she was 18 in Hawaii. His mother would have needed to have been 16+5= 21 years old, at the time of Barack Obama's birth for him to have been a natural-born citizen.
As aforementioned, she was a young college student at the time and was not. Barack Obama was already 3 years old at that time his mother would have needed to have waited to have him as the only U.S. Citizen parent. Obama instead should have been naturalized, but even then, that would still disqualify him from holding the office.

*** Naturalized citizens are ineligible to hold the office of President. *** Though Barack Obama was sent back to Hawaii at age 10, all the other info does not matter because his mother is the one who needed to have been a U.S. citizen for 10 years prior to his birth on August 4, 1961, with 5 of those years being after age 16. Further, Obama may have had to have remained in the country for some time to protect any citizenship he would have had, rather than living in Indonesia. Now you can see why Obama's aides stopped his speech about how we technically have more than 50 states, because it would have led to this discovery. This is very clear cut and a blaring violation of U.S. election law. I think the Gov. of California would be very interested in knowing this if Obama were elected President without being a natural-born U.S. citizen, and it would set precedence. Stay tuned to your TV sets because I suspect some of this information will be leaking through over the next several days.

jaysay · 24-06-2008, 09:13

Very interesting Willow, thats why Arnie can't stand for president under existing rules

cashman · 24-06-2008, 10:17

well i said from the outset, this man will never be elected president, based purely on my very limited knowledge of my visits across the usa, was surprised n pleased he won the nomination to run, will have to see what transpires from this.

Mancie · 24-06-2008, 10:32

That's a bit long winded Willow.. it's much more simple than that, of course he can't become President.. I mean he's black isn't he!

polly · 24-06-2008, 10:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mancie

That's a bit long winded Willow.. it's much more simple than that, of course he can't become President.. I mean he's black isn't he!

Not only is he black bur he does not have an ex president as a daddy.

Still as long as he can work out how to vote rig he should be ok. just like his predecessor.

Tin Monkey · 24-06-2008, 11:55

God bless democracy. It's got to be worth dying for..... hasn't it?

In all honesty, I expect this to be revealed as another internet created 'panic', rather than something of real substance.

Tealeaf · 24-06-2008, 11:59

I see you lot aren't lawyers. The fourth line down gives the game away. Obama is a natural born citizen. Hence he qualifies. The rest of the piece is superfluous nonsense.

WillowTheWhisp · 24-06-2008, 12:03

It does seem a bit ambiguous because although the 4th line down says he must be a natural born citizen there then goes on to be some doubt as to what constitutes a natural born citizen.

I only hope that if it turns out that he does not qualify that it isn't interpreted as racism and result in riots.

lancsdave · 24-06-2008, 12:06

If it is true I suspect it would have already leaked long before it hit Accyweb

Tealeaf · 24-06-2008, 12:08

Natural Born Citizen means to be born on American soil - in the US, in an embassy or on a US base.

Gayle · 24-06-2008, 12:19

I'm pretty sure that all the great minds in the Democrat party would have checked this out before allowing him to stand and I'm also pretty sure that Clinton would have used the information to her advantage if she could have done.

cashman · 24-06-2008, 13:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gayle

I'm pretty sure that all the great minds in the Democrat party would have checked this out before allowing him to stand and I'm also pretty sure that Clinton would have used the information to her advantage if she could have done.

that sounds pretty reasonable, though i'm near sure they will try n screw the guy some way, its as mancie says.

WillowTheWhisp · 24-06-2008, 14:31

The more I read it the more it seems to tell me that Obama doesn't qualify as a natural born American because if order to be so both parents need to be US citizens or if only one parent was a U.S. citizen at the time of his birth, then that parent must have resided in the United States for at least ten years, five of which had to be after the age of 16. His father was not a US citizen and his mother had been a US citizen since age 8 but she was only 18 when she had him, so she had not been a US citizen for 5 years after the age of 16, at the time of his birth. It does seem very possible that he is not a legally accepted natural born American and if he is 'naturalised' he doesn't qualify for the office of president.

I really don't think we've heard the end of this.

jaysay · 24-06-2008, 15:58

I've always thought that I couldn't see America voting for a black president, they may have come a long way since 1968, but I don't think they have come so far

beechy · 24-06-2008, 16:55

me thinks a bullet will interveen