By David Farside
Website: http://www.thefarsidechronicles.com
The controversial debate over President Barack Obama’s U.S. citizenship is starting to heat up again. Recently, the Americans for Freedom Organization released copies of Obama’s college transcripts as an undergraduate at Occidental College, a liberal arts college in Los Angeles. Previously, Occidental had refused to hand over the transcripts. The organization then filed a law suit and the Superior Court of California ordered Occidental to make the information public.
According to an Associated Press report, Obama applied for financial aid and was awarded a fellowship for foreign students from the Fulbright Scholarship Foundation. In order to qualify for the aid, a student has to claim and prove foreign citizenship.
The released transcripts indicate Obama claimed he was a citizen from Indonesia and used the name Barry Soetoro on his approved application.
There does seem to be evidence that Obama was actually born in Kenya, not in Hawaii as he and the Democrats claim. Obama’s half-sister and half-brother claim he was born in Kenya. His paternal grandmother says she was present at his birth in Kenya and claims Obama is a citizen of Kenya.
One explanation is that Obama’s parents flew to Kenya in 1961 to meet Obama’s father’s side of the family. Obama’s mother didn’t like the way Muslim men treated their wives and wanted to come home. But because she was near term with Obama, the airline wouldn’t fly her back to Hawaii until the baby (Barack) was born. A short time after the delivery, they returned to the state of Hawaii. It appears after they returned home, they registered his birth as “on or about Aug. 9, 1961,” in Hawaii.
In an interview on YouTube, Kenya’s ambassador also admitted Obama was born in Kenya. He suggested they are going to have a monument erected at the place where Obama was born – in Kenya.
Questioning the citizenship of prospective presidents of the United States isn’t new.
Our 21st president, Chester Arthur, was thought to be born in Canada. His mother was a U.S. citizen and his father was born in Ireland. His father became naturalized 14 years after he was born. As vice president, Arthur became president after President James Garfield died from an assassin’s bullet. His detractors could never prove he was not a U.S. citizen.
Presidential candidate Sen. John McCain was born in Colon, Panama. His two parents were Americans serving at the Coco Solo naval air station, which was not a part of the Panama Canal zone under the jurisdiction of the United States. But in April 2008, the Senate approved a non-binding resolution recognizing McCain as a natural-born citizen. Some attorneys and judges still dispute his citizenship.
Another Republican, George Romney, born in 1907 in Mexico to U.S. parents, had his citizenship questioned. He returned to the U.S. with his parents in 1912 and supposedly was eligible to run for president.
Lowell Weicker, a former senator and governor from Connecticut, ran for the GOP presidential nomination in 1980. He was born in Paris to parents who were American citizens. He dropped out of the race before the issue could be resolved.
Even the venerable Barry Goldwater’s citizenship was questioned. He was born in Phoenix, Ariz., when it was still a territory of the United States. During the 1964 campaign for president, there was some controversy about his American heritage.
Section I, Article II of the U.S. Constitution states that “no person except a natural born citizen … shall be eligible to the office of President.”
On July 9, 1868, the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was passed, broadening the constitutional interpretation of citizenship. One clause in the amendment reads, “All persons born (or naturalized) in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and the state wherein they reside.” But that doesn’t allow them the privilege of running for president.
When this story broke, Obama was visiting London. Asked about his citizenship, he just smiled and refused to comment.
But he may not be smiling long. Gary Kreep of the U.S. Justice Foundation estimates the Obama campaign fund spent almost $950,000 in the past year in 12 states to block disclosure of his personal records. That may or may not be true.
But evidently, what is true is that President Obama used a different name when he registered as a foreign student from Kenya.
So, did Obama maintain a dual citizenship? And, if so, does that preclude his eligibility to be President? Probably.
Was he lying about his foreign citizenship and fraudulently applied for, and accepted a foreign student grant? And, is he intentionally deceiving the American people about his origin of birth in order to become President? On the surface it appears that way.
Did the democrats intentionally name Joe Biden as Obama’s replacement, knowing Obama’s citizenship was in question? Could be. If they did, it was a smart decision.
If Obama is lying and was untruthful to the American people, will he resign gracefully or argue clintonian logic that it’s all subjective and it depends on what lying and deceit really is?
The issue should be easily resolved. Just open up the records and tell the truth. Until then, we don’t know if our president is Barack Obama or Barry Soetoro.
