[silverleaf]

This article brings up the question of whether Obama's Mama Stanley was old enough to qualify to confer citizenship on her child. She does not appear to have been, by the explicit criteria in the stated law. His place of birth is irrelevant.


From the author:
Presidential office requires the person elected to be a natural-born United States citizen if the child was not born to two US citizen parents.

US Law very clearly stipulates: “If only one parent was a US 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 US citizen, and Obama’s mother was only 18 when he was born, which means although she had been a US citizen for 10 years, his mother fails the test for being so for at least 5 years prior to Barack Obama’s birth.

In order for her child to have been a natural-born US citizen, his mother would have had to be 21 at the time of his birth.
In essence, Mrs. Obama was not old enough to qualify her son for automatic US citizenship. 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. Barack Obama instead should have been naturalized, but even then, that would still disqualify him from holding the office of President under current law. At best, Barack Obama is only a naturalized US citizen. This is an issue that must be clarified before the election.

[Raycpa]

The author is not correct.

http://www.usconstitution.net/consttop_citi.html

Constitutional Topic: Citizenship

The Constitutional Topics pages at the USConstitution.net site are presented to delve deeper into topics than can be provided on the Glossary Page or in the FAQ pages. This Topic Page concerns Citizenship. Citizenship is mentioned in Article 1, Section 2, Article 1, Section 3, Article 1, Section 8, Article 2, Section 1, and in the 14th Amendment and several subsequent amendments.

If you’re going to be involved in government in the United States, citizenship is a must. To be a Senator or Representative, you must be a citizen of the United States. To be President, not only must you be a citizen, but you must also be natural-born. Aside from participation in government, citizenship is an honor bestowed upon people by the citizenry of the United States when a non-citizen passes the required tests and submits to an oath.

Natural-born citizen

Who is a natural-born citizen? Who, in other words, is a citizen at birth, such that that person can be a President someday?

The 14th Amendment defines citizenship this way: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.” But even this does not get specific enough. As usual, the Constitution provides the framework for the law, but it is the law that fills in the gaps.

Currently, Title 8 of the U.S. Code fills in those gaps. Section 1401 defines the following as people who are “citizens of the United States at birth:”

* Anyone born inside the United States
* Any Indian or Eskimo born in the United States, provided being a citizen of the U.S. does not impair the person’s status as a citizen of the tribe
* Any one born outside the United States, both of whose parents are citizens of the U.S., as long as one parent has lived in the U.S.
* Any one born outside the United States, if one parent is a citizen and lived in the U.S. for at least one year and the other parent is a U.S. national
* Any one born in a U.S. possession, if one parent is a citizen and lived in the U.S. for at least one year
* Any one found in the U.S. under the age of five, whose parentage cannot be determined, as long as proof of non-citizenship is not provided by age 21
* Any one born outside the United States, if one parent is an alien and as long as the other parent is a citizen of the U.S. who lived in the U.S. for at least five years (with military and diplomatic service included in this time)
* A final, historical condition: a person born before 5/24/1934 of an alien father and a U.S. citizen mother who has lived in the U.S.

Anyone falling into these categories is considered natural-born, and is eligible to run for President or Vice President. These provisions allow the children of military families to be considered natural-born, for example.

http://www.usconstitution.net/consttop_citi.html

[mad_as_he$$]

Yup that is the exact point that most are missing. There also are some people searching for a birth record or a witness in Africa. If Stanley was under 16 and Obama was born in Africa the game is up. Both seem plausible. Also I think someone would remember a relatively dark skinned child being born to a very white woman - with the name Stanley - in the the early 60’s in Hawaii. No one has come forth and said they remember that.

[Non-Sequitur]

US Law very clearly stipulates: “If only one parent was a US 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.”

It does not stipulate that now. When did the law change? What year?

[cynwoody]

This article brings up the question of whether Obama's Mama Stanley was old enough to qualify to confer citizenship on her child. She does not appear to have been, by the explicit criteria in the stated law. His place of birth is irrelevant.

The law can blather on as it wants. But the 14th Amendment trumps the law. If he was born in the US, he's a natural born citizen. Case closed. The citizenship of his parents doesn't matter. For example, Bobby Jindal's parents were grad students from India studying in Baton Rouge when he was born. And he's on McCain's list of possible VPs.

[Alter Kaker]

This article brings up the question of whether Obama's Mama Stanley was old enough to qualify to confer citizenship on her child. She does not appear to have been, by the explicit criteria in the stated law. His place of birth is irrelevant.

No, I'm afraid your understanding isn't correct. Citizenship has always, since the 14th Amendment been automatically conferred on those born on US soil, with only a few narrow exceptions (the children of diplomats and POWs being chief among them). The law you cite only applied to those born outside the United States.