I confess

I'm completely swept up by the Obama birth certificate conspiracy.

In Donofrio v. Wells, Donofrio concedes Obama was born in Hawaii but argues that because Obama's Kenyan father was a British subject, Obama was also a British subject. (His mother was a U.S. citizen.) Obama's dual citizenship at birth prohibits him from being a natural born citizen of the U.S. This case just came up in front of the U.S. Supreme Court and the court turned down the appeal to intervene in the presidential election. Here's what that likely means:

The Supreme Court's appellate jurisdiction allows it to review state court decisions only if the state court adjudicated a federal right. Donofrio's complaint - notice it's Donofrio v. Wells, not Donofrio v. Obama - is that New Jersey's Secretary of State failed in her duties because she did not review Obama's eligibility. It's a state law on which his complaint rests, not a federal right. If I understand how this process works, that means the state's decision is final and this guy is out of gas. On a side note, I just read this guy is representing himself. Makes me think of the old adage, "a lawyer who represents himself has a fool for a client".

In Berg v. Obama, Berg questions the location of Obama's birth, argues Obama lost his citizenship when he moved to Indonesia with his mother, and takes issue with the fact that Obama refused to take the oath of allegiance upon returning to the States once he was 18 years of age. Berg references a source that seems HUGELY questionable to me: Wikipedia Italian Version. Wft? He has a list of other "suspicious" activity that would make Obama ineligible to run. To read the pdf, click here.

Anyway, I find all of this intriguing but the one thing that hasn't been explained well is this - Obama has released the Certificate of Live Birth which shows he was born in Hawaii. Why is this not sufficient proof that he is a natural born citizen? Just for the record, I think Obama is a natural born citizen.

Here's an interesting letter written by one of the electors who was inundated with emails regarding this issue that I thought was well written:

December 6, 2008

I have been asked by some concerned citizens as part of my Constitutional responsibility as a member of the College of Electors to review the evidence and make a determination regarding the natural born citizenship of Barack Hussein Obama II, or to join in a lawsuit against him in this matter. They have also forwarded a great deal of information to me which I have now reviewed.

After reading this information it is my opinion that none of it is conclusive in its own right. Most of it is speculation, rumor, or opinion rendered by “experts” or others whose qualifications and
motives are suspect. However, given the volume of information put forth, the question of Mr. Obama’s natural born citizenship was worth my understanding.

Since the United States Supreme Court has not rendered an opinion regarding the validity of the “natural born” status of a U.S. citizen or otherwise defined this term, I am therefore at liberty to make my own determination as a Presidential Elector. In my opinion a person is a natural born citizen if he or she is granted citizenship either at birth or at the age of majority by the United States government. And has never been required by the United States government to become
“naturalized” or take the oath of citizenship. This seems to me to be a straightforward and logical understanding of the term. If you are presumed to be a U.S. citizen at your birth, and no government entity says otherwise, then in fact you are.

If someone emigrates from another country to the United States, and wishes to become a citizen, that person must enter a legal process culminating in taking the oath of citizenship and being “naturalized.” This is why for example the current Governor of California cannot
claim “natural born” status and become the President of the United States. He was born an Austrian. He emigrated here. He sought citizenship. And he was “naturalized” in a ceremony conducted by United States officials.

And there is also in the United States the use of Common Law as a part of our judicial system. Most of the time the law is codified by us, but in fact there are traditions and understandings which have not always been codified. My point here is that for example if you have a right of way from your property across another person’s property to a road, that person after a specified period of time (dependent upon a particular state’s statutes) cannot suddenly decide that you cannot cross his property anymore to get to the road. It is presumed after a certain period of time that this right of way is a right that you retain since he did not protest your crossing his property for years.

These are the two bases upon which I have rendered my decision. Even if some or all of the scenarios to which these concerned citizens have pointed regarding Mr. Obama’s citizenship are true, two facts remain. The United States government has never required Mr. Obama to take the oath of citizenship, or even to render a decision at the age of majority between having U.S. citizenship and Kenyan citizenship, or U.S. citizenship and Indonesian citizenship. And he has lived here and been reared and educated as a U.S. citizen. It would seem to me that 47 years is a sufficient amount of time to have lived here as a U.S. citizen, with no government entity challenging it, for us and for Mr. Obama to presume that he is a natural born U.S. citizen.

Whether through clerical error, or bureaucratic malfeasance, or simply because it is actually true as was stated on October 31, 2008 by the Director of the Health Department for the State of Hawaii, that he was in fact born in Hawaii on August 4, 1961. Barack Hussein Obama II has been presumed by the United States government itself to be a natural born citizen of the United States for 47 years.

It issued him a Social Security number and a passport, obviously accepting his Hawaiian birth certificate without requiring a team of forensic scientists to examine it. He has lived in the United States as a U.S. citizen for his entire adult life. He has been not only a de facto U.S. citizen, he has been a de jure U.S. citizen. A citizenship conferred upon him by the United States government at his birth, and never questioned by any court, or executive branch official for 47 years. The United States government itself accepted his natural born citizenship when it issued him a passport without requiring him to take the oath of citizenship in a ceremony like all other immigrants to this country.

Therefore, as the Presidential Elector for the 6th Congressional District of North Carolina it is my Constitutional determination that Barack Hussein Obama II is a natural born citizen of the United States, and is qualified to become the 44th President of the United States of America. I will cast my Electoral College vote accordingly on December 15, 2008.

Sincerely,

Wayne Abraham