By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor.
I guess I will defer to Pete Seeger’s lyrical talent to explain through verse the disappearance of our friends pejoratively referred to as “birthers”: that is, those who assert President Obama was born in Kenya and as such is ineligible for office due to not being a “natural born citizen” as required by the US Constitution.
Now that Mr. Obama is in the final year of his presidency, one would think that Birthers would be legions to storm forward and attack presidential hopeful Ted Cruz, who by his own admission and clearly established facts, was–are you ready for this–born outside the USA!
It begs of course the question…Where have all the Birthers gone?
For many recent years, there has been a great debate in some circles, often voraciously, speculating as to President Obama’s place of birth. The situation was not exactly diffused by what many regarded as the White House’s dismissiveness in proving his birthplace which of course led to the belief Mr. Obama had something to hide. But the opposite is true with Mr. Cruz.
The entire premise of the Birther’s position was that if it could be proven Obama was born in Kenya, then it was up to Congress or the Supreme Court to cast away his presidency. Surprisingly, despite Mr. Cruz’ admission and all other readily obtainable evidences available to the Birther’s need for evidence, no great numbers are sounding the clarion calls. They have seemingly disappeared while at the verge of their own victory: advocating that foreign born presidents are in contravention to the Constitution. Ted Cruz should be as fish swimming in a barrel.
Ted Cruz was born December 22, 1970 in Calgary, Alberta, Canada to an American Citizen mother. He later emigrated to the United States. Sounds like a prima facie case for the Birthers! Yet, crickets is all we hear.
Where have all the Birthers Gone? Long time waiting.
There are many academics and legal professionals who draw a credible question as to what defines Natural Born Citizen as written in Article II Section 1 of the U.S. Constitution. In this case, we don’t need Sheriff Joe or various other investigators to determine the birth place of Mr. Cruz.
Could it be possible that much of this mantra of protecting the office of the president from foreign influences is, in actuality, due to domestic political agendas? Unthinkable! I would have thought the Birther movement might have been apolitical. Perhaps I am wrong.
Where are the these true believers? I want to see a conspiracy theory turn out to be fact. But if this is the case it surely is a setback for these folks in that one of their favorite Raisons d’être atrophied away with regard to Mr. Cruz. Sad that such things have come to an end.
Give me that old time conspiracy!
By Darren Smith
The views expressed in this posting are the author’s alone and not those of the blog, the host, or other weekend bloggers. As an open forum, weekend bloggers post independently without pre-approval or review. Content and any displays or art are solely their decision and responsibility.
The fact is that Ted Cruz is a naturalized US citizen who was granted US citizenship by birth to a US citizen and thus was exempt from the other more rigorous naturalization process. THAT does NOT mean he was a natural born citizen. There is a simple common sense test for this. He could NOT get his US passport by simply showing his birth certificate as the rest of us do. He would have to show a consular document and/or his mother’s birth certificate, THEN he would be granted his US citizenship and passport. Just because he was born to a US citizen does NOT make him a natural born citizen since he must seek the approval of the US government and Congress to attain US citizenship. A natural born US citizen does NOT have to do any of those things, and does NOT have to go to court if he is denied it for any reason.
A foreign born person who marries a US citizen does NOT automatically become a US citizen by marriage. ALL that does is allow them to have a green card and legal residency, and after 5 years they can apply to begin the naturalization process. The courts have struck down all of the laws denying or revoking US citizenship and the only way one can lose US citizenship for natural born citizens is to renounce it before a diplomatic representative. Cruz could legally LOSE his US citizenship, unlike a natural born citizen, and he could be forcibly deported BACK to his native country, Canada. THAT is why he is NOT a natural born citizen.
Oh, I’m sure that a case will be filed and the courts will finally define “natural born citizen” once and for all. I personally believe that it means that you are born naturally a citizen, which would include, for example, the children of our military and ambassadors when they are serving overseas.
It does need to be legally defined to put the matter to rest.
Here’s what I think about Obama’s origins. I think he was born in Hawaii, and that he claims whatever will give him the best advantage. He’s “flexible” in his self definition. When he was in Indonesia, he went to both a Catholic and a Muslim school, and ate dog. When he was here in the US, it is my understanding that he got into Harvard with poor grades (which should be impossible) because he claimed to be a foreign student and they lowered the bar. His literary bio erroneously listed his birthplace as Kenya for many years. When he was a community agitator, he happily attended an openly racist church, which he later distanced himself from when he ran for President. When courting the more religious vote, he does not seem to bring up that his mother raised him as either agnostic or atheist, and only dragged him to church on Christmas and Easter, just the same as she took him to any other religion’s festivals. And I somehow doubt that when he was a community agitator that he emphasized that he was the grandson of a wealthy bank executive or that he grew up privileged in Hawaii.
Obama presents himself very differently, depending on the circumstances, which is part of the reason why there was such a furor about eligibility, which will also affect Cruz.
So, basically, Hillary, Trump, and Cruz are going to spend the presidential race in court, one criminal, one civil, and one just to verify eligibility. Is this a record?
Karen – Wikipedia has a decent article on the topic and posits that the courts will dump it in the lap of Congress.
@smrstrauss
Plus, on the notion of Birth Certificate Fraud in general, see this 2000 report from HHS. This was pre-Obama, and they state that birth certificate fraud is both common, and easy!
https://birtherthinktank.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/54392994-birth-certificate-fraud.pdf
Sooo, I still think it premature to completely dismiss that possibility.
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
Paul
Way to focus in on an irrelevant detail. Had Mr Potatoe head only made that single mistake it would be one thing, but Dan Quayle was almost as famous as George W. for his mangling of the English language, his malapropisms and his dopey take on things. I’m pretty sure you remember all that but as usual are focusing in on a pointless detail to distract from the message. Thanks for all that.
I don’t remember DAN Quayle “mangling the English language”.
There are some politicians that have….but I don’t think Quayle was one of them.
He was regarded as a promising young Senator, but was handicapped primarily because of his “presence”….
He happened to look like a goofy kid, and that alone will sink you in the modern media age.
I think Sarah Palin is in fact an airhead….Quayle is often infairly put into that same category.
phillyT – you are the one who brought up potatoe. I personally think Bush is dyslexic. I have taught a number of dyslexic students and the mistakes he makes verbally are the same ones they make. Of course, if you are a true progressive, you would never make fun of the handicapped, would you?
@smrstrauss
I disagree that “He was born in Kenya” being included in the possible reasons for the bio above was irrational. True, there isn’t very much of a chance of that, and in fact, an extremely negligible chance, but not “absolutely no chance.”
You put way too much faith in the honesty and integrity of government employees. I assure you that all kinds of funky stuff can happen if you happen to have a government clerk or government employee as your friend, or on the take. Cops will run background checks on people for their friends. You can either get a copy of someone’s income tax return, or all the information from one, if you know the right person. Even NSA employees do things they are not supposed to.
Do you really think it would have been impossible for Obama’s grandma to get a clerk to give her a birth certificate back in 1961, if she had the need to do so??? Geeeesh, there may be an NCIS, but there was no BCIS (Birth Certificate Investigation Service) back in 1961. Nobody ever went back and double checked to make sure that the babies were really there, or that their birth weight was 8 pounds, etc.
Plus, Obama’s grand parents had friends who were pretty much just Communists. Do you really think that the Commies didn’t know how to fake identity documents??? My goodness, haven’t you watched The Americans, on FX???
Sooo, while I think that the long form birth certificate puts most reasonable doubts to bed, I don’t think it an impossibility that it could either be overtly fake, or falsely obtained in 1961. True, not very darn likely, but there is a whole bunch of birth certificate fraud out there. Here, is just one recent example:
Do you really think that was the only time that it ever happened???
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
The above should read: “…nor even the former dozen or so who have withdrawn…”
@ Squeeky Fromm.”
Re: ” I am also truly curious what Obama is hiding in his school papers.”
Reporters are required to be well informed enough to report on the news. And you should have known that the reason that Obama did not release his school papers was simply that John McCain and Mitt Romney and previous presidents and presidential candidates did not release their school papers eitheer (not even George W. Bush, his grades were released by a source at Yale, but Bush did not release them). And you have to be well informed enough to know that NONE of the current candidates for president, nor even the former doze or son who have withdrawn, has shown her or his school or college papers. Not one of them. And, guess what, not one of their grades or papers is “sealed.” They ALL are protected only by the normal state and federal privacy laws—and that is all.
However, in contrast to all the current candidates. We do know that Obama graduated from Harvard Law School MAGNA CUM LAUDE, and we know it because Harvard Law School has said it. (That is, BTW, not in violation of the privacy laws because there is an exception for academic honors and awards.)
smrstraus – Obama has spent millions protecting his records. We do know that even though he was on the Harvard Law Review, he was not selected by the professors but rather selected by his classmates. And he was elected editor of the Law Review after an 8 hour election process. Common sense tells us he was not a unanimous choice. He wrote one minor review of a case, his entire contribution to the Review while he was editor.
Having said all that, how he graduated with honors is beyond me. If he was an honor student he would have been selected for the Review by his professors, not his classmates.
Re: “The real question is, does Obama remember being at Columbia and Occidental??? Because all that pot can really screw with your memory.”
THAT is not the comment of a REPORTER.
Reporters report facts and leave such speculation to columnists and commentators. Even the claim that pot affects memory adversely is mere speculation.
If you want to appear to be a reporter or an aspiring reporter, ACT LIKE ONE.
smrstrauss – a recent study has proved that marijuana affects memory in high school students. As someone who has taught high school students, I can speak anecdotally to affect of marijuana on students in the classroom. Squeeky is reporting facts when she writes about that.
@SteveGroen
The problem is,that laws did not always apply equally to women back in those days. That is why Congress passed the Cable Act in 1922. From wiki:
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
Girl Reporter: You taught me a lesson here, so I surfed the first wave coming in at Wikipedia:
“For much of the country’s history, voluntary acquisition or exercise of a foreign citizenship was considered sufficient cause for revocation of national citizenship.[63] This concept was enshrined in a series of treaties between the United States and other countries (the Bancroft Treaties). However, the Supreme Court repudiated this concept in Afroyim v. Rusk (1967),[64] as well as Vance v. Terrazas (1980),[65] holding that the Citizenship Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment barred the Congress from revoking citizenship. However, Congress can revoke citizenship that it had previously granted to a person not born in the United States.[66]”
Right you are. I didn’t know that the Citizenship Clause wasn’t viewed as broadly as it is now.
It took me a long time to figure out why George HW Bush picked Qualye as his vice president. Mr Malaprop, Mr. Potatoe. Mr. Foot-in-Mouth. Mr. not very smart frat boy. But then we all got to meet Bush’s son when he became president, and it was obvious in a second. Bush picked Quayle because he reminded him of his son.
phillyT – for someone who cannot spell aide, you shouldn’t be knocking other people’s spelling. Potatoe is a recognized, but not common, spelling of the word. In Qualye’s case, he was given a card with the word spelled with an ‘e’ on the end. When the student did not spell it that way, he said he was wrong. Reporters, who can only use dictionaries they can pick up with one hand, decided that the Vice President had made a horrible error. However, if they had pick up a two-handed dictionary, they would have found he was right and so was the student. Actually, it was all the teacher’s fault.
Re: “My belief is that we can not know for sure how the bio came about,”
Dear Squeeky.
Let me remind you that you are a girl REPORTER, and reporters call up people and ask them questions—which in this case you did not do. You simply speculated.
Well, I suggest that you at least TRY to call the literary agent and ask her how she could have made the mistake. And if you can’t get through, then you can begin speculating.
HOWEVER, the first possibility that you have to throw out is the notion that Obama really was born in Kenya. That’s because: (1) Only 21 people total came to the USA from Kenya that year according to the US INS report—and according to that report only ONE of the 21 came by air; all the rest came by ship—and there were no direct ships from Kenya to Hawaii; (2) the Kenyan government said that Obama was not born in Kenya; (3) Obama’s Kenyan grandmother said that Obama was not born in Kenya and WAS born in Hawaii in three interviews; (4) there is no indication that Obama’s mother even had a passport in 1961, and trips abroad by pregnant women were rare a the time; (5) the Hawaii birth certificate and the confirmations of the officials of both parties and the Index Data file and the birth notices in the 1961 newspapers ALL show that Obama was born in HAWAII.
So to list among the possibilities that Obama was born in Kenya is not a RATIONAL thing to do.
So whatever the literary agent said was WRONG—since Obama was not born in Kenya. That leaves two possibilities. Either Obama told her to write it, which would make the statement a lie, or that she really made a mistake. Well, we know that Obama said that he was born in Hawaii in 1990 in his interview with the New York Times, and we know that he said that he was born in Hawaii in “Dreams” in 1995—-so it is mere speculation (and weak speculation at that) that he said that he was born in Kenya in 1991 when the literary agent wrote the bio.
So how could she have made the mistake? Simple. Obama’s father was called Barack Hussein Obama I, just the same name as Obama except for the numeral, and Barack Hussein Obama I really was born in Kenya.
smrstrauss – ALL bios are sent to the author to be proofed. Obama got one for his book saying he was born in Kenya and approved it, or allowed it to be printed. At best he was careless, at worst he is a foreign national. BTW, Bill Ayers has admitted to writing his book, Dreams of My Father.
Renegade:
“It would be fun, I sincerely mean fun, to have the opportunity to explore the various positions to which we individually subscribe.”
Absolutely. Though I’m sure some here might complain for veering off topic (which is the nature of conversation).
“To explore whether “God” is not lazy. It’s akin to ascribing “bang” as the whole of the answer. Although, in jest, the opening of the Gospel according to John does say that in the beginning was the Word. To toy with that…the Word was “BANG” then perhaps deus ex machina? Sssshhhh….heresy??”
By lazy I meant that adding a creator at the beginning doesn’t do anything but inspire yet another question, Well where did the creator come from. All the same questions apply, and it becomes turtles all the way down. Feel free to substitute lazy with a bit too easy.
Also, reverse-engineering scientific discovery to fit ancient texts written by men who didn’t know about germs, eclipses, or how mountains form is weak at best, pretending those “prophetic” authors meant what we now know.
“To refer to cloning as evidence that we are closing in on an actual creating from even that described by the periodic chart (my phrasing) is to avert attention from duplication or mutation as merely taking or using that which already exists.”
Only pointing out that progress constantly occurs. Even cloning may be unnecessary should we figure out how to shift consciousness from our mushy biological platforms onto something more durable. (At this stage it seems doubtful, but again with enough time, the impossible can melt away.)
Sooo…lets bring this back to the Cruz/Obama birther debate.
In this thread or anyother I have yet to hear the answer to the question:
What happens to presidential actions should it be found that the individual was not eligible to hold the office?
For example: pardons, legislation, executive orders, etc..
Are they still valid?
If there are no ramifications, then so what? Other than esoteric discussions re. % of whatever, so what?
What would be really interesting is the scenario—Hillary charged with high crimes and misdemeanors before inauguration and Cruz found not eligible.
If Hillary so charged, impeachment isn’t required if charged before inauguration?
If the winner of the electoral college is sidelined, does the VP get the presidency?
Best way to prevent impeachment or pursuit of inelibility? Have a VP nobody wants to have. Palin was the best insurance for McCaine, more so than the best of the Secret Service. I thought Quayle was such for GHWB.
On a side note–
Our worst modern treason was carried out by native born citizens…Walker, Ames et al.
If others want to add the last few presidents and secdefs, they are incountry born.
Mr. Obama has set a precident. It was somehow forbidden for anyone to even talk about the questions regarding the missing birth certificate or that he wasn’t born in the U.S. Of couse, anyone questioning mr. Obama’s place of birth was simply racist.
It shouldn’t matter now. In order to be consistent, even if a candidate was born in another country, it would be hypocritical to question where they are from now, after what he had to put up with, with mr. Obama.
The above comment confirms that Cruz is 3/8 Irish heritage. I recall the movie Blazing Saddles. When the Freedmen wanted to be granted the right to move into town and offered to fight off some invaders, the local Mayor reluctantly agreed to let them in. Then he said: But Not The Irish! He then relented to that.
Cruz does not look Irish. He looks hispanic. His wife is in panic. If Cruz wins this birther thing will never go away. How about Kasich? Is he a Kraut? Polack?
Elmer Fudd:
Cruz is not half Hispanic. At most, he is 1/4. His paternal grandfather was European – born in Spain and went to Cuba to work for RCA Corporation. He married a woman whose last name was Diaz. I haven’t read anything about her ethnicity, whether Spanish or Hispanic, but Ted’s father certainly looks European, not Hispanic. Ted’s father went to the Univ of Texas and earned a degree in math. He met Ted’s mother, also a mathematician, who was born in Delaware and is 3/4 Irish and 1/4 Italian. So what is known is that Cruz is 1/4 Spanish, 1/8 Italian, 3/8 Irish, and 1/4 unknown. His paternal grandmother was Cuban, but Cubans are white, black, Hispanic and mixed. At most Cruz is 3/4 white and 1/4 Hispanic, assuming his paternal grandmother was 100% Hispanic, which is unlikely, if you look at photos of his father.
And BTW, while Cruz likes to describe himself as “the son of a dishwasher,” his father only washed dishes as a college student. Cruz is actually the son of two mathematicians who founded a successful company that analyzed statistical information for oil companies.
Dave137,
It would be fun, I sincerely mean fun, to have the opportunity to explore the various positions to which we individually subscribe.
I have but two brief observations:
To explore whether “God” is not lazy. It’s akin to ascribing “bang” as the whole of the answer. Although, in jest, the opening of the Gospel according to John does say that in the beginning was the Word. To toy with that…the Word was “BANG” then perhaps deus ex machina? Sssshhhh….heresy??
To refer to cloning as evidence that we are closing in on an actual creating from even that described by the periodic chart (my phrasing) is to avert attention from duplication or mutation as merely taking or using that which already exists.
Wow!
Prescott Bush was never the Ambassador to Great Britain….that was Joseph Kennedy.
Kennedy had big political aspirations of his own. He was also an isolationist who felt that the U.S. should not get involved in “Europen Wars”.
In what he thought was an off-the- record interview, he said that democracy was finished in the U.K., and maybe in America.
That was published, and effectively ended his political career.
Prescott Bush was on the board of a bank that cotinued to do business with/ in Germany until Oct. 1942, nearly a year after the U.S. entered the war.
I’ve never been able to figure out why that bank, and some other U.S. businesses, were still allowed to continue doing business with Germany that long after we entered the war.
I just read all of the comments. I am struck by the Pete Seeger song and the relevance. Where did all those “birthers” go? Are they kind of like Birchers? You know, John Birch Society members.
Cruz seems more Texan to me than Canadian. George W. Bush was more Texan for sure than some Kennybunkport dweeb like his dad. Prescott Bush was tied in with the Hitler wing of the German problem back when he was Ambassador to Great Britain. Rubio is more a Floridian than a Cuban. A Texan is a horse of a different color.
I do not know what to conclude about the citizenship thing regarding Cruz. I do believe that Obama was born in Hawaii. His problem is kind of like Cruz’ problem in that Obama is half white and Cruz is kinda half hispanic. Obama takes some criticism from black people for being half white. I personally would not want a New Yorkie. Such as Trump. Or Bernie. Kasicih hails from Ohio and there is something homegrown about that to me. Hillary is from three different places and may face a HillaryGate crisis. Gosh it is a tough political landscape.
I wasn’t a birther until i looked at the evidence. First hand. I realize ppl can’ t go look at evide,ce first hand. Its expensive. But what we got is what we got. Tptb focus on the birth certificate. There is more than that. No matter the point here is tedcruz. I luv what he says. So true. But he hopes a basic lie…..his naturalization. And hopps a lie his wife’s goldman sachs. But i want america back….by the rules….if we want to impeach our president….i don’t want canada to intervene. Trump gives us a literal blank slate. If he doesnt perform for us in two years we impeach him. So simple. So simple to take america back.
You talk like everyone opposed was a birther….fact is that ten percent might be with trump….who is the other thirty percent? You act like fifty percent were birthers when that wasn’ t the case. The birthers who are with trump dont owe you an explaination. About cruz…..but as a none birther i’ll tell you my story. I personally traveled.
To hawawi….first i went to the office of statistics to get a copy of the “birth cert”….not qualified to recieve one i went to the major library. There no aids new where to fond the reports. I was lead by all the peons who could otw help ppl to the main librian. Who took me to a drwers of michofiche. The first thing i noticed about the drawers is only a certain cohort of boxes were restored the rest beat up. To be expected historically 196o in hawaii wasn’t easy….
They gave up a king…..to become a state. I get that 1960 micro fish might be beat up. The other boxes look newer. They didnt look newer they were. Total differrent font and scheme. Why not update the boxes and fiche of hawaii’s most tumult time? Were they really original or visa ve? The problem or question must be asked of hawaii library. Everyone knows king ka ma mayas last years. Yet all boxes were updated except his? Last years. And if thats the case im suppose to believe only one nick or wrinckle occurred those years. The bottom line is i wasn’t even a truther….but given the microfiche display…few have researched hawaii let alone obama. Do i believe? No….his name in the paper is so easiely counterfeit on the left column of microfiche by six letters….you could make your own fake id and drink drink drink. Until zamerica sobers up.