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Paul R. Hollrah, O.E.
Obama Is Not Eligible
November 18,
2009
President James A. Garfield once said, “I love agitation and
investigation and glory in defending unpopular truth against popular
error.”
If Garfield were alive today he would glory in defending an unpopular
truth... which is that Barack Hussein Obama is ineligible to serve as
President of the United States... against popular error... which is the
incomprehensible claim of sunshine patriots that it makes no difference
whether or not Obama meets the “natural born” standard required under
the U.S. Constitution.
So, in the Garfield tradition, let us defend an unpopular truth.
In a recent column titled, “Obama’s Dual Citizenship,” we examined the
basis of the claim that Obama is not a “natural born” United States
citizen, as required by Article II, Section 4 of the Constitution. To
arrive at that conclusion it is first necessary to establish that Obama
was born with dual citizenship.
Obama tells us that he was born in Honolulu, Hawaii on August 4, 1961 to
Barack Hussein Obama, Sr., a citizen of Kenya, and Stanley Ann Dunham,
an 18-year-old American girl. But, regardless of the place of his birth
(some insist that he was born in Kenya), the fact that his parents were
of diverse nationality... one Kenyan and one American... provides
sufficient proof that, under all of the applicable law, U.S. and
foreign, he started life with dual citizenship.
At the time of Obama’s birth, Kenya was a colony of the United Kingdom,
therefore Obama’s father, having been born in Kenya, to Kenyan parents,
was a British subject. So what does that mean for Obama?
Part 2, Section 5(1) of the British Nationality Act of 1948, reads, in
part, as follows:
“Subject to the provisions of this section, a person born after the
commencement of this Act shall be a citizen of the United Kingdom and
Colonies by descent if his father is a citizen of the United Kingdom and
Colonies at the time of the birth...”
Obama’s father was a citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies at the
time of his birth. Therefore, under British Law and American law, Barack
Hussein Obama, Jr. was born with British citizenship “by descent” from
his father, and with American citizenship by descent from his mother.
However, Obama’s dual British-American citizenship was short lived.
Following Kenya’s independence from Great Britain, Kenya’s newly-adopted
Constitution went into effect on December 12, 1963, when Obama was two
years and four months old. Chapter VI, Section 87[3] of the Kenyan
Constitution, relating to citizenship, provides, in part, as follows:
“(1) Every persons who, having been born in Kenya, is on 11th
December, 1963 a citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies (Obama Sr.),
or a British protected person, shall become a citizen of Kenya on 12th
December 1963. Provided that a person shall not become a citizen of
Kenya by virtue of this subsection if neither of his parents was born in
Kenya. (Obama’s paternal grandparents were both born in Kenya)
“(2) Every person who, having been born outside Kenya, is on 11th
December, 1963 a citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies (Obama Jr.),
or a British protected person, shall, if his father becomes, or would
but for his death have become a citizen of Kenya by virtue of subsection
(1), become a citizen of Kenya on 12th December, 1963.”
In other words, on December 12, 1963, Obama lost his dual US-British
citizenship and became, instead, a dual citizen of the United States and
Kenya. However, Kenyan dual citizenship had its limits. Chapter VI,
Section 97 of the Kenyan Constitution provides as follows:
“(1) A person who, upon the attainment of the age of twenty-one
years, is a citizen of Kenya and also a citizen of some country other
than Kenya shall, subject to subsection (7), cease to be a citizen of
Kenya upon the specified date unless he has renounced his citizenship of
that other country, taken the oath of allegiance and, in the case of a
person who was born outside Kenya, made and registered such declaration
of his intentions concerning residence as may be prescribed by or under
an Act of Parliament.”
Subsection (7), referenced above, gave the Kenyan parliament the option
to provide a grace period during which dual citizens could make their
election of nationality after reaching age twenty-one. Since Obama
clearly did not renounce his U.S. citizenship during the grace period
following his 21st birthday, The Rocky Mountain News has reported on
September 3, 2009 that his Kenyan citizenship expired on August 4, 1984,
his 23rd birthday.
However, having established that Obama was, in fact, born with dual
US-British citizenship, and that he held dual US-Kenyan citizenship from
the age of two until at least his twenty-first birthday, it now becomes
necessary to answer the critics who assert that United States law does
not recognize dual citizenship. Not true.
The official position of the Consular Affairs Division of the U.S. State
Department is excerpted as follows:
“The concept of dual nationality means that a person is a citizen of
two countries at the same time. Each country has its own citizenship
laws based on its own policy. Persons may have dual nationality by
automatic operation of different laws rather than by choice...
“U.S. law does not mention dual nationality or require a person to
choose one citizenship or another. Also, a person who is automatically
granted another citizenship does not risk losing U.S. citizenship.
However, a person who acquires a foreign citizenship by applying for it
may lose U.S. citizenship. In order to lose U.S. citizenship, the law
requires that the person must apply for the foreign citizenship
voluntarily, by free choice, and with the intention to give up U.S.
citizenship...
“The U.S. Government recognizes that dual nationality exists but does
not encourage it as a matter of policy because of the problems it may
cause. Claims of other countries on dual national U.S. citizens may
conflict with U.S. law...
“However, dual nationals owe allegiance to both the United States and
the foreign country. They are required to obey the laws of both
countries. Either country has the right to enforce its laws,
particularly if the person later travels there. Most U.S. citizens,
including dual nationals, must use a U.S. passport to enter and leave
the United States. Dual nationals may also be required by the foreign
country to use its passport to enter and leave that country...”
In analyzing the eligibility of Barack Obama to serve as President of
the United States, the operative words in the U.S. State Department
policy, the law of the land, are these:
▪ Dual nationals owe allegiance to both the United States and the
foreign country. They are required to obey the laws of both countries.
▪ The U.S. Government recognizes that dual nationality exists but
does not encourage it as a matter of policy because of the problems it
may cause.
▪ Claims of other countries on dual national U.S. citizens may
conflict with U.S. law.
These are precisely the reasons why the Founding Fathers included the
words “natural born” when drafting the words of Article II, Section 4 of
the Constitution.
When the Founding Fathers agreed to the basic qualifications of the
individual who would serve as the Chief Magistrate of our nation... that
he be at least thirty-five years of age and a natural born citizen of
the United States..., the death and destruction of the War of
Independence from Great Britain and from the tyranny of the British
crown was still fresh in their minds. They knew well the dangers of
having a commander in chief with divided loyalties and they specifically
prohibited such a person from serving.
However, in 2008, a coalition of voters... blacks who would have voted
for any black man, even Willie Horton or O.J. Simpson, merely because he
was black; young white liberals who paid no attention to who he was or
what he stood for, but who thought it would be “cool” to have a “hip”
black president; and other white Democrat partisans who would do
anything or say anything just to regain power... have given us a leader
who is not only sublimely naïve, totally inexperienced and unqualified,
and grossly inadequate, but clearly ineligible.
How we will ever extricate ourselves from this dilemma is unclear. Obama
is well on his way to becoming a colossal failure as a president... the
greatest failure in American history... and there is nothing we can do
to prevent that. The sad part is, for Obama to fail the country must
also fail. It is a Hobson’s Choice if ever there was one. But if we are
to continue to lay claim to being a nation of laws, not of men, then we
must find a way within the law to remove him.
As for me, I’m like President Garfield. I love my country, I love
agitation and investigation, and I glory in defending unpopular truth
against popular error. That’s why I have no fear in saying that, under
the controlling legal authority of the United States, Great Britain, and
Kenya, Barack Obama is NOT eligible to serve as President of the United
States.
He should resign his office while we still have a fighting chance to
save our nation. |
