End of story

    Now that President Obama has released the long-form birth certificate that shows he was born in Hawaii – he did it this morning,

    Now that President Obama has released the long-form birth certificate that shows he was born in Hawaii – he did it this morning, while correctly noting that “we do not have time for this kind of silliness” – the big question now is whether birthers will be satisfied, or whether they will move the goalposts and insist that the long document was clearly photo-shopped by Obama’s Muslim controllers, or it was crafted by al Qaeda in a cave somewhere, or it was beamed down to earth by the evil Klingons, or whatever.Donald Trump, queried this morning by the press, said of the long document, “I want to look at it.” No doubt he would love to, prior to folding his circus tent. But the thing is, why should all the birthers give up their pet cause, just because Obama shows he was born in Hawaii?  Some of the more creative birthers, anticipating that Obama would win on Hawaii, have actually been road-testing a new message. I’m serious; twice this week, it has landed in my email box along all the usual sewage. Here’s the latest spin:It doesn’t matter whether Obama was born in Hawaii. Nah, that doesn’t count. Because Hawaii isn’t really America.Or, to quote from one of the more eloquent emails: “BARAK HUSSEIN OBAMA WAS BORN ON aMERICAN AFFILIATED TERRITORY.”So there you have it, folks! Hawaii is merely “American affiliated territory,” which means, according to this argument, that Obama will forever remain The Other. No matter how many Hawaii birth certificates he shows us.But now I’m going to put this entire fake issue to rest. Seriously. I’m amazed that this factual truth has been so infrequently reported:According to the U.S. Constitution and the U.S. Title Code, Obama is an American citizen no matter where he was born. How come? Because his mother was an American citizen. That’s it. End of story.The Constitution says that only “natural-born” citizens are eligible to be president. “Natural-born” was not precisely defined. But it’s very well-defined in Title 8, Section 1401 of the U.S. Code – which basically says that the babies of American citizens are also American citizens, even if they weren’t physically born in America, or on American affiliated turf.Here’s the relevant definition of a U.S. citizen, according to subsection (g) of Section 1401: “a person born outside the geographical limits of the United States and its outlying possessions of parents one of whom is an alien, and the other a citizen of the United States who, prior to the birth of such person, was physically present in the United States or its outlying possessions for a period or periods totaling not less than five years, at least two of which were after attaining the age of fourteen years.” (Italics are mine.)Obama’s mother, Ann Dunham, was an American citizen who grew up in Kansas. In other words, according to the U.S. Code, baby Barack could have been born in Kenya or Indonesia or the dark side of the moon – and he still would have been an American citizen.OK? Got it? Can we please move on now? Can we forever bid goodbye to (in Obama’s words) “the sideshows and carnival barkers?” Surely the U.S. Title Code should be good enough for even the battiest birthers? Right?Don’t answer that.

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