Why the Birth Certificate Issue Is Only of Secondary Importance

Our Constitution was based upon the encyclopedic "The Law of Nations," a treatise written by Swiss lawyer and diplomat Emerich de Vattel as a manual for how government should function. Written in 1758, this work was read not only by the Founding Fathers, but was also well-known throughout the colonies among the populace.

...in Book I, Chapter XIX, part 212, it says: “The natives, or natural-born citizens, are those born in the country, of parents who are citizens.” Here is the definition the Founding Fathers did not deem necessary to supply since it was already understood. And since Obama’s father was a Kenyan citizen, Obama is therefore not a natural born citizen and is thus ineligible to be President." (Basically, forget the birth certificate!!! This is ALL you need to follow the law and to understand the term from “those days”.)

Here's the link: http://www.constitution.org/vattel/vattel_01.htm

Further, Obama agreed to this definition spelled out in S.R. 511, and he himself does not meet the criteria. The most obvious reason is that his father was from the country now known as Kenya..thus making him a British National.

Part II of the British Nationality Act of 1948 reads: 5.—(1) 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.

Being the son of a man who was a British National by means of his being born in the colony later known as Kenya made Barack Hussein Obama, Jr. a British National. ASSUMING BHO Jr was born in Hawaii (whether or not the BC we see online is real or not), he would also be considered an US Citizen by virtue of his mother's citizenship. There is no disputing this under the above assumption. The only questions that remain, under this scenario, are:

1) does the Natural Born Citizen clause of the constitution allow for a person born under dual citizenship to be president of the United States;

2) Did Kenya's subsequent independence from the British Empire remove both Obamas British citizenship?;

3) As of 1963, when Kenya became independent, Obama Sr. and Obama Jr. became citizens of Kenya. However, according to Kenyan law, as of age 23, the younger Obama could not maintain both an US and a Kenyan citizenship. SO question is...did the 23 year old BHO Jr. make such a choice? Did he choose to renounce his Kenyan Citizenship?

4) Was BHO Jr. legally adopted by Lolo Soetoro, Ann Dunham's next husband? If so, did that make him an Indonesian citizen as the adopted son of Lolo Soetoro? Evidence of Obama's school records in Indonesia would suggest that is a possibility. In which case, all this takes a wild turn since Indonesia did not permit dual citizenship at that time in their history. So question

5) If Obama did take on Indonesian citizenship under his step father, Lolo Soetoro, did he ever take back either his Kenyan Citizenship or US Citizenship?

6) And, does ANY of that adversely affect his eligibility to be president of the United States? What do the courts say about Dual Citizenship as pertaining to Natural Born status? What happens to his US Citizenship if he was made an Indonesian citizen and never made a conscious adult decision to restore his US citizenship?

Ironically, as I've said all along, the birth certificate issue is relatively moot and at best secondary in importance. It matters whether he was born in Hawaii, don't get me wrong. If he is born in Kenya or anywhere else int he world, his mother's age and his father's lack of US citizenship would make BHO not a US citizen of ANY kind. BUT, even if he's born in Hawaii...if BHO Sr. is his father, he, without question, became a British National and later a Kenyan Citizenship THROUGH his father. At best, making BHO Jr. a dual citizen.

The Lolo Soetoro situation only complicates matters...and may, ultimately, depending upon how the courts rule about dual citizens being considered natural born, make the Indonesia situation moot.

The real answers are most likely to be found in Obama's school records at Occidental, Columbia and Harvard. Unfortunately, these are records Obama has made sure we will not see.

For reference, one of the best sites for delineating the facts on how the Supreme Court has ruled with regard to Natural Born Citizens vs. other citizens is by Leo Donofrio at http://naturalborncitizen.wordpress.com/. Donofrio does a completely thorough analysis of both the Minor and Wong Kim Ark cases. These cases would help to determine whether Obama is or is not a Natural Born Citizen.

Notice the wording of the Minor case regarding the court's decision that Minor was a Natural Born Citizen and compare that wording to SR 511, co-sponsored by Obama in 2008 to affirm that his future opponent, John McCain was, indeed, qualified as a natural born citizen to be president of the United States.

Minor case: "The Constitution does not in words say who shall be natural-born citizens. Resort must be had elsewhere to ascertain that. At common law, with the nomenclature of which the framers of the Constitution were familiar, it was never doubted that all children born in a country of parents who were its citizens became themselves, upon their birth, citizens also. These were natives or natural-born citizens, as distinguished from aliens or foreigners."

SR 511 states: "Whereas the term `natural born Citizen', as that term appears in Article II, Section 1, is not defined in the Constitution of the United States;..Whereas John Sidney McCain, III, was born to American citizens on an American military base in the Panama Canal Zone in 1936: Now, therefore, be it Resolved, That John Sidney McCain, III, is a `natural born Citizen' under Article II, Section 1, of the Constitution of the United States."

Further understand that the "natural born" Clause's origins have been traced to a July 25, 1787 letter from John Jay to the presiding officer of the Constitutional Convention, George Washington. Jay wrote, "Permit me to hint, whether it would be wise and reasonable to provide a strong check to the admission of Foreigners into the administration of our National Government; and to declare expressly that the Commander in Chief of the American army shall not be given to nor devolve on, any but a natural born "Citizen." The hint clearly made sense to General Washington. While there was no debate, this presidential qualification was soon introduced by the drafting Committee of Eleven, and then adopted without any discussion by the Constitutional Convention. They clearly understood its meaning and the most common understanding of its meaning at that time was from Vattel's Law of Nations.

Later in 1790, the Naturalization Law of 1790 provided: "And the children of citizens of the United States, that may be born beyond sea, or out of the limits of the United States, shall be considered as natural born citizens. Once again clearly connecting to Vattel's definition as written in Law of Nations.