Citizenship

http://obamacrimes.com/
http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/citizen.asp

There have been at least two people that have filed law suits against Obama, demanding that he provide a copy of an authentic birth certificate. Even groups have been created on Facebook about this. So I got to thinking and reading about this...

The requirements for presidency have always seemed fairly straightforward to me: be a natural born citizen, be at least 35, and be a resident of the US for at least 14 years. But perhaps they aren't really that straightforward. Like what about the 14 years? Does it have to be a continuous 14 years? Does it have to immediately proceed the election? President Herbert Hoover spent numerous years abroad, and wasn't in the US for 14 years prior to his election.

And what does natural born mean? It must not mean that you have to be born on US soil. McCain was born in Panama. But from what I can tell there are several different factors that determine what "natural born" really means and it is probably open to slight interpretation. Things taken into consideration could include where someone was born, when he was born, where he lived, and the nationalities of his parents. Hm... I wonder if Alaskan governors should count as citizens. After all, Alaska is much closer to Russia and Canada than it is the rest of the US.