US Law very clearly stipulates: "...If only one parent was a U.S. Citizen at the time of your birth, that parent must have resided in the United States for at least ten years, at least five of which had to be after the age of 16." Barack Obama’s father was not a U.S. Citizen and Obama’s mother was only 18 when Obama was born, which means though she had been a U.S. Citizen for 10 years, (or citizen perhaps because of Hawai’i being a territory) the mother fails the test for being so for at least 5 years **prior to** Barack Obama’s birth, but *after* age 16.Hawaii became a state in 1959. Before that, it was an incorporated territory -- which means that the people there lived under the U.S. Constitution.
So this whole meme is actually rather silly. Barack Obama was born on U.S. soil in 1961. Of course he is a natural-born citizen. The case of Barry Goldwater was more interesting -- he was born in Arizona when it was still a territory. A few people still argue that he was technically ineligible to run.
Right now, there is only one incorporated territory left -- the Palmyra Atoll. Nobody lives there except for roughly a dozen scientists. I don't know anything about their mating habits, and I don't want to know.
3 comments:
"only one incorporated territory left"
What of places like the US Virgin Islands? Ain't a state, must be a territory.
The Virgin Islands are in unincorporated territory. The difference is the applicablility of the Constitution. If The Virgin Islands were incorporated, the residents could vote in the general election. Right now, they can't. They CAN vote in primaries. Crazy, huh?
Did Obama produce his birth certificate? I heard on CNN he was born in Kenya.
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