Here’s the relevant quote:

“4. December 24, 1952 to November 13, 1986

If, at the time of your birth, both your parents were U.S. citizens and at least one had a prior residence in the United States, you automatically acquired U.S. citizenship with no conditions for retaining it.

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. There are no conditions placed on retaining this type of citizenship. If your one U.S. citizen parent is your father and you were born outside of marriage, the same rules apply if your father legally legitimated you before your 21st birthday and you were unmarried at the time. If legitimation occurred after November 14, 1986, your father must have established paternity prior to your 18th birthday, either by acknowledgment or by court order, and must have stated in writing that he would support you financially until your 18th birthday.” (from the link in comment 20)

What I misread was about the illegitimacy issue - it addresses a father being the qualifying citizen and subsequent legitimation. There’s no accommodation for illegitimacy when the mother is the citizen. She doesn’t meet the “5 years after the age 16″ requirement. In Obama’s case, it’s the mother who is the citizen parent, and she would not have met the conditions to make him a “natural born citizen”. It looks to me like an unintended loophole, and normally wouldn’t be an issue - but we _are_ talking about the eligibility for the presidency!

Book- maybe we need an R rating for this site? (No one under the age of 18)

That’s since 1986. Obama was born in 1961 - a different law applies.Check Tiresias link. Quote follows.

http://immigration.findlaw.com/immigration/immigration-citizenship-naturalization/immigration-citizenship-naturalization-did-you-know

“4. December 24, 1952 to November 13, 1986

If, at the time of your birth, both your parents were U.S. citizens and at least one had a prior residence in the United States, you automatically acquired U.S. citizenship with no conditions for retaining it.

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. There are no conditions placed on retaining this type of citizenship. If your one U.S. citizen parent is your father and you were born outside of marriage, the same rules apply if your father legally legitimated you before your 21st birthday and you were unmarried at the time. If legitimation occurred after November 14, 1986, your father must have established paternity prior to your 18th birthday, either by acknowledgment or by court order, and must have stated in writing that he would support you financially until your 18th birthday.”

a) if you are born in the USA, you are a US citizen, even if your parents are from Mars. Period.

b) If you were born in Hawaii after 1900, you are a US citizen. Period.

I would gladly favor a Constitutional Amendment that said in order to be “native born” you have to be born of US citizens, and “legitimate” to boot!

Sadly, all that is required to be “native born” is for your mom to lurch across the border to drop her”anchor baby.” Then in the interest of “family unity” all your relations can come on in!

The citizen parent had to live here for 5 years after age 16 - legitimate, illegitimate, or Martian, for that matter.

>>If Mama was younger than 21, then he needed naturalization.>>

As I read it, not true if he was illegitimate. That might be the rub. If he’s illegitimate, he’s natural born. If his mother and father were married, then he may not be a citizen even now - though I’m not any way sure about that. But who wants to proclaim himself illegitimate? Could be a bind…!

Hard to say it any simpler: if his mother, as the American parent, had not lived in this country for five years AFTER she turned 16, then he needed to be naturalized. 19 is not 5 years past 16. Therefore she hadn’t.

Naturalized citizens are not eligible for the White House.

However, as I’ve been syaing all along, this is a quaint thing called a “rule,” and those don’t apply to democrats in general, him in particular.

1. it’s a birth certification, which is a slightly different thing.

2. Any authenticating/verifying marks have been redacted, which makes it less than useless in proving anything.

Not that I have a horse in this race, really - I’m not American either.

Greg