Welcome to Gaia! ::

Then how did he get through. To be a citizen you had to have lived in the US for 7 years. How long has he been in the US?

Sometimes it takes a deprived person to show us what we truly deserve.

Times are changing and we're all dying.

Actually, I'm 92% sure that you have to be born as an American citizen to be president. This way a communist can't just come from over seas, build a reputation for seven years and then get elected.

"Age and Citizenship requirements - US Constitution, Article II, Section 1

No person except a natural born citizen, or a citizen of the United States, at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the office of President; neither shall any person be eligible to that office who shall not have attained to the age of thirty-five years, and been fourteen years a resident within the United States.

Term limit amendment - US Constitution, Amendment XXII, Section 1 – ratified February 27, 1951

No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of the President more than once." Source: http://www.presidentsusa.net/qualifications.html

"Currently, Title 8 of the U.S. Code fills in the gaps left by the Constitution. Section 1401 defines the following as people who are "citizens of the United States at birth:"

* Anyone born inside the United States *
* Any Indian or Eskimo born in the United States, provided being a citizen of the U.S. does not impair the person's status as a citizen of the tribe
* Any one born outside the United States, both of whose parents are citizens of the U.S., as long as one parent has lived in the U.S.
* Any one born outside the United States, if one parent is a citizen and lived in the U.S. for at least one year and the other parent is a U.S. national
* Any one born in a U.S. possession, if one parent is a citizen and lived in the U.S. for at least one year
* Any one found in the U.S. under the age of five, whose parentage cannot be determined, as long as proof of non-citizenship is not provided by age 21
* Any one born outside the United States, if one parent is an alien and as long as the other parent is a citizen of the U.S. who lived in the U.S. for at least five years (with military and diplomatic service included in this time)
* A final, historical condition: a person born before 5/24/1934 of an alien father and a U.S. citizen mother who has lived in the U.S.

* There is an exception in the law — the person must be "subject to the jurisdiction" of the United States. This would exempt the child of a diplomat, for example, from this provision.

Anyone falling into these categories is considered natural-born, and is eligible to run for President or Vice President. These provisions allow the children of military families to be considered natural-born, for example." Source: http://www.usconstitution.net/consttop_citi.html

Barack Obama qualifies as a natural born American citizen by way of his Hawaiian birth certificate.

You don't get let into office if you can't prove your citizenship. A birth certificate was presented. It's not their job to take the birth certificate on parade so that every American can inspect it personally. If McCain had won there would never have been any of this fuss over citizenship.

I'm sorry, but your comment is a little offensive. I mean, even if he was born in Africa (which he was not...please not Obscurus' point), you are saying that he should be kicked out because of it? As if Africa is a real threat to us?

I think they mean that if he was born in Africa then he wouldn't meet the requirements to be eligible for the presidency. In such a case, I think he should be removed from office as well. That said, there's no evidence to support that assertion.

This is probably obvious, but there are different eligibility requirements for being able to run for a governorship versus the presidency. Arnold Schwarzenegger will never be eligible for the presidency under current law, despite having met the requirements for governorship of California. (I'm not positive on this, but I'm pretty sure the least of which is that you be a US citizen, naturalized or otherwise.)

Note: I'm not trying to disagree with or correct anyone; I'm merely pointing out that someone that qualifies for one may not qualify for the other.

Also, I may be reading this wrong, but even if President Obama were born in Kenya, he would still be a natural born citizen of the USA under this part of Title 8:

"* Any one born outside the United States, if one parent is an alien and as long as the other parent is a citizen of the U.S. who lived in the U.S. for at least five years (with military and diplomatic service included in this time)"

His father was an alien, but his mother was most definitely a citizen that lived here for longer than five years.