US Constitution is not "drivel", Cindy

Submitted by AmericanVoter (United States), Sep 10, 2008 at 16:46

The US Constitution requires a president to be a "natural born citizen", so yes, it absolutely is a legitimate concern of American voters to know whether a presidential candidate was raised to be or become the citizen of another country, or was listed as such on official documents, or at any time held dual or triple citizenship.

Voters have a right to have these issues clarified by access to official documents. The mainstream media has shirked its responsibility by not raising questions about this issue and asking Obama to provide additional relevant documents (aka passports, vault copy of birth certificate etc).

In general, the Constitution requires the president to be a natural-born citizen because s/he holds the only office meant to represent every American. For many voters this means s/he should not have even the hint of conflicting loyalties to other countries. This is why immigrants, despite the fact that many are great patriots, are not eligible, and why many voters think dual citizens should not be eligible either.

Also, many voters want to make sure they are voting for someone who was raised in America during their formative years, or at the very least was raised to think of himself (or herself) as an American citizen. Given this school record, (and other evidence about Obama's parents' discomfort with the US) voters have reason to doubt that the young Obama (pre--5th grade) was raised to think of himself as an American citizen.

This is one voter who has always voted for Democrats for president who will NOT vote for Obama becasue of his lack of an American and America-oriented upbringing. I think that the long term importance of maintaining the presidency for "natural born citizens" far outweighs the short -term economic problems we face this year. (And contrary to what the MSM keeps insinuating about those uncomfortable with Obama's lack of an American upbringing, my lack of support for Obama has NOTHING to do with his race.

I voted for Tom Bradley twice, and would vote for Colin Powell if he was running against McCain in a heartbeat. Rasmussen Reports shows that more Americans would vote for Colin Powell over McCain if he were running this year, proving that the racism charge against Obama's opponents is wildly exaggerated).

It also is a legitimate concern for American voters to know whether Barack Obama did not disclose to the Illinois Supreme Court that he has been known by former names, as the school record indicates (he is listed as Barry Soetoro), and whether other official documents also list him by different names. The reason one must disclose former names to practice law is so any records concerning possible past legal and ethical wrongdoing can be traced. Do you want someone practing law, let alone being president, who is so careless about what they disclose to a court that it could be construed as perjury?.

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