Is John McCain a "Natural Born Citizen" of the United States??

I would have been happy to leave this one alone. But after all the stink over Barack Obama and the chorus of "let me see your birth certificate!"... I had to point out this teeny-tiny controversy surrounding McCain's birthplace as it relates to his race for POTUS...

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According to the International Herald Tribune (a global edition of the New York Times):

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McCain's likely nomination as the Republican candidate for president and the happenstance of his birth in the Panama Canal Zone in 1936 are reviving a musty debate that has surfaced periodically since the founders first set quill to parchment and declared that only a "natural-born citizen" can hold the nation's highest office.
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According to the Tribune, those words were written in 1787 with "scant" explanation with their precise meaning "the stuff of confusion." The Tribune sprinkles a little more fuel on the issue with the additional factoid: "To date, no American to take the presidential oath has had an official birthplace outside the 50 states."

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According to The Wall Street Journal Law Blog (Dan Slater), McCain shares this "problem" with George P. Weicker Jr. (1980), George Romney (1968), and Barry Goldwater (1964). In the land of "No Worries," McCain supporters can rest assured that McCain was deemed fit to run based on the citizenship qualifications.

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I don't disagree with the decision that McCain meets the requirements to run for POTUS - especially since he was born on an American Air Base. I'm not a hardcore hater. I believe it would be a slap in the face to quietly escort him from the race, especially since his birthplace is the direct result of his father's choice to defend this country. But, I also think such a gray area would work against a brown man somebody like Obama. Here's how Sarah H. Duggin characterizes the dilemma:

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“There are powerful arguments that Senator McCain or anyone else in this position is constitutionally qualified, but there is certainly no precedent,” said Sarah H. Duggin, an associate professor of law at Catholic University. “It is not a slam-dunk situation.”

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No slam dunk, huh? Hmmmm. Get to the point, Hawa. Why are you bringing this up? Why? Because without a strong precedent, interpretation rules the day. And if Obama the Black Man was the object of this dilemma, the "lack of strong precedent" would land a brotha on the sidelines of a great presidential race. I believe a group of Amerikkkan citizens would make sure (or die trying) that the O-Man never stepped a single "non-natural born citizen" foot into the White House. We'd hear The Most Elaborate Excuse for Pure Unadulterated Racism of All Time on the news and Americans would go back to watching TMZ.

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Do you doubt my claim for one minute? Drop an answer in the comments.

Comments

[Kelso's Nuts]

No disagreement whatsoever, but as a resident of Panama and a "supporter"* of Barack Obama, I think John McCain's Panama experience and mine are radically different. John McCain lived on the Naval base north of the city and experienced no city life whatsoever. He speaks no Spanish.

I am fluent in Spanish and live in the city. My son now qualifies for citizenship and I consider myself partly "Panamanian." McCain, obviously, does not. No Panamanian would consider any American military personnel born there to be Panamanian, whereas all immigrants blend into the culture organically, with in no particular order the Chinese, Jewish, Hindu, and Arab immigrants the most assimilated.

There is no doubt in my mind that had Barack Obama been born while his parents were passing through Kenya on a diplomatic thing, Obama would be disqualified.

His father may have made a choice to defend the USA in WWII and his grandfather in WWI. John McCain was ATTACKING some perceived opposition movement in a US/French colonial state and was hardly the man his father and grandfather were. John McCain was certainly never Annapolis material, but there you go.

* I "SUPPORT" OBAMA ONLY IN THE SENSE THAT I ADVOCATE FOR HIS ELECTION. I AM NOT ELIGIBLE TO VOTE IN THIS ELECTION NOR CAN I SEND OBAMA ANY MONEY WITHOUT RAISING RED FLAGS BECAUSE I LIVE IN A INTERNATIONAL PRIVATE BANKING CENTER.

I "SUPPORT" RAWDAWGBUFFALO FOR ANY AND ALL BLACK BLOG AWARDS WHICH SUIT BUT I HAVE MEDITERRANEAN FEATURES AND ONLY A SLIGHTLY DARK COMPLEXION, SO THOSE VOTES CARRY NO WEIGHT. BUT I WANT TO BE ON RECORD AS SUPPORTIVE OF HIS WORK.

AND YOURS. NICE BLOG.

[Hawa]

@Kelso's Nuts: Hey Kelso! I follow your comments at RawDawgBuffalo. I enjoy reading your opinions and I'm tickled that you stopped by my spot. Thanks for the compliment. It goes a long way with me. :-)