Obama's Kenyan Citizenship Expired

Now this is an interesting tidbit, given the longstanding questions and controversy over Barack Obama's citizenship.

While Barack Obama was born in 1961 in Hawaii in 1961, given that his father was Kenyan, and that Kenya was part of the British Empire at that time, and Obama also spent a lot of time in various overseas countries during his youth, there have been a lot of questions about Obama's real citizenship.

It hasn't helped that the Obama campaign has been very tight-lipped over the while thing, and even when a copy of Obama's birth certificate was finally released a few months ago, there were many questions about it's authenticity because it doesn't look like the typical birth certificate of that period, and lacks some of the features one might expect on an official document.

Still, it has come to be accepted by most as genuine.

Now Newsbusters points out an interesting admission on Obama's question-fighting website called "Fight the Smears."

Along with a picture of the aforementioned birth certificate, this particular web page on Fight the Smears lists a couple of "mainstream" media sources (as if they had any special credibility anymore) which make definitive pronouncements that Barack Obama is indeed an American citizen.

What is interesting is that the citation from FactCheck.org says Obama once also had Kenyan citizenship:

“When Barack Obama Jr. was born on Aug. 4,1961, in Honolulu, Kenya was a British colony, still part of the United Kingdom’s dwindling empire. As a Kenyan native, Barack Obama Sr. was a British subject whose citizenship status was governed by The British Nationality Act of 1948. That same act governed the status of Obama Sr.‘s children.

Since Sen. Obama has neither renounced his U.S. citizenship nor sworn an oath of allegiance to Kenya, his Kenyan citizenship automatically expired on Aug. 4,1982.”

Here is a screen print of the citation on Fight the Smears (in case it mysteriously "disappears"):

Now, there's nothing particularly shocking in this, in and of itself. After all, the main issue is the American citizenship required by the U.S. Constitution for a U.S. president, and there remains no significant questioning that Obama does indeed meet this qualification.

Also, there are many Americans who have and have had dual citizenship; I knew quite a few when I was in the military. So again, there is nothing remarkable about that.

What is remarkable in this case is the tremendous amout of reticence and hostility the Obama camp has shown toward this entire issue, when questions about Obama's citizenship--given his father's foreign origin and his overseas travels as a youth--have been valid concerns.

Also, while not an obstacle to service as president, the fact that we could have a U.S. president who has held dual citizenship with another country is, at the very least, interesting and noteworthy.

Obama hasn't done himself any favors playing the bunker mentality for the past year or two, and this revelation may throw more kindling back on the fires of those who have doubts about him.

One also has to wonder, given that the "mainstream" media has totally thrown any pretense of objectivity out the window long ago during this election, what the reaction might be if such a fact came out about John McCain or Sarah Palin.

Would we hear the same crickets we now hear about Barack Obama, or would it be a chorus of howling timber wolves, as we have heard over earth-shattering revelations such as a 20+-year old DUI by Todd Palin or a pregnant daughter?

I think the answer is pretty obvious.