George Romney and birthers

Mitt Romney's presidential bid must be quite a problem for those who claim President Obama's presidency isn't legitimate because of their false belief that Obama was born in Kenya. Why? Because of Mitt Romney's father, George Romney.

You see George Romney ran for the office of president of the United States in 1968 and George Romney was not born in the United States. There is no debate about George Romney's birthplace, it is well known and documented that George Romney was born in Mexico. George Romney's father had fled the US in 1986 with his three wives to escape US anti-polygamy laws. George Romney was born in 1907 in Mexico, which according to the birthers should have disqualified him from running for president. There is one problem though, Romney's parents had never renounced their US citizenship which meant that George Romney, even though he wasn't born in the US was a US citizen from birth. The US Constitution specifies that a president must be a "natural born citizen" but doesn't define exactly what that phrase means. Does it mean that you have to be born in the United States? Until the passage of the 14th amendment in 1868 being born in the US did not automatically grant someone citizenship and we shouldn't forget that George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, Andrew Jackson, John Quincy Adams, and William Henry Harrison weren't born in the US as the United States didn't exist at the time of their births. Or maybe "natural born citizen" means that someone has to be a citizen at the time of their birth? George Romney, even though he was born in Mexico, was a US citizen at the time of his birth because of the citizenship of his parents and so at the time of his presidential run most constitutional law experts and the Congressional Research Service agreed that Romney was eligible to be president. John McCain's presidential eligibility was also not much of an issue even though he was born in Panama and born at a time when none of Panama was considered US territory. So it sounds like most constitutional experts, and most of the Republican party feel that being a "natural born citizen" means you were born a US citizen, not that you were born in the US.

So how does this relate to the birther's argument that President Obama isn't a legitimate president because they claim, falsely, he was born in Kenya? There is no dispute about who Barack Obama's parents are, there is also no dispute that Obama's mother was a US citizen. Guess what, if one of your parents is a US citizen then you are granted US citizenship, no matter where you are born. So Barack Obama was born a US citizen no matter where he was born, and if that is enough for George Romney, and John McCain then it is enough for President Obama.

Barack Obama was born in Hawaii, there is no real evidence pointing to any other birthplace for the President. But even if he had been born in Kenya, or on the moon, it wouldn't matter. He was a US citizen from birth and therefor a natural born citizen. Congratulations birthers, you now have time to worry about some of the real issues effecting our country.