Requiring Proof of Citizenship

There are apparently many people who believe that Barack Obama is not qualified to be the President of the United States on the grounds that he is not a natural born citizen. The point brings about several interesting questions.

What inspires them? Obviously, that they for whatever reason (and there are many, some not defensible, to be sure) do not want Mr. Obama to be the nation's Chief Executive. Yet while that in itself is a laudable goal, they are almost certainly barking up a tree. The President is going to be our President until at least January 2013, and they may as well make up their minds to it. No one is about to make a move to remove him from office, no matter what proof or lack thereof which might exist.

But what may the most pertinent outcome of all this babble is in the fact that at least ten states are considering laws calling on presidential aspirants to prove that they are in fact natural born citizens of the United States before they can be on the ballot in those locales. Liberals are trying to dismiss this movement as 'birther' nonsense aimed at disrupting the electoral process.

Whatever one may think of the birthers and their quest, that particular idea really should not be a big deal. There isn't a thing wrong with insisting that those who want to work from the Oval Office meet the constitutional requirements for the job. It does no good to dismiss such initiatives on the grounds that they are little more than attacks on the current President. They may well be driven by the motive to remove him from office, but that does not mean that it isn't a fair question to ask candidates to produce their credentials. We little folk have to do that all the time, and for much lighter reasons than becoming President. There is, then, no reason that we should not be secure in the knowledge that whoever is our leader meets the standards of holding the job.

The birthers mat well be wrong in their insistence that Barack Obama does not fit the Constitutional bill to be President. But it would be a simple thing to mandate requirements which would, in the future, resolve all doubts to such questions. The birthers, nor anyone else, are not being particularly outlandish to demand them. If you must criticize them, at least don't knock them where they are right.