Barack Obama is a natural-born citizen

[tongodeon]

There are some who claim that Barack Obama is not eligible to be President because he is not a natural-born citizen. This is not just utterly wrong - even if we assume that they are right, the internal logic of these claims is still wrong:

Some people say that Hawaii wasn't a state yet when Obama was born there. Is this actually true? No. The

Comments

[mmcirvin]

It seems hilarious now, but in the 1990s a popular notion in the Limbaughian subculture was that Bill Clinton was an illegitimate president because, thanks to Ross Perot, he was elected both times without a popular majority. And, of course, Bush's illegitimacy was a major meme on the left during his first term (and to some extent during his second).

Anyway, since 1992 we've been in a period where impugning the legitimacy of the president's election is a standard tool in the opposition toolbox. It's just a question of what justification you're going to use. Obama's a difficult one because he actually won with a pretty substantial majority by modern presidential standards (apparently the largest popular majority for a non-incumbent since Eisenhower--1968, 1980 and 1992 were all worse thrashings electorally, but they all involved major third-party or independent figures taking part of the popular vote).

The ACORN business doesn't seem to have gone anywhere--not even the most dedicated voter-fraud conspiracists find it plausible that ACORN could have somehow ginned up that many fake votes--so that leaves attacks on his eligibility, which also tie into his exotic/other status.

[mmcirvin]

apparently the largest popular majority for a non-incumbent since Eisenhower

...And I guess the person who I heard that from was counting a sitting vice president as an incumbent.