Barack Obama Nationality
There has been a lot of controversy about the topic of Barack Obama nationality. During the 2008 election campaign a number of his political opponents tried to discredit Barack Obama by claiming he was born in Kenya or Indonesia and therefore can’t run for the presidency. Some of these discrediting campaigns ended up at the court with 3 cases handled at the Supreme Court Of The United States.
Obama’s election team has released a photocopy of Obama’s birth certificate in short form which states that Barack Obama was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, on August 4, 1961. The usual argument of Obama’s opponents was that the certificate is not valid since it’s titled Certification Of Live Birth. Such certificate, as they claim, is not an equivalent to birth certificate. However, Hawaiian officials have repeatedly confirmed that Honolulu does not issue short or long form of birth certificates and that they have Obama’s original birth certificate on record. This itself proves that Barack Obama Nationality is American.
Barack Obama Nationality – Kenyan or American?
In 2008 Rocky Mountain News publishing house reported that Barack Obama holds both American and Kenyan citizenship. Although this claim has been proven incorrect the message spread around the internet in a few hours and created a lot of buzz. However it hasn’t been published in the printed edition.
Later on the chief editor apologized for publishing the wrong information and removed it from the RMN website. It is important to note that RMN wasn’t that far from the truth. At the time when Barack Obama was born (in Hawaii) he automatically gained both US and Kenyan citizenship. US citizenship was gained based on being born on Hawaii. Kenyan citizenship came from his father.
Kenya allows children and adults until 23 years of age to hold dual citizenship. However when a person reaches the age of 23 he or she must give up all other citizenships in order to keep Kenyan citizenship. Since Barack Obama has never given up US citizenship his Kenyan citizenship has automatically become invalid in 1984.
