In the continuing news surrounding Obama’s citizenship is Janet Porter’s claim that Obama did not get his first passport until after becoming a U.S. Senator.  This adds weight to his non-U.S. citizenship as his primary or declared citizenship.  Did he travel to Pakistan using his Indonesian, Kenyan, or British citizenship?  Porter notes that his 1981 travel to Indonesia and Pakistan were after his mother’s 1980 return from Indonesia and divorce from her Indonesian husband.  Thus, adding more questions to Obama’s story and credibility as he claimed to have traveled first to see her, then to go on to Pakistan for a three week visit.  She also revisits earlier questions about his allegedly forged birth certificate released by the campaign that has been repeatedly called into question.

As I previous wrote…

A new challenge to Senator Barack Obama’s citizenship was filed November 12th in California demanding that the court stop certification of the election results until the state’s secretary of state can ascertain from Senator Obama his legal qualification to be a candidate for President.  This 18 page petition is a quick read.  It offers a good summary of what is at stake and the questions that surround Senator Obama’s citizenship.

A few points:

• Petitioners Ambassador Dr. Alan Keyes, Dr. Wiley S. Drake, Sr., and Markham Robinson, establish their standing to file the petition as members of the American Independent Party, for which Drs. Keyes and Drake were presidential and vice-presidential candidates on California’s ballot, respectfully.  (This is a technical point that doomed some other lawsuits.)
• Petitioners note that Senator Obama has not provided proof of his citizenship eligibility despite repeated requests during the primary and general election campaigns.
• Petitioners note that action in at least 10 states is underway challenging Senator Obama’s eligibility.
• Petitioners note that the 2007 birth certificate offered by Senator Obama is of questionable credibility for several reasons, including that it is a copy of suspect authenticity and that it does not detail actual birth location.
• Petitioners note that the only person claiming witness to Senator Obama’s birth is his own paternal grandmother who claims he was actually born in Kenya, then the British East African Protectorate of Zanzibar.  Other records and recollections of family members suggest either Queens Hospital or Kapiolani Hospital in Hawaii.  The disclosed Registry of Live Birth is a short-form of the birth certificate that does not state whether Obama was born in Hawaii or that his birth was subsequently registered there within the year following birth as then allowed by state law.
• Petitioners note that around 1967, Senator Obama moved to Indonesia with his mother and new stepfather.  Records indicate that once in Indonesia he adopted his stepfather’s name and citizenship.  Since dual citizenship was not allowed by Indonesian law, and U.S. law and treaty obligations required respect of this, Mrs. Obama-Soetoro had to relinquish her minor son’s U.S. citizenship.  Elsewhere, they note that if he later recovered it, and no records apparently substantiate this, it would by law be as a “naturalized” citizen, not a “natural born” and, thus, ineligible for the office of President under the Constitution.
• Petitioners also note that in 1961 what is now known as Kenya was then the British Protectorate of Zanzibar which, if he was born there as his paternal grandmother claims, he would be a British citizen based on his father’s citizenship.
• Petitioners also note that in 1981 Senator Obama traveled to Pakistan, which was then banned by the U.S.  Since he could not legally travel with a U.S. passport, they question whether he used  one of his other passports:  Indonesian, Kenyan, or British.  (Interesting point is that the petitioners state affirmatively that he had other passports.)

I am curious to see how this case fares in the courts.  The question of Senator Obama’s citizenship and constitutional eligibility have never been settled.  In fact, Senator Obama has resisted at every step to release his birth certificate and other relevant records that would resolve this matter.  That he has fought this suggests the information is at least embarrassing, if not disqualifying.

On August 14, 2008, I wrote a detailed article, What is Obama’s Citizenship?, where I explored some of the questions about Senator Obama’s citizenship.  I asked eight questions (seven pertinent to this discussion) that are still substantially unanswered today:

1. Are you now a U.S. citizen?
2. Have you ever held as a youth or adult, citizenship in another country?
3. Did you ever possess or travel using, at least in part, the passport of another country?  (E.g., while in Indonesia, visiting Pakistan, Kenya)
4. Did you renounce any foreign citizenship, and when, and do you now hold solely U.S. citizenship today?
5. Can you confirm or deny your name change as a youth from Barack Hussein Obama II to Barry Soetoro when you were adopted by your step-father?
6. Did you legally reclaim your birth name?  When and how?
7. Why did you not list your adopted name Barry Soetoro on any forms associated with your legal profession or others that ask for any other names you have ever used?  Have you now or will you update these records?

In regards to questions 1–4, Senator Obama’s own Web site says he was, through his father, a British citizen and that this British/Kenya citizenship “automatically expired August 4, 1982.”  That it “expired” doesn’t explain if he had passports and used them, nor does it address his potential Indonesian citizenship or how these were reconciled with his U.S. citizenship, especially where laws and treaties prohibited dual citizenship.

So, when will we see proof that Senator Obama is or is not a constitutionally eligible citizen?  Before or after he takes office?  As Keyes et al note, the latter will cause “irreparable harm in that an usurper will be sitting as the President of the United States, and none of the treaties, laws, or executive orders signed by him will be valid or legal.”