Basic Information
U.S. President Barack Obama was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, on August 4, 1961, and is thus a U.S. Citizen.
A ton of conspiracy theories have popped up alleging that he was born in Kenya, or has Kenyan citizenship, or has joint US-UK citizenship, or once flew to Pakistan and that somehow magically makes him a foreigner. These allegations have been disproved time and again. For details, see the Wikipedia and Snopes articles listed below.
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Sources
Game and Story Use
As with other topics (like Alternative Science, to give an example) sometimes the best gaming does not come from the truth. So, assuming (for the sake of gaming) that there was some truth to these allegations, what impact and uses could it have in gaming?
- Given the current administration and political climate, it's unlikely a Revolution or Civil War would come from this - the next 5 people in line to the Presidency are members of Obama's Political Party.
- Joe Biden is a U.S. Citizen, and eligible for the office, so he'd almost certainly advance from U.S. Vice President to President.
- However, there's a point of view that could be taken that perhaps if one candidate was concealing his ineligibility, perhaps that would somehow disqualify the whole ticket. If that were the case, the Presidency would transfer to the Nancy Pelosi, the current Speaker of the United States House of Representatives. It would NOT result in any sort of special election or retabulation of electoral votes. See United States presidential line of succession for details.
- The incoming President would almost certainly issue a Presidential Pardon to Obama, just as Gerald Ford pardoned Richard Nixon, so there'd be no further investigation or punishment. (And no, I'm not comparing Obama to Nixon, I'm comparing the Presidential Succession in cases where a sitting President leaves office in the face of a potential investigation.)
- It's also likely the first Executive Order of the new President would be to uphold and ratify the executive orders authored by Obama.
- If the conspiracy theories were proven true before the election, things would play out a little differently. It could have given a win to John McCain, but since he was born in the Panama Canal Zone, and not the United States proper, some of the same citizenship issues could have troubled him. So, it's possible both major candidates could have been disqualified in the weeks leading up to the 2008 election, and we could be looking a President Biden, Pelosi, or even Palin in a contemporary Alternate History.
- However, if a similar problem came up in a slightly different era, who knows where things might go.
- Massive Government Conspiracy?
- Anarchy?
- Race Riots?
- Second American Revolution?
- If it could be proven, it might cause a Constitutional Crisis, with legal maneuverings and court decisions.
- Continuity of Government plans have all sorts of stipulations for what happens in the case of Assassination, Nuclear War, and more mundane forms of Presidential death, but are less clear when it comes to a situation that might make the Presidency retroactively illegitimate. Expect a power struggle, followed by Constitutional Amendment or at least a Law being written in the wake of this to prevent such things from happening in the future.
- Similar doubts and challenges came up in regards to Herbert Hoover, who had not been living in the US for the 14 years prior to his election in 1928. (The requirements of being U.S. President, as outlined in Article II of the U.S. Constitution, are that you need to be a natural-born citizen, be at least 35 years old, and have been a resident of the US for 14 years.)
- Given the backdrop of the Bonus Army, the Business Plot, and the Great Depression, there's some serious potential for a radically divergent history if Hoover's Presidency were nullified half-way through his term.
- Ironically, Charles Curtis, Hoover's running mate, is the only person of significantly non-European ancestry to attain the position of U.S. Vice President. Curtis was part Native American and grew up on a Kaw (tribe) reservation. You can imagine the Klu Klux Klan or similar White Supremacist organizations of the 1930s challenging his citizenship as well.
- If some bizarre twist of citizenship removed Hoover and Curtis, the position would fall to Nicholas Longworth or John Nance Garner, who were the Speakers of the House during the various years of Hoover's administration.
- If challenged and settled by the courts prior to the elections, you could end up with Charles Curtis, Frank Lowden, or Alfred E. Smith as President. In a pinch, it's also remotely possible that Calvin Coolidge might have thrown his hat back into the ring for a second term.
- Given the backdrop of the Bonus Army, the Business Plot, and the Great Depression, there's some serious potential for a radically divergent history if Hoover's Presidency were nullified half-way through his term.