Canadian citizenship hurdle to be U.S. president?

The governor of Michigan has pooh-poohed concern over her allegiance to Canada – she was born there and has dual citizenship in the United States and Canada – and whether that would impact her candidacy if she chose to run for president.

Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm

"Come on," Jennifer Granholm said while being interviewed, along with Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, by Chris Wallace on "Fox News Sunday."

The discussion was about what's going on in Washington and how it impacts states. At the end of the interview, Wallace asked Granholm about her plans.

"Your two terms are up at the end of this year. Do you have any interest in moving here to Washington and working in the administration?" he asked.

"Are you offering me a job? No, I …" she said.

"Yes, because I'm a conduit for the Obama White House. Exactly," Wallace joked.

"No, I'm totally focused this year on creating every single job I can until the last moment," Granholm said. "December 31st at midnight is when I'll stop. So I have no idea what I'm going to do next, but I'm not going to run for president. I can tell you that."

Wallace then pointed out that she would be unqualified to run, anyway.

"We should point out Gov. Granholm is a Canadian and cannot run for president," he said.

"I'm American. I've got dual citizenship," Granholm corrected him.

After bantering about who she supports in the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Granholm said, "I left Canada when I was 4. Come on."

The issue is one of the points of contention in some of the many legal challenges brought over President Obama's eligibility for office.

Attorneys have argued the framers of the U.S. Constitution excluded dual citizens from eligibility when they required a president be only a "natural born citizen."

Obama's own writings confirm his father never was a U.S. citizen and was subject to the governance of the United Kingdom and later Kenya on its independence. When Obama was born, some argue, he was subject to U.K. citizenship through his father. His mother, an American, apparently made him a dual citizen.

Granholm had been promoted by at least one pundit to be Obama's vice presidential candidate in 2008, a position that ultimately went to Sen. Joe Biden.

At the Radio Patriot, radio host Andrea Shea King said, "Granholm's response is indicative of the mistaken belief that because one of her parents is/was a U.S. citizen, she's eligible."

"This woman took an oath to uphold the Constitution. Has she even read it?" King wrote.

"With this willful disregard of our founding document, is it any wonder that we have the son of a Kenyan-born British subject in the White House???" she asked.

WND reported when the issue of Obama's eligibility was raised during the National Prayer Breakfast this year by Obama himself.

"But surely you can question my policies without questioning my faith, or, for that matter, my citizenship," Obama said.

The video:

WND has reported on efforts to raise the question of Obama's eligibility at the state and national levels. Several state legislatures are working on proposals that would require presidential candidates to submit proof of their eligibility.

Before and since Obama's election, numerous lawsuits have been filed alleging he did not meet the U.S. Constitution's requirement that a president be a "natural born citizen." The lawsuits primarily have asserted he either was not born in Hawaii as he claims or was a dual citizen because of his father's British citizenship at the time of his birth. They also claim he chose to remain a citizen of Indonesia by renewing a passport from that nation.

The Constitution, Article 2, Section 1, states, "No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President."

However, none of the cases filed to date has been successful in reaching the plateau of legal discovery, so that information about Obama's birth could be obtained.

Key to the arguments over Obama is the fact his original long-form birth certificate never has been released. A second significant factor is the multitude of documents that Obama has kept from the public.

Besides his actual birth documentation, the still-concealed documentation includes kindergarten records, Punahou school records, Occidental College records, Columbia University records, Columbia thesis, Harvard Law School records, Harvard Law Review articles, scholarly articles from the University of Chicago, passport, medical records, his files from his years as an Illinois state senator, his Illinois State Bar Association records, any baptism records, and his adoption records.

Thirdly, another significant factor is the estimated $1.7 million Obama has spent on court cases to prevent any of the documentation of his life to be revealed to the public.

"Where's The Birth Certificate?" billboard helps light up the night at the Mandalay Bay resort on the Las Vegas Strip.

Because of the dearth of information about Obama's eligibility, WND founder Joseph Farah has launched a campaign to raise contributions to post billboards asking a simple question: "Where's the birth certificate?"

The campaign followed a petition that has collected more than 490,000 signatures demanding proof of his eligibility, the availability of yard signs raising the question and the production of permanent, detachable magnetic bumper stickers asking the question.

The "certification of live birth" posted online and widely touted as "Obama's birth certificate" does not in any way prove he was born in Hawaii, since the same "short-form" document is easily obtainable for children not born in Hawaii. The true "long-form" birth certificate – which includes information such as the name of the birth hospital and attending physician – is the only document that can prove Obama was born in Hawaii, but to date he has not permitted its release for public or press scrutiny.

Your donation – from as little as $5 to as much as $1,000 – can be made online at the WND SuperStore. (Donations are not tax-deductible. Donations of amounts greater than $1,000 can be arranged by calling either 541-474-1776 or 1-800-4WND.COM. If you would prefer to mail in your contributions, they should be directed to WND, P.O. Box 1627, Medford, Oregon, 97501. Be sure to specify the purpose of the donation by writing "billboard" on the check. In addition, donations of billboard space will be accepted, as will significant contributions specifically targeted for geographic locations.)

If you are a member of the media and would like to interview Joseph Farah about this campaign, e-mail WND.