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Is Obama legally qualified to be President?

US Law very clearly stipulates: “If only one parent was a US citizen at the time of your birth, that parent must have resided in the United States for at least ten years, at least five of which had to be after the age of 16.

”Barack Obama’s father was not a US citizen, and Obama’s mother was only 18 when he was born, which means although she had been a US citizen for 10 years, his mother fails the test for being so for at least 5 years prior to Barack Obama’s birth. In order for her child to have been a natural-born US citizen, his mother would have had to be 21 at the time of his birth.

In essence, Mrs. Obama was not old enough to qualify her son for automatic US citizenship.His mother would have needed to have been 16+5 = 21 years old at the time of Barack Obama’s birth for him to have been a natural-born citizen.

Barack Obama instead should have been naturalized, but even then, that would still disqualify him from holding the office of President under current law. At best, Barack Obama is only a naturalized US citizen and does not meet the test.

US Law very clearly stipulates: “If only one parent was a US citizen at the time of your birth, that parent must have resided in the United States for at least ten years, at least five of which had to be after the age of 16.

Did it? The last major change to immigration law prior to Obama's birth was the Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1952. Title III, Chapter 1, Article 301, paragraph g stated that "a person born outside the geographical limits of the United States and its outlying possessions of parents one of whom is an alien, and the other a citizen of the United States who, prior to the birth of such person, was physically present in the United States or its outlying possessions for a period or periods totaling not less than five years, at least two of which were after attaining the age of fourteen years..." was a natural born citizen. If the law was change to residing in the U.S for at least ten years, at least five of which had to be after the age of 16 then when did this change take place?

INA of 1952. Link at the bottom takes you to the act itself.

US Law very clearly stipulates: “If only one parent was a US citizen at the time of your birth, that parent must have resided in the United States for at least ten years, at least five of which had to be after the age of 16.

As has been stated on previous threads this does not apply to people born in the United States. To date no one has provided any evidence that Barack Obama was born anywhere other than Hawaii. If he was born there he has birthright citizenship no matter who his parents were, and is a natural born American and can hold the office of President.

Provide evidence that he was born outside the United States, then the law you cite applies. But I repeat, no one has ever provided evidence that he was born any place other than Hawaii.

In my opinion he should NOT ever be President of the United States, but that is a decision for the American people to make in November. Assuming he actually is nominated by the Democratic Party.

Obama was born in Hawaii in ‘61. Hawaii was a State already, not that it matters. It's within the territorial limits of the US, his mother was a US citizen, and even if she wasn't, her father was legally admitted to the country, making him a US citizen by birth, under even the most restrictive interpretations of the 14th Amendment, and under all readings of federal law.

Could he have “lost” his citizenship, and need(ed) to be renationalized, and whether that makes him natural born or not under the Constitution? Dunno. That's a tough one. If he's elected, and there's a court challenge to that his election, I'd hate to think the Courts would void the decision of the electorate over a convoluted citizenship issue (I also doubt it will matter what the laws of these other countries say, unless the had Obama send a letter to Dept. of State renouncing his citizenship). Best case scenario, the challenge get’s dismissed. Worst case scenario, you have a decision that does whatever it takes to have Obama declared a natural born citizen (such as if you are natural born, renounce your citizenship, and then get your citizenship back, you are a still natural born; or you had to have been a natural born citizen, but you don't have to be a natural born citizen at the time of election to President). The ruling wouldn't matter, because I think the Presidency and line of succession is the only think that differentiates between natural born and naturalized, so nothing else gets disturbed.

In essence, Mrs. Obama was not old enough to qualify her son for automatic US citizenship.His mother would have needed to have been 16+5 = 21 years old at the time of Barack Obama’s birth for him to have been a natural-born citizen.

Except that you forget that he was born in Hawaii, a US state in 1963. 2 illegal aliens who are 13 can slip across the border, have a baby, and that baby is a US Citizen. If one of the parents is a US citizen, all the better. There is zilch evidence that Obama was born anywhere other than Hawaii.

Now, there are angles on dual citizenship, renunciation of citizenship, travelling to Pakistan on an Indonesian passport, that ought to be fleshed out. They would, however, provide more political embarassment than legal cause to disqualify Obama. He was born a US citizen.

Your post is very interesting, but I have a followup for it. Is Obama qualified to be a senator?

I know the requirements are different from the presidency, but I don’t know just what they are. Age requirement is different IIRC.

In essence, Mrs. Obama was not old enough to qualify her son for automatic US citizenship.

You're incorrect. All that applies only if one had one U.S. parent and was born outside the U.S.. For Barry Soetero, the question is whether he was actually born in the U.S.. If so, he had natural born citizenship. If not, then because his mother had not lived in the U.S. for at least 5 years after the age of 16 before giving birth to him, he would not be considered a natural born citizen.