[PallMal]

OK, I don’t get how being born in Kenya would make Obama ineligible

AFAIK, the rules back in 1961 concerning foreign born persons and American citizenship are not the same as the rules today.

I'll be corrected if I'm wrong, but back in 1961, if the American parent is less than 18 years old, they must be a resident of the USA for 5 or 6 years of continuous residency in the USA to claim automatic citizenship for foreign born children.

That's why many want to see his Hawaiian birth certificate. If he was born in Kenya, he is not an American citizen due to his mother's residency (or non-residency) in the USA, and his mother's age.

[ArmyTeach]

Furthermore, I believe that the law stipulated that the parent conferring American citizenship (Ann Dunhan) was required to have been a citizen for 5 years after the age of 14. Ann was only 18, therefore could not confer American citizenship on Obmama. Furthermore, when Soweto (sp) adopted Obama, that made Obama an Indonesian citizen. Non-Indonesian and non-Muslim children could not attend Indonesian schools. On his school records Obama is listed as an Indonesian citizen and his religion as Islam. At that point, the only way for Obama to become an American citizen was to go through the naturalization process, which still would not make him eligible for the Presidency. Feel free to correct me if I got it wrong. It's completely different for children in a military family born overseas.