“So a child born to a military family outside the US but in a US military hospital is not a natural born citizen”
If that’s true, it needs to be fixed. A constitutional amendment would be best.
Yes and No.
No if only one parent was born in America.
The child is a citizen but not a natural born citizen.
Yes if both parents were born in America.
The child is a natural born citizen regardless of the location of birth.
The office of president is the only elected office that requires a natural born citizen. Members of Congress do not need to be natural born citizens.
The founders’ had good reason to require a natural born president. Today, that reason may not be as severe as when the founders envisioned its need. An amendment may be in order but only after considerable discussion, the founders were very wise in all they wrote.
If that’s true, it needs to be fixed. A constitutional amendment would be best.
It's not broken. It doesn't need to be fixed.
Suppose McCain had won.
What happens politically if there is a crisis in his native Panama?
Anything he says or does, or fails to say or do will be criticized based on the perception that his judgment with regards to his place of birth is colored by his personal connection and bias towards or against it.
Unless a foreign born president is a democrat, he will never escape the whisper campaign about how he is unduly influenced by un-American connections.
Worse, our enemies know this and would foment trouble in Panama just to distract and sow dissent in the enemy camp.
A foreign born citizen can be anything else, a senator, a top general, a supreme court justice, a captain of industry, is it really essential that they be the president?
Is having that one singular job worth risking the entire country's security?