So how old are you Mr. President? And does it matter?

During the campaign for the presidency, there was a lot of discussion about the birthplace of Barack Obama – maybe Hawaii, maybe Kenya, maybe Canada. The fear was that Obama might not be a “natural born citizen” and therefore not qualified to run for the office of the president. In order to allay those fears an alleged copy of Obama’s Certification of Live Birth was released on Fight the Smears indicates that Barack Obama was born on August 4, 1961.   If this date is truly Obama’s birthday then he would have just celebrated his 48th birthday. Organizing for America believes he turned 47 in 2008.

However, on his My Space page, Obama claims to be 52.   Evidently there is some confusion about the age of our current occupant in the oval office.

Gallery contains a full view of “COLB”   with a cut-out of  claimed birth day and a partial screenshot of  the myspace page with a cut out of the personal information indicating age – click to enlarge and use the magnifier for a closer view.

a detailed look at birth

The question of Obama’s age is not a frivolous one.  If Obama were 52, then he would have been born in the Territory of Hawaii not the State of Hawaii.  When Hawaii became a state of the U.S., its citizens became citizens of the United States — BUT naturalized, not natural born citizens.  Such an admission from the president makes no sense, does it?  Maybe he is so certain that the Constitution no longer matters that he is willing to openly declare his true age.  On the other hand, the posting of his age as 52 might just be a mistake that the president and all his staff have not noticed.  Or maybe, like Afghanistan, he is undecided which is the nobel-est path to peace.

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Truth be told, Obama’s age makes little difference to me (except as another question about who the man really is).  I have spent a lot of time following Leo Donofrio’s blog and his explanation of the “natural born citizen” issue to understand that dual citizenship is far more important than where Obama was born.  His father was NOT a citizen of the United States.  Obama may be a naturalized citizen, but he inherited dual citizenship from his father.  His loyalties were divided at birth to England, to Kenya, and maybe to the United States.  The Constitution clearly declares him ineligible to be president, no matter how old he is and no matter where he was born.