[Nadya]

I'll give you a neutral answer for a neutral question.

You must be American-born to be eligible for president. With the exception of the "(truly) first generation Americans" which could be citizens since nobody was yet natural born [0].

This is what the birth certificate controversy/conspiracy [2] was about. Obama's father [1] is Kenyan so there was some belief he was born in Kenya, not a "natural born US citizen" and thus illegible for position as the POTUS.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural-born-citizen_clause

[1] It might be his mother, but I remember it being his father. It's one of the parents, but not both.

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barack_Obama_citizenship_consp...

[Retric]

As a matter of constitutional law, natural-born citizen is kind of undefined. If he had been born outside the US, the would have had dual or even triple citizenship at birth which would seemingly also qualify.

[oh_sigh]

Right...undecided in courts, but my (naive) reading of it would mean that you have to be a citizen from the moment you leave the birth canal. It doesn't seem like it should matter where exactly you were born...if your American parents were vacationing in Bermuda for 1 week when you were born prematurely, that means you can't run for president 35+ years later?

[vkou]

Ted Cruz, a Canadian, was almost nominated as the Replubican candidate. Clearly, a large number of people feel that the definition of natural American citizen is a bit more flexible then that.

[oh_sigh]

That's exactly in line with my statement. His mother was an American - it shouldn't matter where he happened to be born.