# RESOLVED: Barack Hussein Obama is an American citizen. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 15, 2011, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-barack-hussein-obama-is-an-american-citizen/571411 "2011-02-15T03:55:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/try2b_comprehensive/32/65_2.png) [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try2B_Comprehensive)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2011, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-barack-hussein-obama-is-an-american-citizen/571411/1 "2011-02-15T03:55:51Z")
I know, this may be a little controversial in the flyover counties, or whatever we’re calling them these days. I’m sure there are lots of people in those places who don’t think otherwise. But credible sources claim Barack Hussein Obama’s birth certificate has been verified by the appropriate authorities. I don’t really want to go further into the details in order to keep this on an MPSIMS level. We could play checkers. We could play chess. Tic-Tac-Toe or global thermonuclear war. Or debate this one. Nah. This one looks even quicker (see below): **Barack Hussein Obama is a United States citizen.** Move 1. I win! your turn. Is that fun or what? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2011, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-barack-hussein-obama-is-an-american-citizen/571411/2 "2011-02-15T06:19:40Z")
Resolved: saying mocking things about people who live in “flyover counties” is a dick move. ---
**Author:** ![Trepa\_Mayfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/edb3f5/32.png) [@Trepa\_Mayfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trepa_Mayfield)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2011, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-barack-hussein-obama-is-an-american-citizen/571411/3 "2011-02-15T06:22:05Z")
Resolved: Opening a discussion with “Resolved:” just looks stupid, I don’t care how much historical precedent it has. ---
**Author:** ![Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/try2b_comprehensive/32/65_2.png) [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try2B_Comprehensive)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2011, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-barack-hussein-obama-is-an-american-citizen/571411/4 "2011-02-15T06:54:49Z")
> [@Kyla](#): > > Resolved: saying mocking things about people who live in “flyover counties” is a dick move. Sorry. I will attempt more compassion next time. ---
**Author:** ![Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/try2b_comprehensive/32/65_2.png) [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try2B_Comprehensive)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2011, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-barack-hussein-obama-is-an-american-citizen/571411/5 "2011-02-15T06:56:34Z")
> [@pedescribe](#): > > Resolved: Opening a discussion with “Resolved:” just looks stupid, I don’t care how much historical precedent it has. That’s too bad. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2011, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-barack-hussein-obama-is-an-american-citizen/571411/6 "2011-02-15T07:08:30Z")
> [@pedescribe](#): > > Resolved: Opening a discussion with “Resolved:” just looks stupid, I don’t care how much historical precedent it has. Considering that in many places, “Resolved” means “This has been discussed and decided/agreed upon”, my first reaction to this thread was “And in other news, the Pope is still Catholic and General Franco is still dead”. ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2011, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-barack-hussein-obama-is-an-american-citizen/571411/7 "2011-02-15T07:08:48Z")
Okay, not being a native US’er, I tried wikiying ‘flyover counties’ but didn’t get much in the way of explanation as to why it’s a term of derision. Can someone help out an alien here please? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2011, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-barack-hussein-obama-is-an-american-citizen/571411/8 "2011-02-15T07:12:35Z")
> [@kambuckta](#): > > Okay, not being a native US’er, I tried wikiying ‘flyover counties’ but didn’t get much in the way of explanation as to why it’s a term of derision. > > Can someone help out an alien here please? The implication is that there’s nothing important at all between New York/Washington/Chicago and Los Angeles/San Francisco/Las Vegas, hence it’s just effectively a bunch of empty space you have to fly over to get to anywhere interesting. Sort of like the Outback between Sydney/Melbourne and Perth, despite the fact you’ve got Adelaide and Alice Springs there… ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2011, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-barack-hussein-obama-is-an-american-citizen/571411/9 "2011-02-15T07:14:48Z")
> [@kambuckta](#): > > Okay, not being a native US’er, I tried wikiying ‘flyover counties’ but didn’t get much in the way of explanation as to why it’s a term of derision. > > Can someone help out an alien here please? > > 😃 People who live on the coasts of the US use it to deride people who live in the middle as backward hicks. It’s usually “flyover states”, though. I lived in the Midwest for six years and often heard this shit from my family in California. You’d think they were shocked to learn we had electricity and running water in the rural village of Chicago. ---
**Author:** ![Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uosdwis_R.Dewoh)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2011, 8:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-barack-hussein-obama-is-an-american-citizen/571411/10 "2011-02-15T08:52:46Z")
I’ll reserve judgment untill I see Obama’s extra super duper long cross my heart and hope to die this is authentic birth certificate. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2011, 10:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-barack-hussein-obama-is-an-american-citizen/571411/11 "2011-02-15T10:25:50Z")
I prefer red staters, because it is possible to be a red stater living in a blue state and a blue stater living in a red state. Flyover is geographic, while red stater is a frame of mind. Also the term red stater really pisses of some people, so its got that going for it, too. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2011, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-barack-hussein-obama-is-an-american-citizen/571411/12 "2011-02-15T10:43:09Z")
> [@Martini\_Enfield](#): > > The implication is that there’s nothing important at all between New York/Washington/Chicago and Los Angeles/San Francisco/Las Vegas, hence it’s just effectively a bunch of empty space you have to fly over to get to anywhere interesting. Sort of like the Outback between Sydney/Melbourne and Perth, despite the fact you’ve got Adelaide and Alice Springs there… Except that rather than despite, your American means because. Thus the insult. ---
**Author:** ![EvilTOJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee59a6/32.png) [@EvilTOJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilTOJ)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2011, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-barack-hussein-obama-is-an-american-citizen/571411/13 "2011-02-15T13:12:25Z")
uhm… what? Those words were English but they don’t make sense in that order. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2011, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-barack-hussein-obama-is-an-american-citizen/571411/14 "2011-02-15T14:38:30Z")
> [@kambuckta](#): > > Okay, not being a native US’er, I tried wikiying ‘flyover counties’ but didn’t get much in the way of explanation as to why it’s a term of derision. > > Can someone help out an alien here please? > > 😃 The OP meant [flyover country](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flyover_country). He also meant “_ **natural born** _ citizen” - no one disputes Obama’s citizenship. ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2011, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-barack-hussein-obama-is-an-american-citizen/571411/15 "2011-02-15T14:59:47Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > The OP meant [flyover country](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flyover_country). He also meant “_ **natural born** _ citizen” - no one disputes Obama’s citizenship. Also, I believe he meant that there are lots of people in “those places” who DO think otherwise. If he keeps making mistakes at this pace, he’s going to get his ass kicked in the checkers or chess game, maybe even by a denizen of flyover country. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2011, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-barack-hussein-obama-is-an-american-citizen/571411/16 "2011-02-15T15:14:56Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > The OP meant [flyover country](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flyover_country). He also meant “_ **natural born** _ citizen” - no one disputes Obama’s citizenship. In fact, since Obama has not been naturalised, he can only be a citizen if he is a natural-born citizen. If he had been born outside the U.S., he would not be a natural-born citizen: his father was not a citizen, and his mother was too young. (This, of course, is purely hypothetical, since there is conclusive evidence that he was born in Hawaii, which at the time was a state of the United States, but it’s the reason why the Birthers have gone on with their nonsense so long.) ---
**Author:** ![Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/try2b_comprehensive/32/65_2.png) [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try2B_Comprehensive)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2011, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-barack-hussein-obama-is-an-american-citizen/571411/17 "2011-02-15T15:25:16Z")
Whoa. Funny how the simplest things are so difficult. What I thought would be funny is the image of an Oxford-style debate on the subject. Hence the word ‘resolved’. You know, a bunch of guys get dressed up, head to the auditorium and formally hash out the subject for an audience, maybe broadcast on radio or TV. I thought the whole notion of people wasting their time taking this so seriously was funny. Yah I meant to be a little disdainful of hickdom too, but I expected everyone to know that these generalizations don’t mean anything. Except that the uh, more rural areas seem to be where notions like ‘BHO isn’t a citizen!’ comes from. I hope I don’t get my ass kicked for saying the guy is an American :eek: I mean, born here :eek: I mean, not a …, o never mind. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2011, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-barack-hussein-obama-is-an-american-citizen/571411/18 "2011-02-15T15:44:16Z")
> [@kambuckta](#): > > Okay, not being a native US’er, I tried wikiying ‘flyover counties’ but didn’t get much in the way of explanation as to why it’s a term of derision. > > Can someone help out an alien here please? Every four years the U.S.A. holds a national test of intelligence and sanity. The [results from 2008](http://rvclearance.com/digital/2008-presidential-election-results.jpg) follow the typical pattern; here states where 50% or more of the participating adult population failed the test are shown in Red. With only a few exceptions, you can see that states with a majority of sane, intelligent people adjoin large bodies of water. When traveling between the saner regions, many Americans like to fly over the intervening regions quickly, in case stupidity is contagious. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2011, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-barack-hussein-obama-is-an-american-citizen/571411/19 "2011-02-15T15:44:27Z")
Either Obama is an American citizen, or he’s a Kenyan with a time machine. ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2011, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-barack-hussein-obama-is-an-american-citizen/571411/20 "2011-02-15T15:46:37Z")
> [@Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](#): > > I’ll reserve judgment untill I see Obama’s extra super duper long I wasn’t sure where you were going with this. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-barack-hussein-obama-is-an-american-citizen/571411.md?page=2)