Is Obama eligible to be president?

Is Barack Obama a US Citizen? Is he a "natural born" citizen, which is required under Article II, Section 1 of the United States Constitution, before a person is eligible to run for the highest elected office on the planet? Seems this would be an easy question for Obama to lay to rest. But given that he's fighting a challenge for basic citizenship documents in the US District Court in Pennsylvania, what should we think?

Less than 2 weeks ago a motion was filed by Obama and the DNC in the case, Berg v. Obame et al, to dismiss the case. Why argue to dismiss a challenge if simple documentation would end the case? Even more curious, did Obama and the DNC argue for dismissal on the merits of the case? No. They argued that an American citizen, who is also a member of the Democrat Party, did not have legal standing to ask Obama for proof of his presidential eligibility.

Many critical questions have been asked by Mr. Berg in his challenge. Was Obama born in Hawaii, or in Kenya? His birth has been "registered" in both countries, and Obama has refused to provide a certified birth certificate. His family is all over the map on the place of his birth, with some family members stating one hospital in Hawaii, with others alleging a different hospital. In Kenya, Obama's family, including his grandmother, are alleged to have stated that he was born in Kenya.

But place of birth isn't enough to lay this issue to rest. Even if Obama was a natural born American at birth, he was taken to Indonesia at age 5 by his mother, and in Indonesia, appears to have taken Indonesian citizen to get into Indonesian schools. His mother would have been required to renounce her citizenship before marrying an Indonesian national, and young Barry appears to have been declared an Indonesian citizen, and Muslim, to attend Indonesian school. Obama has denied ever being a Muslim.

If Obama became an Indonesian citizen, and documents in Indonesia are alleged to affirm this, then in a country that does not allow dual citizenship, Obama was no longer a US citizen. And upon his return to the United States years later, if no efforts were made on his behalf to apply to become a naturalized citizen, then Obama would, legally speaking, not even be a US citizen today.

To throw more gasoline on the fire, Obama visited Pakistan in 1981 at the age of 20. At the time, Pakistan was on the US State Department's travel ban list. Non-Muslims were not even welcomed into Pakistan without the person's embassy's support on official business. Obama certainly was not traveling on government official business for the US, Indonesia, or Kenya. So how did Obama get into Pakistan? Was he using an Indonesian passport? Did it identify him has a "non-US" Indonesian citizen and did it declare his religion to be Muslim?

To a growing number of left-leaning Americans, the US Constitution seems little more than an old document to be rewritten to satisfy the "progressive" view of the world. But today it is a document that, I hope, the majority of Americans still hold as the foundation of this nation, and one of its most basic provisions is the requirement of citizenship and natural born status before any candidate is eligible to hold the office of president.

Mr. Obama, it is not an unreasonable request, and in fact, an absolutely essential duty of any candidate for president to provide whatever documentation is necessary to verify the candidate's right to hold the office of president. Why are you fighting it? What do you have to hide? The longer you refuse to prove your eligibility to be president, the more citizens of this nation will wonder whether we're about to elect an illegal alien to the highest office of president.

Here is the legal brief filed by Mr. Berg in the case just a week ago. The case is now pending a ruling by the judge in the case. The unsigned order is not the ruling, but the plaintiff's request for relief in this case. I know that Obama supporters will think this crazy, and frankly, not important. But if this is not important, then what is?

And how ironic would this be for a candidate who has used technicalities in the past to force opponents off the ballot? But if this nation is still a constitutional republic, isn't it vital that the US Constitution be respected?