Michigan Democrat Governor Jennifer Granholm on Fox News Sunday responded to host Chris Wallace’s clarification that as a Canadian, she is ineligible to run for president of the United States. Granholm came to the United States as a child of 4 years old.
Granholm’s response is indicative of the mistaken belief that because one of her parents is/was a US Citizen, she’s eligible.
This woman took an oath to uphold the Constitution. Has she even read it? From the transcript:
GRANHOLM: No, I’m totally focused this year on creating every single job I can until the last moment. December 31st at midnight is when I’ll stop. So I have no idea what I’m going to do next, but I’m not going to run for president. I can tell you that.
WALLACE: Yes, that’s true. We should point out Governor Granholm is a Canadian and cannot run for president.
GRANHOLM: I’m American. I’ve got dual citizenship.
Pointing out yet again the absolute ignorance — willful or otherwise — of our citizenry at the highest levels, of what our Founders mean when they wrote the following:
“No person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the office of President…” — U.S. Constitution, Article 2, Sec. 1, Para. 5
With this willful disregard of our founding document, is it any wonder that we have the son of a Kenyan-born British subject in the White House???
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More to the point, the current POTUS is a dual citizen of the US and Indonesia.
Governor Granholm did not say that she was eligible to run for president, but responded to an assertion that she was Canadian by stating that she was an American citizen.
Her mistake is in claiming that one can hold dual citizenship. The oath required to become naturalized as a citizen rejects any prior allegiance, so dual citizenship is not a legal option.
Any naturalized citizen who contends otherwise could be questioned as to whether the oath to give the United States exclusive allegiance was taken falsely. Presumably Governor Granholm would say she did not intend to commit perjury when taking any oath of citizenship.
Sorry, Rob, but your statement is inaccurate. “A U.S. national may acquire foreign nationality by marriage, or a person naturalized as a U.S. national may not lose the nationality of the country of birth. U.S. law does not mention dual nationality or require a person to choose one nationality or another. Also, a person who is automatically granted another nationality does not risk losing U.S. nationality.”
http://travel.state.gov/content/travel/english/legal-considerations/us-citizenship-laws-policies/citizenship-and-dual-nationality/dual-nationality.html