Long-time American civil rights leader, Rev Jesse Jackson, several columnists with leading newspapers in the United States and other political figures are saying that the furor over the birthplace of President Barack Obama can only be explained in terms of it being a code for racism. So strong has been the questioning of Mr Obama's credentials to legitimately hold the office of President, that being the preserve of an American-born individual, that a movement, birtherism, has arisen. Feeling that he had to respond to this continuing questioning of his birthplace, President Obama publicly released his long-form birth certificate accounting for his birth in 1961 in the US state of Hawaii to an American mother and a father from Kenya. When the query first arose during the 2008 campaign, Mr Obama's short-form certificate was made available to the media. But in recent weeks, the birthers gained new voice with businessman Donald Trump seeming to make it his platform issue as he contemplates running on a Republican ticket for next year's presidential election. Those who wonder at the motives of the birthers note that at the same time in 2008, questions were raised about the eligibility of John McCain for the president's job as he was known to have been born on an American base in the Panama Canal Zone. However, when the lawyers said that Mr McCain was eligible to be president, that was the end of the discussion and debate.
But not so the case of President Obama as two polls recently conducted found that 50 per cent of Republicans continue to believe, notwithstanding the hard evidence, that Mr Obama was not born in the US. The contentions are being raised just over a year before President Obama is scheduled to once again contest for the US presidency. In that context, there is another school of thought in the US that this matter of his birthplace is a political one meant to weaken his presidential credentials; and in so doing is playing on racial fears. Involved here are issues of trust: Can Americans trust this man with a Kenyan father to be loyal to the US? Can they trust a black man who they would argue would be less than loyal to America to again be elected to the White House? Similar questions have been raised about Mr Obama's religion, with the view having been spread that he was Muslim and therefore not to be trusted.
Although of a different nature, the issue of the birthplace and citizenship of Caribbean parliamentarians remains alive. In the Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica instances, challenges have been issued to those who were either born abroad or who hold dual citizenship, mainly American. Recently in a by-election in Barbados, former Prime Minister Owen Arthur made the birthplace of the government candidate a national issue. In a few of the instances, those with dual citizenship are forced to give up foreign citizenship to sit in national Parliaments. The outstanding contradiction has been the case of former Jamaica Prime Minister Edward Seaga, who was born in Boston, Massachusetts, of Jamaican parents. In T&T the law allows nationals to hold dual citizenship. However, people wanting to be MPs cannot be citizens of other countries. One contention is that parliamentarians may have divided loyalty in looking after the national interest. This is an issue which only comes to the surface in contentious circumstances and so reality is clouded by emotion and hysterical claims from one extreme to the other. It is another issue that needs to be discussed in preparation for serious dialogue on reforming the Republican Constitution.