I have an idea. Let’s have national birth certificate coming out parties. Groups of people can get together with each other in homes or bars and reveal their certificates together and then ponder them while occasionally challenging their authenticity. Don’t like my idea? Why? You have something to hide?
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, who was born in Baton Rouge to immigrant parents from India, has released his birth certificate.
Jindal is being considered by some observers as a potential candidate in the 2012 presidential race.
His office says they released the document to quell any speculation that his eligibility to run for office would be affected by a “birthright citizenship” bill introduced by fellow Republican U.S. Sen. David Vitter of Louisiana. It would limit automatic U.S. citizenship to children whose parents were legal residents. [link]
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p>Correction, Jindal is no longer even an afterthought in the 2012 race. Thus, this publicity stunt. Here is the backstory on Jindal’s birth:
As he wrote last year in his book, “Leadership and Crisis,” his mother had been offered a scholarship in 1970 to complete a graduate degree in nuclear physics at LSU.
When she informed the university that she couldn’t accept the scholarship because she was pregnant, “LSU wrote back and promised her a month off for childbirth if she changed her mind. LSU was so accommodating, and the opportunity to come to America so thrilling, that my parents accepted. [link]
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p>Now, if I was a certain type of conservative I could argue that Jindal is kind of an “Anchor Baby.” He best not step in to Arizona:
Buoyed by recent public opinion polls suggesting they’re on the right track with illegal immigration, Arizona Republicans will likely introduce legislation this fall that would deny birth certificates to children born in Arizona — and thus American citizens according to the U.S. Constitution — to parents who are not legal U.S. citizens. The law largely is the brainchild of state senator Russell Pearce, a Republican whose suburban district, Mesa, is considered the conservative bastion of the Phoenix political scene. [link]
i think the ‘transparent society’ is probably coming. don’t know if it will quell bizarre conspiracy theories and paranoid movements. since i think most humans are dull, i’d bet against it….
It is unconstitutional for them to deny citizenship to anyone born on American soil. However, the “anchor baby” game that some immigrants play shouldn’t be tolerated either. Illegal immigrants should be sent back to their country of citizenship with their anchor baby (it would be unethical to break up the family unit). However, that baby is an American citizen and should be able to move back to the US if he or she chooses to do so as an adult. Just my opinion.
Jindal’s name is likely on the Veep lists of most of the serious GOP candidates and prospects out there. And he’d make a pretty good VP.
This is a good move by Bobby to preemptively clear things up.
Jindal seems to be the Republican’s Obama; he also is a good antidote to the “nasty party” tag line (Tea Party – we have the equivalent in Britain where the Lib Dems have absorbed the sting of the Coalition govt. and for once the Tories have escaped being the nasty party).
I think its great that Ethnic America is surging forward, it is a sad reflection that candidates have to prove their “Americaness” however its wise to be pragmatic. I don’t know how Bobby Jindal is as a speaker however, is he as articulate and charismatic as Obama?
My views on immigration are very soft; I am somewhat tolerant of “anchor babies” and such other tactics people do want to desperately leave the third world and will try any means possible. Also re on conspiracists will continue to be conspiracists regardless of the evidence because its a mindset of distrust (after all trust is the most valuable commodity in today’s political realm Prince William has the highest trust in the British nation at 93%; Nick Clegg is trusted only by a third of the country – possibly due to this “American” showmanship, and hence a big reason why he and the Lib Dems couldn’t pull of AV).
Jindal charismatic? He will never live this down: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/02/25/bobby-jindal-is-kenneth-t_n_169766.html
Jindal as VP choice will be very poor, he brings nothing to the table. LA usually goes GOP way, he won’t get any minorities to vote for him, won’t bring in more money, won’t be seen good as a heartbeat away from Presidency, what is he good for?
As for anchor babies, let the parent’s pay taxes on their worldwide income and assets while the baby is US citizen. When the baby turns 18, have the baby decide whether they want US Citizenship or not.
I think that there is too much emphasis in the US on charisma. Some of the best leaders in the world are not charismatic. What is far more important in leadership is people who do the right thing and surround themselves with great people.
I think that there is too much emphasis in the US on charisma. Some of the best leaders in the world are not charismatic. What is far more important in leadership is people who do the right thing and surround themselves with great people.
Great point. I agree with you here. They are also selected for their beer drinkability.
Jindal would be the VP candidate with Romney or Pawlenty against Obama/Biden. Romney doesn’t have as good of a chance as Pawlenty, I think.
Hey guys, do you remember the ’08 election debates, where Romeny says to Obama regarding Iran and Pakistan: “So wait, you want to talk/engage our enemies [Iran] and bomb our friends [Pakistan]?” I’m so grateful to our President for doing just that. Romney can continue eating his de-caffeinated Domino’s Pizza.
A while ago, Fareed Zakaria stated that this whole birther thing was all about race, thinly veiled under the guise of citizenship.
I think Jindal, another non-white politician, is further proving that Zakaria is correct.
[Sen. David Vitter’s bill] would limit automatic U.S. citizenship to children whose parents were legal residents.
I applaud Sen. Vitter’s bill. Being American is much more where you were born: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Sen. McCain, Arnold Schwarzanegger, Subramanyan Chandrasekhar, etc. were all not born in the USA. Yet, they were very American.
I have friends who were nominally born in the USA, but raised overseas. They could care less about being an American, the American experience, history, culture, etc. They qualify for many jobs that others requiring H1B are not eligible for, governmental student loans, governmental services, etc. I’d like to clarify that America should not be a country club for flag waivers or strident patriots. But the people who will be citizens should show a high capacity for integration and assimilation so as not to turn the USA into a horror story of multiculturalism like the UK, Germany, and Northern Europe.
Moreover, countries like Kuwait and many other nations do not grant automatic citizenship to people born on their soil. Why should we?
[In his book,] “Leadership and Crisis,†[Piyush’s] mother had been offered a scholarship in 1970 to complete a graduate degree in nuclear physics at LSU. When she informed the university that she couldn’t accept the scholarship because she was pregnant, “LSU wrote back and promised her a month off for childbirth if she changed her mind. LSU was so accommodating, and the opportunity to come to America so thrilling, that my parents accepted.
Piyush Jindal does not resonate with me. He’s white-washing his Indian story. His family knowingly synchronized the birth of Bobby J. so that he’d be born in the USA. How many Indians can logically decide to let their baby be born in India, if given the chance to be born in the USA? I guarantee that 90% of them would choose that their child be born in the USA – even a Delta Airlines flight or on diplomatic jurisdiction.
Now, if I was a certain type of conservative I could argue that Jindal is kind of an “Anchor Baby.†He best not step in to Arizona:
I agree with you here Piyush “Bobby” Jindal is an Bacha ki Anchor.
I doubt Biden will be Obama’s running mate again. I predict that Obama will pick Hillary Clinton. That would be strategically brilliant and Obama really is a brilliant politician. Making her his Secretary of State after a tough and bitter primary was a brilliant move. It completely shut down all the fanatical feminist Hillary groupies who were feeling bitter and angry towards him, and any divisiveness within the Democratic Party.
Look also at how he made Huntsman, an attractive Republican challenger, his Ambassador to the most important nation: China.
McCain said something similar during the campaign, and Bush obviously subscribed to the same notion. Obama totally showed all of them up. He has made the Republicans look weak and stupid in their ideas of how the War on Terror should be run. Let’s not forget that it was the Democrats who also won WWII.
Obama had a Pakistani roommate and friend in college. He visited Pakistan at his friends invitation. I think he just has a more realistic understanding of the Pakistani/Desi mentality.
By the way if you go back to the time of the election campaign, you will see that Abhi predicted in this forum that Obama would focus on Pakistan, unlike Bush. Turned out to be prescient.
McCain said something similar during the campaign, and Bush obviously subscribed to the same notion. Obama totally showed all of them up. He has made the Republicans look weak and stupid in their ideas of how the War on Terror should be run. Let’s not forget that it was the Democrats who also won WWII.
You’re right! Also, since WWII, a Texan Democrat (Rep. Charlie Wilson) escalated the shipment of arms and money to Afghanistan/Pakistan to help turn the Soviets into kebab meat; Democrats won the War on the Deficit in ’98-’99-’00; and also, the bombing of Serbian camps under Clinton Saheb. That being said, the Republicans are definitely more pugnacious, and they should get credit for a lot of wars as well. For example, they were winning the War on Rationality and the War on American Unity.
Obama had a Pakistani roommate and friend in college. He visited Pakistan at his friends invitation. I think he just has a more realistic understanding of the Pakistani/Desi mentality.
You’re so right about this. Also, Obama lived in an Islamic country for a while, and his dad’s side of the family were all Muslims. He has a feel for Islamic cultures, but most importantly to me, he has a curiosity about all cultures in general, and Islamic culture in particular, perhaps. Past presidents, perhaps a reflection of their monochromatic upbringing, were more fixated on the Country Club Culture (the CCC), and if they were progressive, Working White Women (the WWW). Also, they had the luxury of not thinking of other cultures and its nuances, I suppose, since the USA was an arrogant hyper-power. Obama is a more humble citizen-of-the-world type-of-guy. Who’s got b*lls the size of Monsoonal Mumbai Mangoes (the MMM).
By the way if you go back to the time of the election campaign, you will see that Abhi predicted in this forum that Obama would focus on Pakistan, unlike Bush. Turned out to be prescient.
Way to go Abhi!!!! Many folks on SP make great points.
Here are my predictions going forwards: 1. Pakistan will be a client-state for China, in much the same way that Hungary/Poland were client-states of the Soviets. 2. India will be closer to the USA and the Western nations. The close ties with Russia will be maintained. 3. India maybe a pawn somehow. 4. Pakistan will have more instabilities. How? I’m not sure yet, but eventually, the country will be partitioned again. Baluchistan and/or Khyber Pakhtunkhwa may their own autonomty. Most of the people of Quetta are Pashtuns anyways, so those two entities maybe part of a Greater Pashtunistan, which many of them want anyways. 5. A huge war between India and Pakistan? Since Pakistan has less and less to lose, more terrorist attacks against India will certainly happen that are more audacious and spectacular than anything 11/26 ever was.
6. Some states within India are lagging behind economically. There will be instability there as well.
Hey Vivek, Chances are high that Obama will stick with Biden. He actually fits the description of a VP perfectly and has executed his job well. Once Hillary resigns from State (soon) the only government position I expect she will ever hold is that of a Supreme Court Justice. More likely she will go to the non-profit world and focus on women’s rights issues.
“Hey Vivek, Chances are high that Obama will stick with Biden. He actually fits the description of a VP perfectly and has executed his job well. Once Hillary resigns from State (soon) the only government position I expect she will ever hold is that of a Supreme Court Justice. More likely she will go to the non-profit world and focus on women’s rights issues.”
You could be right. You certainly have a good track record predicting these things.
But I still think it will be Hillary on the ticket come the election campaign. It just makes too much sense to disregard that likelihood. Biden will be 70 years old in 2012. Thats too old, and Hillary brings so much more to the table. She will be younger in 2016, when she will have the opportunity to follow Obama into the White House as the first female President, than Biden will be in the next election.
Obama was born to an American and a Kenyan. Jindal was born to two indians. Big difference as far as natural born citizenship rights. Obama’s parents didnt need to fake a place of birth because Obama would have automatically gotten citizenship.
And if a short form birth certificate could have been faked, couldnt Obama fake the long form just as easily? Or when the republican governor(at the time of Obama’s run) looked into the birth certificate, wouldnt he discover a fraud if the long form differed from the short form?
And if a short form Birth certificatre is not acceptable to some of these right wing kooks, why not have a bill outlawing such forms of Birth Certificate? Why not make every form the long form?
I see the standards change when it is not their guy at the top. What a waste of time.
Hey now, there is no need to keep takimg jabs at my home state of Arizona. Our Republican governor vetoed an entire slew of racially hostile immigration bills that other states, like California, had passed into law long ago. And she vetoed a birther bill to boot.
But as for Jindal, there is a bill pending in Congress right now sponsored by Rep. Vitter (R-LA) that would essentially declare Jindal an “anchor baby,” unless it can be shown that Jindal’s parents received their LPR status prior to his birth, 6 months after their arrival in the US.
what is LPR status? can you link to this bill? i am interested now. looks like he might have tried to pre-empt that bill while also using obama’s birth certificate release as cover. also, it’s not inconceivable that indian parents might want an indian nationality child even if their job prospects take them to another country. i don’t think it’s fair to assume that just because america is a pretty great country that everyone wants their kids to be american citizens. other countries have patriots too.
Bobby Jindal is not even 5% of charisma of Obama. And when comparing COOL, Jindal comes in at -30% compared to Obama. Jindal probably never made a 3 pointer in his life even by fluke 🙂
It does not take Fareed Zakaria to point out the obvious. OF COURSE this is about race. It always has been.
@na
“It does not take Fareed Zakaria to point out the obvious. OF COURSE this is about race. It always has been.”
I think it goes beyond race, it is really about culture according to some white friends that live near the Southwest. There are large sections of the country near the border that really do not resemble America according to them, they have basically have become Mexico filled with Mexicans as opposed to Mexican Americans. Being desi I never really had issues with being a minority. But I am sure for the white majority, becoming a minority is your own neighborhood is likely and unusual and uncomfortable experience.
It would limit automatic U.S. citizenship to children whose parents were legal residents. So, what if you don’t know who your parents are?