Barak Soetero

[Wolfie]

The stupid hurts....

[geniebelle6901]

More mudslinging! Can we stick to the issues please? You know the economy, health care, welfare, creating jobs, national defense,etc. Or does this go above your head (not directed at OP bu the people in the image).

[Lostie]

Barak Soetero? I get that they're referring to Obama, but where did the Soetero come from? I'm assuming I either missed something, am not making a connection, or it's just plain cray-zee...

ETA: Riffle

[Maude]

Barak Soetero is probably the little voice inside this person's head telling them to do naughty things.

[Rachel333]

Barak Soetero? I get that they're referring to Obama, but where did the Soetero come from? I'm assuming I either missed something, am not making a connection, or it's just plain cray-zee...

ETA: Riffle

Soetoro was his step-father's name, I believe. He went by Barry Soetoro for a while, and for some reason the anti-Obama people like to refer to him as that.

[Wolfie]

found the blog of the OP of the Facebook post. iratetirelessminority.blogspot.com/

[Maude]

Soetoro was his step-father's name, I believe. He went by Barry Soetoro for a while, and for some reason the anti-Obama people like to refer to him as that.

Thanks, Rachel. I didn't realize that.

[Lostie]

Thanks, Rachel. I didn't realize that.

Ditto. :D

[gardenvarietycitizen]

Soetoro was his step-father's name, I believe. He went by Barry Soetoro for a while, and for some reason the anti-Obama people like to refer to him as that.

The birthers like to use that name for him, because third (I think?) on their list of Reasons Why Obama is Not Really American is the idea that because his Indonesian stepfather (last name of Soetoro) registered him in school in Indonesia as a local resident and apparently considered him Indonesian, that magically negates any American citizenship he may have previously had. They think that because they have no idea how citizenship works, or how renouncing US citizenship would work.

The reasons are like this:

(1) He's not born in the US.

(2) He can't get citizenship from his mother because his mother was too young when he was born (also bogus, of course, but with the bonus of implying his mother was some strumpet)

(3) Even if he once HAD citizenship, his dad registering him as an Indonesian (and Muslim!!!) means his dad revoked any US citizenship that Barack had, at that point

...all of which is COMPLETE BS, but there ya have it. Plus "Soetoro" just plain doesn't sound "real American" enough so it helps with the usual othering campaign, while at the SAME TIME (yeah, I know) calling him "Barry" tries to make him look as if as an adult he's putting on airs with a fancy foreign name, when he used to be regular ol' Barry, who does he think he is?

(Yeah, I listened to way too much late night WLS.)

[hoipolloi]

Soetoro was his step-father's name, I believe. He went by Barry Soetoro for a while, and for some reason the anti-Obama people like to refer to him as that.

Yeah, when they're not calling him Barack HUSSEIN Obama.

[Patsy]

The birthers like to use that name for him...

I read that as "Birthers like us..." and was horrified. Not gardenvarietycitizen!

[BelieveinScience]

The birthers like to use that name for him, because third (I think?) on their list of Reasons Why Obama is Not Really American is the idea that because his Indonesian stepfather (last name of Soetoro) registered him in school in Indonesia as a local resident and apparently considered him Indonesian, that magically negates any American citizenship he may have previously had. They think that because they have no idea how citizenship works, or how renouncing US citizenship would work.

The reasons are like this:

(1) He's not born in the US.

(2) He can't get citizenship from his mother because his mother was too young when he was born (also bogus, of course, but with the bonus of implying his mother was some strumpet)

(3) Even if he once HAD citizenship, his dad registering him as an Indonesian (and Muslim!!!) means his dad revoked any US citizenship that Barack had, at that point

...all of which is COMPLETE BS, but there ya have it. Plus "Soetoro" just plain doesn't sound "real American" enough so it helps with the usual othering campaign, while at the SAME TIME (yeah, I know) calling him "Barry" tries to make him look as if as an adult he's putting on airs with a fancy foreign name, when he used to be regular ol' Barry, who does he think he is?

(Yeah, I listened to way too much late night WLS.)

Lets just pretend thats true for a second. Even he gained citizenship in Indonesia wouldn't that just mean he had Dual citizenship? And couldn't you still be president even with a dual citizenship?

[Austin]

And when I hear people say that the reason so many people hate President Obama has nothing to do with his race, this is exhibit A. I am not suggesting that everyone who hates the President is a xenophobe or racist, but certainly a portion of them are.

[StarrieEyedKat]

And when I hear people say that the reason so many people hate President Obama has nothing to do with his race, this is exhibit A. I am not suggesting that everyone who hates the President is a xenophobe or racist, but certainly a portion of them are.

Agreed. I think that a lot of people don't realize just how many are out there that are truly racist/xenophobic, but not members of the KKK. It's disheartening to know that so many "normal people" think that they're superior because they're white or American.

[gardenvarietycitizen]

I read that as "Birthers like us..." and was horrified. Not gardenvarietycitizen!

Heaven forbid! :D

Lets just pretend thats true for a second. Even he gained citizenship in Indonesia wouldn't that just mean he had Dual citizenship? And couldn't you still be president even with a dual citizenship?

The main thing about citizenship is that any country A only has any authority at all over who it considers to be citizens of ITSELF. Country A doesn't have to consider a person a citizen of country B, but that has no authority in Country B, Country B is free to consider that person a citizen if it wants (and not consider that person a citizen of Country A). All the "we don't allow dual citizenship" talk in the world, the only thing Country A can possibly do is say if we find out that Country B considers you a citizen, we can revoke your passport for Country A, if they want (and if you've been a citizen of Country A from birth, it's unlikely), but they can't do things like "if you naturalize to us, Country A, we will revoke your Country B citizenship."

Add to that, if you do want to revoke a citizenship, you need to do it as a full adult citizen, YOURSELF. Your parents can't do it for you, and certainly any actions that they take in statements to Country B are not going to do it "magically." Also if you renounce your Country B citizenship to officials of Country A (say, as some requirement for naturalizing to Country A) it doesn't mean Country B has to honor that. They can still consider you a citizen if they want.

Countries that "don't allow dual citizenship" talk about that in regards to adults. So kids very commonly are dual citizens if they inherit different citizenships from their parents or are born in yet another country that has "born here = automatic citizen" laws. Often they will say that such kids need to choose a citizenship at the age of majority. But! All they can do is require the kid to confirm that yes, I want to keep my Country A citizenship. They can't make you give up Country B citizenship. That's up to Country B. They can refuse to recognize your Country B citizenship so force you to entry Country A on Country A passports, etc. They can say if you enter Country A and we recognize you as a Country A citizen, you are automatically drafted into army service, etc.

But anyway, in the modern day, often both A and B will assume you chose them if you don't do anything and just continue to renew your passport (because both A and B think they're the countries where any right-thinking person would want to live) and if you don't run into some situation where some duty you have to Country A conflicts with duties you have with Country B, no one cares, and both countries of course want your tax dollars, so... usually it would take serving in a foreign army to do it, but even that isn't automatic if it's an ally country and your obligations to one don't conflict with the other. Real life situation will of course depend on the countries.

If Obama was claiming Indonesian citizenship for himself as an adult, now, the US would be free to bar him from the presidency if that's how the law is (I don't know what the law is, but it would be a US law about US status so the US would have say). But he isn't. There's nothing magical that his stepdad could do when Obama was six years old to "screw up" his US citizenship by "accident" (or on purpose, for that matter).

[hapamama]

Barack Obama wouldn't have been eligible for Indonesian citizenship just by living there...

And I don't see why the Birthers get their panties in a wad because he went by Barry as a kid. Many kids with non-English given names adopt nicknames that are easier/closer to English names.

[Doomed Harlottt]

Right. It's like he's using "Barry" to trick us all into thinking he's a real 'murican, all the while hiding his true, nefarious identity.

I don't think anyone has mentioned this yet, but the birthers like to use his stepfather's name - Soetero - because Soetero (like Obama Sr.) was a (gasp!!!!) Muslim. Oh noes!!!!!

[Childless]

I honestly don't know how Barack going by "Barry" as a child is any different than my friend who went by "Sammie" as a child and now uses Samantha. Why is it ok for her, but not him. Oh, right. Samantha is an American sounding name and she's white. That must be the difference. :roll:

[Esteleth]

I think they harp on Soetero because (like his bio dad) he was Muslim, but (unlike his bio dad) he was actually involved in raising him. Obama's father left when his son was a toddler, and the two met again like 2 or 3 times. Not much of a relationship, and evidence of influence is pretty thin.

But Lolo Soetero was there and involved.

Of course, the birthers are still full of shit.

[gardenvarietycitizen]

Barack Obama wouldn't have been eligible for Indonesian citizenship just by living there...

Yeah, but the birthers aren't caring about such SUBTLE details... ;)

To them, something written on a school form at six years old by his stepfather is enough to ruin it all!!! It's the same form they use to claim the Muslim thing, because he was marked down as Muslim on the form too - his dad (stepdad) was Indonesian and Muslim, so for categorization purposes for the school (i.e. completely irrelevant to anything else, except late night frothing at the mouth talk show speculation on WLS) he was Indonesian and Muslim. ZOMG!!! Can't be president!!!!

...yeah it's crazy. It's published books full of crazy, which is even... crazier. But someone buys those, I guess.

Of course it's interesting how much stock they put in this one shred of form, but at the same time refuse to accept State of Hawaii official documentation. Logic? No.

[Rosa]

I always thought they liked it because it sounds like Soros.