Birtherism: The Cancer That Won't Go Away

Oh I know that many people will suggest that birtherism, the belief that the Dear Leader, President Obama, is nothing but a bunch a crazy right-wingers wanting to delegitimize his presidency.
I'm here to tell you that in fact, birtherism is alive and well and involved with some announced and non-announced candidates for the Republican presidential nomination.
It is a cancer that will not go away.
Here are some of the names that the birthers are saying are "not qualified" to be president of the United States:

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas)
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Florida)
Gov. Nikki Haley (R-South Carolina)
Gov. Bobby Jindal (R-Louisiana)
Gov. Brian Sandoval (R-Nevada)

Now two, Sens. Cruz and Rubio, are announced candidates. Gov. Haley is not going to run but could be a possible serious contender for vice-president. Same for Gov. Sandoval. Only Gov. Jindal will probably make a serious run at the Republican nomination.
I suppose that birthers will make a serious claim that there is nothing partisan about their zeal to make sure that all candidates and potential candidates meet the requirements for being president. But I do notice all do not exactly have WASPy-sounding names.
So what are the constitutional requirements for being a potential president?
It's right here in Article 2, section 1 and paragraph 5:

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; neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States.

Pretty simple and straight forward, right? And since the current occupant of the White House was born in the then new state of Hawai'i in 1961 and his mother was a citizen of the United States, the first two requirements are met. And yes, the Dear Leader, President Obama, has lived in the United States for 14 years and was a bit north of 35  years old when elected.
So what is the beef of the birthers?
Since they can't, although some do, harp on the "real" birth certificate, the main thrust is the meaning of being a "natural born citizen". This is basically what the birthers say not only disqualifies the current occupant of the White House, but a slew of Republicans that want to replace him. One thing that this conveniently ignores is the 1790 Naturalization Act. As well as the 14th Amendment that not only expanded who could be a citizen, which at the time was very limited and essentially whites or Europeans only. Essentially, for the majority of birthers, the main problem for the current occupant of the White House, the Dear Leader, President Obama, and the aforementioned above is that while they may all have been born in the United States and or have at least one American citizen parent, both parents are not United States citizens and that should disqualify the Dear Leader, President Obama and the aforementioned above.
While the current birther movement gets all the publicity, this is nowhere near the first time a potential president's citizenship and or birth has been questioned. Of the nine mentioned in the link, only two became president and that would be Republican Chester A. Arthur and Democrat Barack H. Obama.
Why has the current birtherism been even given any credibility in the first place?
Well, it was not a Republican effort to discredit the Dear Leader, President Obama. In fact as the linked article points out, it was the Hillary Clinton 2008 presidential campaign that decided to go for the jugular and throw the kitchen sink to discredit Mr. Obama. Here is a relevant point:
That theory first emerged in the spring of 2008, as Clinton supporters circulated an anonymous email questioning Obama’s citizenship.

“Barack Obama’s mother was living in Kenya with his Arab-African father late in her pregnancy. She was not allowed to travel by plane then, so Barack Obama was born there and his mother then took him to Hawaii to register his birth,” asserted one chain email that surfaced on the urban legend site Snopes.com in April 2008

That theory first emerged in the spring of 2008, as Clinton supporters circulated an anonymous email questioning Obama’s citizenship.
“Barack Obama’s mother was living in Kenya with his Arab-African father late in her pregnancy. She was not allowed to travel by plane then, so Barack Obama was born there and his mother then took him to Hawaii to register his birth,” asserted one chain email that surfaced on the urban legend site Snopes.com in April 2008

And let's not forget that Team Hillary was, not one bit of doubt in my mind, behind this infamous photo of Mr. Obama in full Islamic garb.

Yet some fringe conservatives and or Republicans have kept this whole birtherism nonsense going and going. And now like a cancer kept at bay, birtherism is metastasizing way into the Republican field. And if one of those aforementioned above should become the Republican nominee, it will be a nagging enough diversion to keep the leftywhore media amused.
It is time to stop this birtherism right now. All the candidates, announced and unannounced are qualified to be potential presidents. Even Ted Cruz, who was born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, to an AMERICAN mother is qualified under the constitution and subsequent laws.
You know, there are actual and real issues that all candidates should be vetted on. Too many to list here. But where they were born and if they are "natural-born citizens" or not are not one of them.