It's not a matter of precedent if there was a pertinent legal definition available and known at the time of writing. Why was this a mystery to following generations, but not to John Jay and George Washington? Because they read "The Law of Nations," which was the pertinent legal source. The aversion to refer to this source allows the matter to be made a mystery, and then anything can be made to fit.
I don't follow. Who would have been the first?
The irony is that, in every likelihood, Obama was not an American citizen, by reason of having become an Indonesian citizen through adoption by Lolo Soetoro. He was registered as a student in the Indonesian schools (not for non-citizens) and traveled to Pakistan on what only could have been an Indonesian passport. There is a procedure that one might use to reclaim one's citizenship, but there is no record of him having done that. It is suspicious that he has concealed the records for his early adult years.
It's not about favorite definition, it's the precedent set by the wording of the constitution and subsequen rulings by congress and the supreme court.
But either way, going by your definition, Obama would be the second non natural-born citizen president of the US.
Why is it only a huge deal now?
It's not a matter of precedent if there was a pertinent legal definition available and known at the time of writing. Why was this a mystery to following generations, but not to John Jay and George Washington? Because they read "The Law of Nations," which was the pertinent legal source. The aversion to refer to this source allows the matter to be made a mystery, and then anything can be made to fit.
I don't follow. Who would have been the first?
The irony is that, in every likelihood, Obama was not an American citizen, by reason of having become an Indonesian citizen through adoption by Lolo Soetoro. He was registered as a student in the Indonesian schools (not for non-citizens) and traveled to Pakistan on what only could have been an Indonesian passport. There is a procedure that one might use to reclaim one's citizenship, but there is no record of him having done that. It is suspicious that he has concealed the records for his early adult years.