re: #1 mattand

If Obama were a white guy named Barry O’Hara, none of this would be happening.

Heck, if Obama were a white guy named “John McCain,” this wouldn’t be happening.

There was a brief court challenge to John McCain’s candidacy based on the argument that because he was born in Panama, in the Canal Zone, he was not qualified to be President of the United States. The McCain birther issue never got anything like the reaction that the Obama-birther issue did.

nytimes.com