Kevin doesn’t think it’s “morally or politically meaningful” that Obama was born a citizen of the emerging country in whose election (out of all the countries in the world) he shamefully injected himself in 2006, taking the side of a Marxist from his father’s Luo tribe — a Marxist who happens to be the son of Kenya’s first vice-president, the guy who formed the political party that gave Obama’s father the opportunity that landed him in America and resulted in Obama’s being born.

I obviously disagree. Even if I didn’t, whether it’s “morally or politically meaningful,” there clearly are potential legal consequences inherent in the circumstance of dual citizenship. It would be incompetent to discuss presidential eligibility under Article II without addressing it.

It’s a little odd, if you ask me, to have a situation where the president is making a concerted effort to clamp down on information about his past, I’ve tried to marshall the information that is available, and, as between those two positions, Kevin suggests that I’m the one at fault for trafficking in what he sees as rank speculation. I’m glad he was never a judge I needed to go to for a search warrant: This is the first time I recall being told you must be in a position to prove the case before investigating it. In any event, I’ve tried to be clear on what we know and what we don’t know, and while I’d love not to have to speculate about elementary facts regarding my president, it is Obama who has made that necessary.

Finally, I do find one aspect of Kevin’s criticism unfair. He says (italics are mine): “Andy also writes that Lolo Soetoro (or, as Andy twice puts it, ’Indonesian Muslim Lolo Soetoro’)” — the implication being that I’ve gratuitously and underhandedly stressed the Indonesian and Muslim roots of Obama’s stepfather. What Kevin doesn’t mention is that (a) Obama flatly denied that he had Muslim connections during the campaign, and the burden of my article is to demonstrate that he habitually lies to Americans, including about his background; and (b) again, given that another aspect of the article is to consider claims that have been raised about Obama’s eligibility for the office he holds, dual citizenship could be consequential — and Obama’s Indonesian dual citizenship (if he had it) could be more consequential than his Kenyan dual citizenship because acquiring it involved positive acts on his (and his family’s) part. That Mr. Soetoro was an Indonesian Muslim is relevant to the points I was trying to make; I thought it was fairly obvious that I didn’t have untoward motives in describing him.

Beyond that, I had over 3000 words to make my points so I’m not going to remake them here. The piece is what it is; people can read it and decide for themselves.