Buffalo Business Daily

Is there some administrative body that looks over a presidents qualifications?

There has been some debate over Obama's place of birth. I think he was born here, in Hawaii, but others think he was born in Kenya. Is there some administrative body in the white house who looks at the presidents Birth documents and criminal background to decide if their eligible to be a candidate, there has to be, unless people just take the candidates word for it. What or who are these people?

Public Comments

1. It's called the Federal Election Commission.
2. If there were such an entity Bush would never have been qualified for his DUI alone, never mind his lack of qualifications to run a country. When you file papers with the Democratic National Committee you have to swear the information is true, like with any official document. I dont care where he was born, like people in Congress and governors can be born anywhere. What difference does it make anyway.
3. "Mobius" is correct. The Federal Election Commission oversees the qualifications of all candidates. When the State of Hawaii sent the documents proving Obama's birth place was in fact Hawaii, that's the governing body who received, examined and verified the documents.
4. The FEC (Federal Election Commission) ONLY gets involved in campaign finance. They can't adjudicate qualifications. That's up to the States, who actually run elections. The Secretaries of State are the ones tasked with carrying out the election laws of their states. In most states, voters and other candidates can challenge the legitimacy of candidates before the election or primary. There is no federal legislation requiring any candidate to prove qualifications. The only qualifications that count for President and Vice President are: over 35, resident 14 years in the US, and natural born citizen. Having a criminal background isn't a disqualifying factor (consider a US version of Nelson Mandela, for example). Objections to qualifications can be made by the Electoral College and Congress before the results of the EC election are accepted. But there is no automatic requirement for any candidate to produce documentation. Then there's the press. That's one of its roles, to report on candidates' qualifications, issues, and positions to inform the electorate. While some of the Liberal media outlets might not be interested in delving deep into President Obama's past, Rupert Murdoch and his Fox minions, The Enquirer, Drudge, The Guardian in the UK, and numerous right-wing media outlets and countless reporters looking for a scoop would be all over this if there were any real chance Obama was ineligible and could be removed from office. (Which would be by impeachment and conviction in the Congress, the only way to remove a sitting president.)