I'm actually not sure where to put this question but just got into an argument with someone elsewhere on the internet. His contention was he didn't care where Obama was really born but that he had not grown up in the US and didn't understand American values.

I have no idea how living somewhere for 4 years means that you are from that place. What about all the other years? How long does it take for people to be 'from' somewhere?

I have a real personal take on this because I grew up as an Army brat and spent most of my first 10 years outside the US. Well, so what? That's what brats do. I never tell people I'm from Europe because I'm not. Partly, yes. Completely, not even close.(I was hardly all grown up when I was 10). I have never been able to answer the "Where are you from?' question easily. I consider that I am from a number of places. Have people actually considered me to some foreigner -- even that sounds stupid to me -- all these years and just didn't say it?

The reason this gets me is that I think this Indonesia bit is a sneaky way of trying to take away someone's citizenship. (It may also be a dog-whistle way of using the n-word.) I don't care about their politics or whether I agree or disagree, I just think it's really dirty pool to 'undo' people by taking one aspect of their lives and assigning it to everything. Similarly, I don't care for people dismissing Romney just because he's a Mormon and talking like he's some alien. Anyway, I'd be interested in people's thoughts.