There's been a lot of talk in the past few days about the cases being brought against Barack Obama's election as president, or rather whether he is constitutionally prohibited from becoming president on the grounds that he is not a 'natural born American'.

The central argument is that Obama was in fact born in Kenya and not Hawaii as Obama claims. But here's the thing, let's assume for the moment Obama was born in Kenya rather than Hawaii; so what? Does the constitution require that anyone holding the office of president be born on American soil? Well, it's not clear. But John McCain wasn't born on US soil, although he was born to US parents, and the US Senate passed a non-binding resolution earlier in the year recognising him as a natural born American. What would make Obama so different?