Whether or not Ted Cruz is a “natural born citizen” or not is a legal issue. Lawyers can have fun debating what the writers meant, or what English Common Law says about the matter. Voters, on the other hand, are to busy to delve into that level of detail. What everyone can readily understand is the reason behind the words “natural born citizen”. The phrase is in the constitution so that when a President acts, he will act with a singular loyalty to the United States.
So, we need not debate the legal meaning of “natural born citizen”. We need only move from the legal domain to the political one. In the political domain, the legalities don’t matter. What matters is the reason behind the term. What matters is the issue of loyalty.
I think a simple declaratory phrase can call into question the fitness of Ted Cruz to hold national office. I would offer this: “ natural born citizen means any person who has ever been a citizen of another country is not eligible to serve as President”. It takes away any ambiguity of the term “natural born citizen” and communicates the reason behind the term, loyalty.
I think the phrase might resonate. It is simple, and I think most Americans would agree with it. It would put the Cruz campaign into the explaining mode, and if you’re explaining you are losing. Let Ted Cruz tell us about his “unknown” dual Canadian-U.S. citizenship. Let him repeatedly deny that he has no loyalty towards Canada. When he does you repeat again “natural born citizen means any person who has ever been a citizen of another country is not eligible to serve as President”. Let Cruz explain that he is a “natural born citizen”, that he is singularly loyal. At this point, we’ve taken a constitutional/legal question and made it into a political issue. And in the political arena, if Cruz is explaining the legal definition of “natural born citizen”, if Cruz is explaining that his Canadian citizenship isn’t disqualifying, then Cruz isn’t going to win. At least I think not.