Obama didn't register with the Selective Service

[snopes]

Comment: McCain supporters are claiming that Senator Obama did not
register for Selective Service in July 1980 as required by Presidential
Proclamation 4771.

I sent an email to the Selective Service (www.sss.gov) and got this
response:

"Dear Sir:

You may write in to ask for his Registration Number under a Freedom of
Information Act, and it will then be released. If there is an error in
his file, if he registered without yet having a social security number,
etc., any number of reasons could prevent his registration from being
confirmed on-line."

From the email, it seems that Senator Obama's Selective Service
registration does NOT show up on the www.sss.gov "Check a registration"
site.

Do you know anything about whether he did or did not register?

[AnglRdr]

You have to have his social to check online.

[ETA: but he likely would've had to register at some point because I would imagine at least one of his jobs would have made such a requirement for employment.]

[A Turtle Named Mack]

Originally Posted by snopes

Comment: McCain supporters are claiming that Senator Obama did not
register for Selective Service in July 1980 as required by Presidential
Proclamation 4771.

I sent an email to the Selective Service (www.sss.gov) and got this
response:

"Dear Sir:

You may write in to ask for his Registration Number under a Freedom of
Information Act, and it will then be released. If there is an error in
his file, if he registered without yet having a social security number,
etc., any number of reasons could prevent his registration from being
confirmed on-line."

From the email, it seems that Senator Obama's Selective Service
registration does NOT show up on the www.sss.gov "Check a registration"
site.

Do you know anything about whether he did or did not register?

Obama's only 2-3 years younger than me, so I am familiar with the registration requirements for men of our general age group. After the draft was ended in the early 70s, there was no registration for the draft. Period (full-stop, for Brits). The registration was revived, as the OP notes, in 1980, without reviving the draft, to show that we were prepared to revive the draft if we had to. However, the registration did not apply to those who were already past a certain age. Roughly, men who are now aged about 45-55 never were required to register for the draft and would not have had a place to do so if they had wanted to for good measure.

And as I said on another thread, I think these idiotic 'gotcha' e-mails (concerning either candidate) are not being posted and spread by the side they are attributed to, but by the side whose candidate is being criticized, to inflame the supporters and perpetuate an attitude of 'those other guys are so mean and stupid.'

Originally Posted by AnglRdr

You have to have his social to check online.

[ETA: but he likely would've had to register at some point because I would imagine at least one of his jobs would have made such a requirement for employment.]

You youngsters would not remember about the years without registration.

[AnglRdr]

There weren't many, since registration started in 1980, after being suspended in 1975.

[A Turtle Named Mack]

Originally Posted by AnglRdr

There weren't many, since registration started in 1980, after being suspended in 1975.

Okay, so basically, guys born from 57-61 should not have had to register, which includes Obama and me.

[snopes]

Originally Posted by A Turtle Named Mack

Okay, so basically, guys born from 57-61 should not have had to register, which includes Obama and me.

Not so. Guys born after 31 December 1959 who were at least eighteen years old at the time registration was reinstated (in mid-1980) were required to register. That group would have included Barack Obama.

- snopes

[A Turtle Named Mack]

Originally Posted by snopes

Not so. Guys born after 31 December 1959 who were at least eighteen years old at the time registration was reinstated (in mid-1980) were required to register. That group would have included Barack Obama.

- snopes

Ah, okay, so the non-registration window was narrower than I thought - basically within a year and a half of my mid-1958 birthdate

[RivkahChaya]

Was Obama in the US when the requirement to register was reinstated? Also, I've done some googling, and I can't find out the exact details of the reinstatement-- was it for anyone between 18 and 25, or were men over 18, but under 25 grandfathered out? What time frame were they given for registering? Maybe Obama's own circumstances resulted in a a de facto exemption-- for example, if he had X number of months to comply, but by the end of that time, he would age out, maybe he had a legal loophole to get out of registering.

Or is it possible that when Carter gave amnesty to Vietnam draft dodgers, it somehow applied to men who had not registered for selective service? IIRC, the amnesty was in 1977, which would have been when Obama had registered, had he been required to.

Does anyone know the implications if Obama had not registered, and should have? What is the statute of limitations on this?

[snopes]

Originally Posted by RivkahChaya

Or is it possible that when Carter gave amnesty to Vietnam draft dodgers, it somehow applied to men who had not registered for selective service? IIRC, the amnesty was in 1977, which would have been when Obama had registered, had he been required to.

Registration wasn't reinstated until 1980. Obama couldn't have registered in 1977, nor would he have been required to. He would have been required to register with the Selective Service in 1980.

Does anyone know the implications if Obama had not registered, and should have? What is the statute of limitations on this?

http://www.sss.gov/qa.htm#quest11

- snopes

[BamaRainbow]

Originally Posted by A Turtle Named Mack

Okay, so basically, guys born from 57-61 should not have had to register, which includes Obama and me.

Uh, I don't think so. ALL men, between the ages of 18-26 were required BY LAW to register with Selective Service when it was reintroduced in 1980.
The only men who were exempted were those born between 3/29/57 and 12/31/59. (As far as I can tell, the exemption was made because the earlier proclamation which ended Selective Service registration under the Ford administration, in 1975, covered all males born up to 1957 and the Carter-issued proclamation officially applied to all males born on or after 1/1/60. All info relating to Selective Service is covered under US Title Code 50.)
I was born the same year as Obama's official biography states (1961) and I had to register in 1980 (I complied but also noted "conscientious objector" on the front and back).
If Obama failed to register with Selective Service, he would have been unable to apply for ANY federally-governed job or financial aid.

[snopes]

Originally Posted by BamaRainbow

If Obama failed to register with Selective Service, he would have been unable to apply for ANY federally-governed job or financial aid.

Technically, he could have applied for those things; he just wouldn't necessarily have been eligible to receive them if the relevant agencies cross-checked his registration status.

- snopes

[Jay Temple]

Personally, I'd be more likely to vote for Obama if this were true.

[kia]

Originally Posted by Jay Temple

Personally, I'd be more likely to vote for Obama if this were true.

I wondered if anyone else would say this. I agree totally! Not that I'm actually eligible to vote in the US elections.

[RivkahChaya]

I think the point, though, is that if Obama didn't register, he might not be eligible for the office.

Also, it's probably worth saying that while the civilly disobedient are usually great individuals, and great leaders, and generally very intelligent and insightful, the person you want leading a bureacracy is someone with a certain amount of respect for going through established channels. And since the president needs to act according to the will of the general population (not even just the ones who voted for him), he needs to be able not to act on conscience alone.

I mean, I'd probably rather marry a maverick, but I want my president to toe the line.

[Natalie]

Originally Posted by RivkahChaya

I think the point, though, is that if Obama didn't register, he might not be eligible for the office.

There's no requirement to register with the Selective Service to be president. Obama wouldn't even be disqualified from collecting a federal check on the grounds of having failed to register in 1980, as long as he is passed the age of registration (which is still 24 or 25 IIRC). That is, there is no post facto punishment for failing to register for the Selective Service.

[AnglRdr]

Originally Posted by Natalie

There's no requirement to register with the Selective Service to be president. Obama wouldn't even be disqualified from collecting a federal check on the grounds of having failed to register in 1980, as long as he is passed the age of registration (which is still 24 or 25 IIRC). That is, there is no post facto punishment for failing to register for the Selective Service.

I'm not sure that is true.

I have a federal jobs search agent and one of the requirements for every federal job, in every agency, reads like this:

Male applicants born after December 31, 1959 must complete a Pre-Employment Certification Statement for Selective Service Registration.

[Natalie]

Originally Posted by AnglRdr

I'm not sure that is true.

I have a federal jobs search agent and one of the requirements for every federal job, in every agency, reads like this:

Interesting. Everything I have seen always says "male applicants born between years x and y" have to be registered, but say nothing about people who have passed that date.

That said, there are only a few requirements to serve as president: over 35, born a citizen of the United States, been a resident of the United States for the past 14 years, haven't been elected president twice already. Also, apparently people who have been impeached out of a federal office can be disqualified by the Senate, but it's not automatic. So Obama can certainly serve as president. He just might not get a pay check.

ETA: Apparently, you can be denied various things for failing to register, even if you're past age 26. The rub is that one has to "show by a preponderance of evidence" that the non-registrant's failure to register was knowing and willful.

[htonl]

It may be a requirement for ordinary federal jobs, but surely for the position of the Presidency the only requirements are those listed in the US Constitution?

ETA: spanked by Natalie. Second spanking today! :-P

[rhiandmoi]

Do you actually get any confirmation that you've registered? I've been down to the post office to pick up the forms and send them in with a number of male friends, and to my knowlege Uncle Sam hasn't acknowledged reciept of any of their forms. I know at least one of them had to go through as the young man in question is now federally employed, but I don't remember them actually recieving anything. I checked El Marido and he's good to go, though.

ETA: Well according the site we should have a card, but since EM is too old to be drafted now I won't worry.

[Matt H.]

Originally Posted by rhiandmoi

Do you actually get any confirmation that you've registered? I've been down to the post office to pick up the forms and send them in with a number of male friends, and to my knowlege Uncle Sam hasn't acknowledged reciept of any of their forms. I know at least one of them had to go through as the young man in question is now federally employed, but I don't remember them actually recieving anything. I checked El Marido and he's good to go, though.

ETA: Well according the site we should have a card, but since EM is too old to be drafted now I won't worry.

I got a little card that had my registration number mailed to me. I lost it many years ago, but it's a moot point in my situation.