Barry Soetoro

Indonesian school registration for "Barry Soetoro" (AP photo)

JERUSALEM – Was Sen. Barack Obama a citizen of Indonesia at any point in his life?

Does that question represent a vicious slur, or the legitimate investigation of curious Americans, eager to know more about a man who hasn't been through the normal presidential vetting process?

That question has been circulating on the blogosphere with increased fury the past few days, ever since a photograph emerged of Obama's school registration papers as a child in Indonesia – the world's most populous Muslim nation – showing the presidential candidate listed as a "Muslim" with "Indonesian" citizenship.

What if it's true that Barack once had Indonesian citizenship? It doesn't concern me, in particular. What does concern me is the Democratic attack machine's determination to portray those who are curious as hate mongers.

An investigation into Indonesian citizenship law and a review of Obama's biography and travels suggest the Illinois senator at one point may have been a citizen of Indonesia. That would not necessarily disqualify Obama to run for president, but it could raise loyalty concerns.

Let's get an accurate picture of the newcomer to the national scene, and let Americans make their own decisions about what's important and what isn't.

A 2007 Associated Press photograph taken by Tatan Syuflana, an Indonesian AP reporter and photographer, surfaced last week on the Daylife.com photographic website showing an image of Obama's registration card at Indonesia's Fransiskus Assisi school, a Catholic institution.

In the picture, Obama is registered under the name Barry Soetoro by his step-father, Lolo Soetoro. The school card lists Barry Soetoro as a Indonesian citizen born on August 4, 1961 in Honolulu, Hawaii. His religion is listed as Muslim.

Obama zealots are obviously concerned about Barack's background being known, as they foam at the mouth over attempts to reveal it.

After attending the Assisi Primary School, Obama was later enrolled at SDN Menteng 1, an Indonesian public school.

Obama's campaign did not return repeated WND phone calls and e-mail queries the past week asking for a clarification regarding the school documentation listing the presidential candidate's citizenship as Indonesian.

As Hillary's chief strategist advised her in memos that became public last week, Barack's foreignness is not all good news for his campaign.

"It also exposes a very strong weakness for him -- his roots to basic American values and culture are at best limited. I cannot imagine America electing a president during a time of war who is not at his center fundamentally American in his thinking and in his values," Penn wrote.

The quicker all this stuff is on the table, which the Obama campaign could expedite, the sooner the conversation can move to issues, where Democrats claim to want it to be.

Obama spokesmen have in the past stated the candidate is a natural-born citizen amid rumors he may have been born in his father's home country of Kenya, but the campaign has not addressed whether Obama became a citizen of Indonesia at any point.