That is linguistically correct.
We've avoided using that term and reject labeling children as "legitimate" or "illegitimate" but these people (largely on the left) who don't understand anyone asking questions about the birth of Barack (or more likely pretending not to understand) require that we call it the way it is: He's a bastard.
As he himself has admitted (before campaigning for president), he doesn't even know if his parents were married. It wouldn't matter, his parents weren't legally married because his father arrived in the United States already married to one woman, long before he met Stanley "Ann" Dunham.
Did they really get married?
There was no wedding photo, there was no known ceremony and the general consensus of friends of Stanley and Barack Sr.'s that we spoke with beginning in 2007 is that there was never any wedding ceremony.
That's why no one has ever been able to unearth either a wedding certificate or a divorce certificate.
Barack Obama's a bastard.
That's what children born out of wedlock were called back then.
The fairy tale of Barack Obama never allowed for much reality. But not everyone rushed to snort the Kool-Aid and among the reasons to distrust him for some people was his murky beginnings. (That's not "racism," though it may be "classicism" or just suspicion as a result of an attempt to trick the public.)
Barack was adopted by his mother's only husband. (Lolo Soetoro).
Barry Soetoro was Barack's name in Indonesia.
Some dispute the adoption. They try to insist that Barack just had "Soerto" attached by his mother and his step-father and he really wasn't adopted.
Barack's very lucky that times have changed as much as they have. Were it not for that fact, his peculiar (and it a peculiar one) life would have led to many more questions than it already has. In a touchier-feelier world, Americans are hopeful that, to help a blended family, a school would allow a child to use a last name that was not his or her last name. It's debatable whether most schools would or would not allow that to happen but when Barack was born, that just wasn't done. You were your legal name.
Barack was born in 1961. As late as 1968, films could show children of blended families being called by the surnames they were given at birth with no peep of protest or disbelief from the audience. (See, for example, Yours, Mine and Ours where Lucille Ball begs the school to just call her son Philip North "Philip Beardsley" to no luck.)
Or do we just assume in our xenophobia that Indonesia was 'backwater' and anything went?
We have never claimed Barack was born outside of the United States. From everything that was shared with us by people who know either (or both) Ann and Barack Sr., Barack (Jr.) was born in the US. We've never made fun of those who believe that he was born outside the US and have never stated, "We're right! You're wrong!" We believe what we believe based upon what we've heard from people we either trusted or didn't. We could very well be wrong.
Anyone could be.
And that's because what is a very complex childhood has been simplified for public consumption. But that's always been the way when it came to the selling of Barack, hence the need for a fairy tale.
The realities of Barack Obama's life are so much more interesting than the Little Golden Book currently on display. And until the realities are told, no one should be surprised that people sense something isn't quite correct about the popular narrative.
Barack Obama could be (even now) a transformative figure. He could return to using bi-racial, as he has for most of his adult life, and be a beacon for the country's future. He could get honest about the realities of his own life and allow children growing up in similar circumstances something to relate to.
We doubt he'll do the latter because, long before 2007, Barack rejected reality. He did that when he decided to write the fairy tale Dreams of My Father.
