Arnie Might Be Able To Seek Presidency

[Sean]

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/World/story_52246.asp

AFP - Today the State House, tomorrow the White House?

The California governorship which catapulted former actor Ronald Reagan to the White House could one day do the same thing for Governor-elect Arnold Schwarzenegger - if Congress agrees to amend a constitutional native-born requisite for presidents.


The US Constitution says the president and vice-president must be US-born and have resided on US territory for at least 14 years prior to taking office.
That law would bar Schwarzenegger, born in Graz, Austria, from the presidency.
But legislation before both houses of Congress will allow a naturalised American to assume the highest US office.

The US Senate bill will allow the foreign-born American who has been a citizen for at least 20 years to be president. The House of Representatives bill sets the threshold at 35 years.


However, the procedure for amending the constitution is long and complex.
Two-thirds of both houses of Congress must approve an amendment, which then must get the support of at least 38 of the 50 state legislatures before taking effect.
"Our citizens should have every opportunity to choose their leaders free of unreasonable limitations," said Senator Orrin Hatch, who proposed the Senate bill last July, in remarks made on the chamber floor.


Hatch, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, pointed out that no similar birth-place restriction applies to other government offices, including the Senate, the House of Representatives, the Supreme Court, or the president's own cabinet.
"Ours is a nation of immigrants. The history of the United States is replete with scores of great and patriotic Americans whose dedication to this country is beyond reproach, but who happen to have been born outside of her borders," he said.
Moves to allow naturalised Americans to vie for the White House have been in the works for years, but will likely receive a new push with the election of Schwarzenegger, said University of Virginia political analyst Larry Sabato.
"It's been percolating for years as (Henry) Kissinger, then (Madeleine) Albright, came through," he said referring to two former secretaries of state, born respectively in Germany and (the then) Czechoslovakia.


"There is no doubt that some Republicans will begin to push again for that Constitutional Amendment," Sabato said, noting that one current rising Democratic star, Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm - whose name is often mentioned as a future presidential candidate - was born in Canada, and therefore could also stand to benefit from a change in the law.


Two Republican members of Bush's cabinet - Labour Secretary Elaine Chao and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Mel Martinez - are also foreign-born.
The legislation in the House was co-sponsored in March by a half-dozen lawmakers including California representative Darrell Issa, the Republican who spent $US1.7 million ($A2.47 million) to bankroll the recall petition drive and briefly considered running for governor himself.


Hatch noted at the time the Constitution was written, the US founding fathers were worried that a foreign power, such as Great Britain, could seize the government through the US electoral system, but argued the constitutional clause had long since outlived its usefulness.

"This restriction has become an anachronism that is decidedly un-American," the Utah Republican said.


Schwarzenegger arrived in the United States as a 21-year-old in 1968 to pursue his vocation as a competitive bodybuilder, then launch a blazing acting career.
He became a permanent resident in 1974 and was naturalised a US citizen in 1983.
Representative Vic Snyder, one of the authors of the House legislation, said he was thinking of his niece - a teenager who was adopted from South Korea - when he proposed law change.


"She's very much aware that she's not eligible to run for president," the Arkansas Democrat said, saying she was unable to share in an essential part of the American mythos: that anyone can grow up to become president.
"I think all kids ought to have that dream," Snyder said

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/World/story_52246.asp

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I don't really know where I stand on this issue. I don't think anyone (besides Arnold) could really get the votes needed to become President, but who knows.

[RebelWithanAK]

It needs more than a bill; it needs an amendment. And it'll never get passed - no matter what Orrin Hatch thinks.

[Section 8]

I guess we're just way to xenophobic. I thought that I lived in a representative republic where I supposedly got to choose who was elected.

I doubt Arnold would want the reduction of pay and all that responsibility.

I see him only doing the three years.

[Fallen Angel]

President Schwartzenegger, it has a nice ring to it, 'I'm going to kick your ass Saddam into one towsand pieces!''I'm tired of your crap! I'm going to push this button now and send you a present you will never forget!' 'Hasta la Vista towelhead! Your terminated!'Haha if only.
But seriously why not?
Lets see your last twenty years of Presidents controlling the largest and most destructive force ever known to mankind have included a former actor who had most of his speeches written by his wife, a perverted womaniser, a guy who threw up all over the President of Japan, haha good one and the ad libber you have now.
I mean he could be the best one yet, at least hes interesting.

[Section 8]

yep, all out presidents suck ass. Arnold is also a wonanizer, but I really don't care about his personal life.

[fmadcows]

i think its very possible that schwartzenegger could be elected, if the bill passes. a dicussion at my work about this same subjest came up, our conclusion that schwartzenegger would win by another landslide against his supposed competition hilary clinton.

[rlwinton]

i'm looking for a presidential candidate who would be in favor [and obviously in favor] of gay marriages like howard dean was. arnold doesn't cut it for me...but maybe i'm being too harsh on him, he could be the best yet. in the latest campaigns its like we're voting for the lesser of two evils, so he could be something...but idk, i don't like a guy who's up for refusing someone's Constitutional rights...

:rolleyes:

[gr8fuldaniel]

I live in California. One of the first things Arnie did was to let Ken Lay off the hook for pennies on the dollar. Ken Lay owed California Consumers (Including me)$12 Billion. As far as I am concerned this makes Arnold an accomplice to Kenny Boys (as Dubya affectionately calls him) Crime. Arnold met up with Ken (Who has yet to sell any of his mansions)Lay while on the campaign trail. Seems pretty slimey to me. Arnie is a great pick for the 14 year old vote (which is actually being considered). Pretty shallow material as far as I am concerned. What do you expect from a society totally submerged in fantasy (Hollywood, Video Games, Alcohol and Drug plagued existenses, everyones looking for an alternate reality). :rolleyes:
Look at where GW Bush's loyalties to Saudi Arabia have gotten us. There is a VERRRRY Important reason why our founding fathers wrote the articles as they are. And if they had known that the Supreme Court would Appoint a criminal like Bush to the highest office in the land, they would have drawn up an ammendment stopping that too.

[gr8fuldaniel]

Oh yeah after splitting the loot with Kenny boy, Arnold takes out a loan for 15 billion,to bail Calif. out. Grey Davis could have done that just fine.

[gr8fuldaniel]

Is Schwarzenegger Outsourcing California?
By Anthony YorkPolitical Pulse. Posted July 5, 2004.

Governor Schwarzenegger is looking at the bottom line. And if the bottom line means outsourcing, he's all for it. http://www.alternet.org/story/19145/