14 Jan Schwarzenegger in ’08
There is little doubt that but for a constitutional impediment one of the top Republican contenders for President in 2008 would be Arnold Schwarzenegger. In a country that embraces immigrants like no other, it is anachronistic and even anti-American that our Constitution does not allow naturalized citizens to become President.
That was the message of a great LA Times editorial today. Here is a taste:
[N]ow that we can all rest assured that no foreign monarch is going to move into the White House, it’s long past due for this nation of immigrants to amend the Constitution to allow naturalized Americans to aspire to the presidency. This is precisely the type of defining issue — what it means to be American — that the amendment process was designed to address….
Yes, the nation will manage without Schwarzenegger at the helm. But his situation is a reminder of this constitutional flaw. The issue is also important at a symbolic level. It isn’t that there aren’t enough qualified “natural-born” Americans to run for the highest office in the land, it’s that there is an asterisk attached to the citizenship of many great Americans.
Think about it. Someone could come to the U.S. at the age of 2 from Britain or China or Peru, become a citizen, join the military, win a Medal of Honor, cure cancer — but that person would still not be “good enough” for the White House.
One of the exceptional qualities of this meritocratic nation of immigrants is its sense of possibility. Americans like to tell their kids that they can be anything they want to be when they grow up — including president. But for millions of patriotic Americans, the Constitution says otherwise. The idea of citizenship only as a birthright is a decidedly foreign notion. And the idea that voters cannot elect as their leader a naturalized citizen is decidedly undemocratic.
The LA Times adds a useful poll of the California congressional delegation that showed 15 of 24 respondents (62 percent) support a constitutional amendment that would allow naturalized citizens to become President.
Conventional wisdom is that a constitutional amendment could not get any traction because it would only help Republicans with their star Republican governor. But given the arduous process of amendment, I seriously doubt that any amendment could take effect soon enough to aid Schwarzenegger.
Schwarzenegger has said, “I believe with all my heart that America remains ‘the great idea’ that inspires the world. It is a privilege to be born here. It is an honor to become a citizen here. It is a gift to raise your family here, to vote here, and to live here.” But the honor of becoming an American citizen should include the privilege of aspiring to be President.
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