- WASHINGTON (New York Times,
AP) -- It was not so long ago that even the concept of Mr Arnold Schwarzenegger
as a governor seemed improbable.
-
- Now, the US Congress is examining in earnest how Mr Schwarzenegger,
the Republican governor of California who was born in Austria, or any other
naturalised American could rise to the highest office in the country.
-
- More than a year after Congress proposed a constitutional
amendment to allow citizens born elsewhere to be president, the Senate
Judiciary Committee gave the issue new momentum on Tuesday with a hearing
that let proponents argue why the constitutional restriction should be
eliminated.
-
- 'It is time for us, the elected representatives of this
nation of immigrants, to begin the process that can result in removing
this artificial, outdated, unnecessary and unfair barrier,' said committee
chairman Orrin Hatch.
-
- The Republican senator was referring to a section of
the US Constitution which sets forth the eligibility requirements for president.
-
- By design, constitutional amendments face enormous hurdles,
needing approval by votes of two-thirds in the House and Senate and three-quarters
of the states.
-
- Just 27 have passed since 1787, and 12 previous efforts
since 1868 to remove the restriction on foreign-born presidents have failed.
-
- Much of the discussion on Tuesday sought to figure out
the founding fathers' motives in limiting the presidency to people who
were citizens at the time of the adoption of the Constitution, and then
to native-born Americans.
-
- Mr Schwarzenegger had a backer in the audience, a woman
who gave out buttons, T-shirts and bumper stickers that said 'Amend for
Arnold'.
-
- Michigan's Democratic Governor Jennifer Granholm, whose
family moved to California from Canada in 1963 when she was four, had no
such material support at the hearing. But she and Mr Schwarzenegger, who
emigrated in 1968 as a 21-year-old bodybuilder, agree that people like
them should have the same constitutional rights as native Americans.
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- Some politicians have proposed amending the Constitution
to allow immigrants to run for president after being citizens for 20 years.
A measure sponsored by Democratic Representative Vic Snyder would require
35 years.
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- Mr Schwarzenegger became a citizen in 1983 and Ms Granholm
in 1980.
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- 'You can't choose where you are born, but you can choose
where you live and where you swear your allegiance,' Ms Granholm said through
a press aide.
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- 'If the concern is about loyalty to America, then a requirement
that a naturalised citizen has lived in this country for 25 or more years
should alleviate that concern.'
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reserved. http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/world/story/0,4386,276525,00.html
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