Reply #21: CounterPunch: President Schwarzenegger? [View All]

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Movement Afoot to Amend Constitution for Arnold

Based on his win in Tuesday's California governor recall election, Arnold Schwarzenegger must now be considered the frontrunner to win the presidency in 2008. When his tenure in the White House ends in January 2009 after a second term in office, George W. Bush will be barred by the Constitution from running for a third term. That unfortunate predicament for George W., who's never been successful in any other job, will open the door to Schwarzenegger, who by then will be the standard-bearer of the national Republican Party, to assume the presidency.

There's just one little hitch in this plan. And it involves another section of the Constitution, the part that prohibits anyone who is not a "native-born citizen" from holding the position of president.

But why, you ask, wouldn't the Republicans just try to push through the Republican-controlled U.S. Congress and the Republican-controlled state houses a plan to get rid of the 22nd Amendment from the Constitution? That strategy would allow George W. to remain in office for as long as the American people would have him.

The answer is that it makes more political sense for the Republicans to promote an immigrant-friendly movement for giving naturalized Americans the right to realize the American dream of becoming president than to promote the heavy-handed and authoritarian concept of a career president.

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