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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.
©AAP 2003
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.
©AAP 2003
