Don’t write off a President Schwarzenegger

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arnold.jpgEven before his great performance at the RNC convention last week, many were putting forth Arnold Schwarzenegger as a possible presidential candidate … if the Constitution could be amended. That’s a big if, but not an insurmountable one.

Orrin Hatch has already introduced an amendment in the Senate that would allow foreign-born American citizens to be president. While I don’t think such an amendment would be too unpopular, even despite the recent resurgence of nativist attitudes, I also don’t think it’s the kind of thing that would be atop of Congress’s or the States’ agendas and would therefore not pass anytime soon.

But here’s a thought: it would be no big surprise if George Bush won the presidency again without winning the popular vote. The most populous states, including New York and California, are likely to vote overwhelmingly for Kerry. A clear Electoral College victory for Bush and a similarly clear popular victory for Kerry would no doubt make everyone rethink the constitutional system for electing presidents.

An amendment to reform the Electoral College might well be one that gets fast-tracked. It is also related enough to Hatch’s foreign-born president amendment that he could combine the two as a general presidential election reform. Then it wouldn’t seem so blatantly as an ‘elect Arnold’ amendment (not that Democrats could vote against it for that reason with a straight face since they claim immigrants and minorities in their coalition).

Sep 6, 2004 | Comments

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