Via the LAT: Maybe Anyone Can Be President

In 1772, Austria joined Prussia and Russia in dividing up Poland, which had been weakened by the election of a foreign-born head of state.

Fifteen years later, America’s Founding Fathers, leery of repeating Poland’s experience, added the following to their new Constitution: “No person except a natural born citizen … shall be eligible to the Office of President.”

Today, a national — if fledgling — campaign is underway to allow foreign-born citizens to hold the nation’s highest office. Supporters expect congressional hearings on the proposal this year.

If the constitution is to amended anytime soon, this amendment probably has the best chance of any serious proposal of which I am aware. Mostly because if it is written in a way that precludes Schwarzenegger from running it won’t be radically controversial, but will have seem reasonable. Plus, it isn’t like it would cause a firestorm of change to much of anything given that the number of actual foreign-born candidates is likely to always be quite low.

Still, politicians like Schwarzenegger and Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm have demonstrated to both parties (and voters) that there may in fact be foreign-born candidates worthy of the position in the future.

Still, I won’t lay any bets as yet:

Polls show that most Americans oppose amending the “natural born clause,” though a Gallup Poll released recently showed that opposition fell — from 67% to 58% — when Schwarzenegger’s name was mentioned to those surveyed. A Field Poll last fall found that even in California, where Schwarzenegger’s approval ratings then approached 70%, nearly 60% of registered voters surveyed opposed a constitutional amendment.

Regardless, this amendment would have a far higher probability of passage than, say, the Federal Marriage Amendment.