Eligibility Requirements

An article in the New York Times addresses the issue that's been raised about birthplaces and eligibility for the presidency.

The matter has come up lately because John McCain was born in the Panama Canal Zone, where his father, who was in the service, was stationed.

The law says a president must be a "natural-born citizen." It does not say a president must be born on American soil.

The Times correctly points out that Lowell Weicker and Mitt Romney's father were born in foreign countries. Both men sought the Republican nomination. Barry Goldwater was born in Arizona while it was still a territory. He was the Republican nominee in 1964.

And one of our presidents, although officially listed as being born on American soil, reportedly was born in Canada.

I believe that some people confuse the terms "natural born" and "naturalized."

If someone's parents are Americans, it doesn't matter where that person is born. He/she is an American.

It certainly shouldn't matter if someone was born in a foreign land because that person's father was enlisted in the service and was serving where he had been sent.

In my own case, both my parents were Americans. They spent five years abroad as Methodist missionaries in Africa. I was born while they were doing their missionary work.

I was born in Africa, but that doesn't make me an African. If you follow the logic that it would make me an African, how would you classify someone who is born on board an airplane or a ship?

A cat may have kittens in the oven, but that doesn't make them biscuits.

I'm an American because my parents were both Americans. I'm a "natural-born American." It doesn't matter where I was born.

And that means I can run for president. If I want to.

In the case of Arnold Schwarzenegger, he's clearly a "naturalized" American. He's lived in this country a long time, he's the governor of the largest state in the country, and his wife belongs to a prominent political family. He also has been through the process of changing his citizenship, so he is legally an American, but he was born in Austria to Austrian parents.

Schwarzenegger is not a "natural-born citizen." And that has nothing to do with the Austrian village where he was born. It has everything to do with the fact that his parents were not American citizens.

Schwarzenegger is not eligible to run for president. Clearly, he is eligible to be governor of California. But the law prevents him from being president.

I don't mean to suggest that Schwarzenegger is less of an American than I am. It's just that there are a few differences between us.

And one of those differences is that I, legally (and theoretically), could become president. He cannot.