The T-1000 Who Would Be President
There’s a lot of buzz around the California recall election (“No, really?” choruses the crowd), and in particular around the candidacy of one Mr. Arnold Schwarzenegger. And at least some of the buzz has been around foreign-born American citizens eventually being allowed to run for President. And, oddly enough, it’s the Republicans doing the buzzing.
For those of us on the left, we face a major dilemma. After all, it makes sense that foreign-born citizens should be able to hold office. There are too many dedicated foreign-borns living in the United States who have sweated and bled for this country for them not to have the right.
The questions we on the left face, however, are why now and why him? Any Republican proposal on the issue will push Arnold to the forefront and will carry with it the notion that it was passed solely for his benefit. But we can’t make that argument logically and reasonably. There’s only one solution. Be pro-active.
We’ve got to propose it first.
This is a Democratic issue, and we’ve got to hit it before the Republicans use it as part of their “Party of Inclusion” illusion. It’s the Democrats who should be pushing, now. We should be pushing for the Cuban immigrants who fought their way across dangerous seas to get here. We should be pushing for the children of migrant workers whose parents worked under horrible conditions and who now fight to make this country better. We should be pushing for all of the foreign-born people who love this country and who deserve the right to rise to its highest office.
It’s a battle that the Republicans will have lost the moment they begin to fight it. Too many people support the idea, and to oppose it will put them squarely against their gubernatorial candidate in California. Opposing it will put them on the opposite side of the Cuban population that helped to put Bush in office. They can’t afford to fight a Democrat-backed push on this issue. This is something that we can win, and we can win it the right way without favoritism or pesonal gain.
We can only lose by hesitating.