QUALIFIED!

For the last several Presidential Election cycles a familiar refrain of doubt has been heaped upon certain candidates. As a matter of fact some verbal fisticuffs directed at some Presidential aspirants claim that “so and so is not qualified to be president!” Given the fact that we are not England, which adheres to strict bloodline requirements for the throne, there are really very few qualifications to be President. Those that say otherwise are actually trying to read into the Constitution their notion that the document “lives breathes and grows.” Such nonsense gets us into trouble because reading and interpreting every word for its intent that is shaded by one’s own ideas often leads to the abandonment of what the founding fathers actually penned on the paper. That is the situation beleaguering the Supreme Court, for example. They are drowning in legal minutia.

Barack Obama is the latest Presidential contender to be smeared with the question of “is he qualified?" He is in good company. The same doubt was cast upon Ross Perot, George W. Bush, and John F. Kennedy among other less than experienced politicians in the national archive.

It is nice to have lofty goals and desire our leaders to be geniuses, captains of industry, from scientific or moral sectors of American life, but that is not what the founding fathers required. Being a politician or a lawyer can be an asset in the Oval Office and has been for some time. Judging from the mood of the country however, and the electorate’s low opinion of folks from some of these walks of life it begs for someone to run who is more of the people than of the corruption. As a matter of fact delegates considering Presidential requirements at the Constitutional Convention let their desire to create a leader from "among the people" be known. It was an overriding concern. They didn’t want the American President to be a King. They had seen enough of that in England and fought a war to create leadership that was responsible to the people, not elected tyrants to rule over them.

The bright minds of their time decided that there only would be only three qualifications to be President. First, the person must be a natural born citizen of the United States. That means a person from any national heritage, Mexican, Israeli, Italian, African American, Irish, or Muslim can be President if they are born in this country. The second qualifier is that the person must have resided within the U.S for fourteen years. Of course such a person running for the office can also be from a family with roots dating back to the country’s founding.

The final qualification is that the person be at least 35 years of age. Apparently this is where the Constitutional Convention addressed the “experience” issue. They deemed the age 35 as the point in time when life would have taught a person enough to be an effective leader with the necessary ability to make sound decisions. When individuals start casting doubt on a candidate’s qualification we should take out a rolled up version of the constitution (with Article II showing) and slap them on the nose with it.

The wording and the document itself leaves open the opportunity for the people to change these requirements. To do so would require a Constitutional amendment of which three- fourths of the existing states would have to agree upon. To date no such amendment has been ratified.
Therefore the next time you hear the grumblings about qualifications for Presidential leadership you may snicker to yourself.

The office of President does have a decent salary, and comes with a housing allowance not to mention all the China you can steal when your term is up. There are helicopter rides, a summer place in the mountains, and the title looks good on a resume.

Hello is anybody listening? Under the Constitutional requirements most Americans qualify for the job. The next time you catch yourself asking the question “is he/she qualified” consider running for the office yourself. The country could use a fresh perspective; one that will come from the people. You just might be the one.