The American President: What's in the job?

[Kouak]

So the president needs to be all knowing, and be able to do everything, and know the mind of all the people? Are you suggesting that all U.S. Presidents should be the Christian version of god?

Did not all the presidents have advisors? What other reason is there for all the governmental departments except to take the burden off one person? What about representives, are they not there to help the president? Should the president be capable and have some knowledge of the world? Of course, but they are just one person and I for one do not expect perfection from anyone, not even the president.

Personally I do not know if I could vote for someone so arrogant that they think they have all the answers and unwilling to take some outside advise.

First, the Representives are not there to help the President. They are there for their constituents.

You mis-interpreted my comments. What I was meaning to convey was someone running for President should not feel like they feel incompetent to be President. If they feel like they will be just a figurehead to others making the decisions, they should not run. They would be stupid if they did not accept help or advice. But they should have some idea how the country is run and how the world works. If they have no clue before the job starts, they will be totally lost after being sworn-in.

[Kouak]

As of March, Obama has held 104 fundraisers. Compare that to 94 held by Presidents Carter, Ronald Reagan, George Bush Sr., Bill Clinton and George W. Bush combined.

OK, from March until now--104.

But since then, Obama has held another 20 fundraisers, bringing his total to 124.

"But since" when? Since NOW? Confused.

[nimrod]

First, the Representives are not there to help the President. They are there for their constituents.

So they offer no help to the president in what the people want?

You mis-interpreted my comments. What I was meaning to convey was someone running for President should not feel like they feel incompetent to be President. If they feel like they will be just a figurehead to others making the decisions, they should not run. They would be stupid if they did not accept help or advice. But they should have some idea how the country is run and how the world works. If they have no clue before the job starts, they will be totally lost after being sworn-in.

Thanks for the clarification. Ever see the movie The Candidate?

[BinCo]

First, the Representives are not there to help the President. They are there for their constituents.

You mis-interpreted my comments. What I was meaning to convey was someone running for President should not feel like they feel incompetent to be President. If they feel like they will be just a figurehead to others making the decisions, they should not run. They would be stupid if they did not accept help or advice. But they should have some idea how the country is run and how the world works. If they have no clue before the job starts, they will be totally lost after being sworn-in.

Anyone arrogant enough to think they can run the United States without a team of advisors should not run for President. How about people who think the US is the only important place in the world? How about arrogant Texans who make such bold statements as "with us or against us"? When have you heard Obama claim that nothing and no one else in the world matters? Why would anyone elect a man like Romney who seems as proud to be ignorant of world events as Bush was? Why was a man elected who openly was proud to never read the paper or watch the news? Yeah, I want an uninformed guy in the oval office who think's he knows it all and after eight years believes he did nothing wrong. Now people want to elect Romney. A man who is proud to fire people, who sees nothing wrong with eliminating hundreds of American jobs in favor of a foreign workers in order to make a few "investors" lots of money.

[Gloria]

Age and Citizenship requirements - US Constitution, Article II, Section 1

No person except a natural born citizen, or a citizen of the United States, at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the office of President; neither shall any person be eligible to that office who shall not have attained to the age of thirty-five years, and been fourteen years a resident within the United States.

Term limit amendment - US Constitution, Amendment XXII, Section 1 – ratified February 27, 1951

No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of the President more than once.

Forget the nerves of steel, the charisma, the skeleton-free closet, the fund-raising network, the thick skin and the legions of loyal folks who agree with your stance on all the issues. All you have to ask is: How old are you and where were you born?

Only native-born U.S. citizens (or those born abroad, but only to parents who were both citizens of the U.S.) may be president of the United States, though from time to time that requirement is called into question. The Constitution originally provided a small loophole to this provision: One needn't have been born in the United States but had to be a citizen at the time the Constitution was adopted. But, since that occurred in 1789, that ship has sailed.

One must also be at least 35 years of age to be president. John F. Kennedy was the youngest person to be elected president; he was 43 years old when he was inaugurated in 1961. There is no maximum age limit set forth in the Constitution. Ronald Reagan was the oldest president; at the end of his term in 1988, he was nearly 77.

Finally, one must live in the United States for at least 14 years to be president, in addition to being a natural-born citizen. The Constitution is vague on this point. For example, it does not make clear whether those 14 years need to be consecutive or what the precise definition of residency is. So far, however, this requirement has not been challenged.

[Kouak]

Anyone arrogant enough to think they can run the United States without a team of advisors should not run for President. How about people who think the US is the only important place in the world? How about arrogant Texans who make such bold statements as "with us or against us"? When have you heard Obama claim that nothing and no one else in the world matters? Why would anyone elect a man like Romney who seems as proud to be ignorant of world events as Bush was? Why was a man elected who openly was proud to never read the paper or watch the news? Yeah, I want an uninformed guy in the oval office who think's he knows it all and after eight years believes he did nothing wrong. Now people want to elect Romney. A man who is proud to fire people, who sees nothing wrong with eliminating hundreds of American jobs in favor of a foreign workers in order to make a few "investors" lots of money.

You seem to just be bent on dissing the Republicans.

[BinCo]

citizens (or those born abroad, but only to parents who were both citizens of the U.S.) may be

Where is the "born abroad,...both citizens" comments in the copy of Article II, Section 1 you posted? Is this just not written, but known law from the past? If it's not in the Constitution why did you post it?

[BinCo]

You seem to just be bent on dissing the Republicans.

Nope, just such easy targets. We are only 1 in 20 humans on this big blue marble flying thru open space and yet too many Americans believe that only WE matter, the world is for us to Consume, if someone does not serve our needs than they have no purpose, and that we can not only profit off of the misery of others but have a divine right to do it.

Those. are the morons I hate. It's just coincidence that so many happen to currently be Republicans.

[Yogi Bare]

Where is the "born abroad,...both citizens" comments..

I've never heard that BOTH parents have to be US citizens in order for their child to be considered one, and, therefore, eligible to become president. Isn't one parent being a US citizen enough?

[usuallylurk]

The stipulation that one is a US citizen if born abroad to one or two US-Citizen parents is not in the Constitution. It's statutory.

What **IS** in the Constitution is that any person born on US soil "subject to its jurisdiction" is a citizen at birth.

This is the part of the 14th Amendment known as the "citizenship clause". It was written by a guy named John Bingham. Its language was specifically worded so as to

- include people who had been born into slavery in the United States
- include the children of immigrants, particularly those who came from Ireland, Italy, and Germany since 1840 -- this was designed to ensure that the "nativist Know-Nothing" movement wouldn't come back to life.
- EXclude people on Indian reservations, many of which had some degree of soverignty through treaties
- EXclude children born to foreign diplomats.

The "both parents must be citizens" has been raised, repeatedly, and unsuccessfully by radical elements in the now discredited "birther movement". They found an obscure statement acknowledging the standing of a woman in a case before the Supreme Court in the 1870s where she submitted evidence of her own citizenship by submitting her birth certificates and those of her parents.

A very poor twisting , and a lousy stretch of that acknowlegement (it was not a "Supreme Court ruling" but an acknowledgement of the evidence presented in the 1800s case) has been attempted to make a specious argument that Barack Obama is not a citizen. A lawyer has presented failed, and even laughable arguments that because Barack Obama's father was not a citizen when the President was born in Hawaii, he's not a citizen either. In reality, the fact that Obama WAS born in the United States is sufficient.

There are also crackpots out there who allege that income tax is unconstitutional because the 16th Amendment was never officially ratified and try to argue that Ohio is not a state, and they ratified it. But many can argue that "ok, assuming Ohio is not a state" it was ratified by 41 other states ....