It occurs to me that many Americans (presumably of the Republican-leaning persuasaion) have misgivings about the possibility of Teresa Heinz Kerry becoming First Lady because, basically, that she’s not American enough. Yet at the same time, there is a movement (again presumably from Republican-leaning people) who want to change the constitution to allow foreign-born citizens (e.g., Arnold Schwarzenegger) to become President of the U.S.
Am I correct in assuming that both sentiments are shared by the same group of people? If so, how does that make any sense?
It’s not the same people. There are some people who will take any “Republican,” even if he’s from, say, Mars, & reject any “Democrat” for quasi-religious reasons–the religion being GOPism, but what they may think is “real American values”–regardless of where he’s from.
I was unclear. The “any GOP, no Demo” camp will go along with the nativists against Teresa H. K., & along with the pro-Arnie guys, too, but they’re not the big impetus to either.
I would guess it a lot of it has to do with how they’re percieved. Arnold seems American to many of us. He adopted this country, worked his ass off, acheived many difficult goals, and is working his ass off in the trenches to try to make California’s government more responsive to its people. Teresa Heinz-Kerry just seems to go through life with a superior smirk on her face and firing off wisecracks.
Based on the above posts, I have a couple of loosely related questions:[ol]
[li]So if you’re a big Hollywood star, that makes it easier for Americans to accept you as one of their own, and accents don’t matter? What if, say, Lucy Liu – American-born but not “American looking”* – were running for President? Would it matter what her party affiliation is?[/li][li]So the people who worship GOPism don’t really care about birthplace? Are they just aligning themselves with the nativists against Mrs. Kerry purely for convenience? So if Sen. Heinz were still alive and running for President, they wouldn’t have any problems with his foreign-born wife? [/li][li]Do nativists have, as a whole, a general leaning towards Republicans or Democrats?[/li][li]So what does it take (other than Hollywood stardom) to be accepted as a “real” American?[/li][li]Corollary to the above: what is so unlikeable about Teresa (vis-a-vis the Republican ticket)? As pointed out above, wealth and privilege can’t be legitimate reasons, since these are conditions shared by the Bush family. Also as pointed out above, there’s a perception that Governor Arnold is a hard worker (and implying that Mrs. Kerry is just the opposite) – but isn’t that just because Arnold’s work is so much more visible? What do we know about Mrs. Kerry’s work habits (I think it’s false to assume that those who can afford not to work automatically don’t).[/li][/ol]
That is, white, or maybe black. I suspect that in regions of the country without large Asian populations, many there would probably still view Asians as being fundamentally foreign, no matter where they were born.
He was a military office, an attorney, and a diplomat. In those days, those things meant something more than middle-class status. And he married a Forbes, no less. (He also might have been descended from what passed for aristocracy among European Jews, if that counts for anything.)
I’m still waiting to hear what Abbie dislikes so much about Terezzzzza (that has nothing to do with her foreign birth).
Heh, Momma-T makes Hilary look positively genteel and lady-like in comparison. From her damned goofy ‘Momma T’ speech, to her damned funny yelling at reporters to shutup right after telling everyone we need to get along, she provides all sorts of reasons to dislike her. Of course, few if any people will actually change their votes because ‘Just call me Momma-T’ is so nutty, but she isn’t exactly helping ol’ John much. (Maybe she is a deep-cover Republican operative? :eek:)
At least nobody seems to be objecting to Kerry as a presidential candidate because of his Jewish blood. Not out loud, anyway. 50 or even 40 years ago it might actually have been a problem.
Actually, I think Theresa’s problem isn’ t that she’s perceived as a foreigner. Her problem is that she is perceived as being a bitch. From her ‘shove it’ comment to her later comment that people who didn’t like her husband’s health care plan were ‘idiots’, to her self-serving speech at the convention where she barely mentioned her husband, I think she is perceived as a fairly nasty, self-absorbed, out of touch rich person. At least, that’s the way she comes across to me.
