Indian for President of United States - is that possible?

As we approach Presidential elections in 2012, this is a obvious question , which I am sure many Indian Americans must have thought of and have been thinking for some time.

This is not possible today, because of the Constitution of United States. The US Constitution,  Article II, Section 1, Clause 5 states that : 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.

Living in Quincy MA, birth place of founding father and 2nd US President John Adams, I can very well understand the 'reasoning' behind why this clause was put in the constitution. And anyone who has read history can understand the fear of the founding father's of treason and sabotage by a person not born on this soil, given their deep anguish to separate from the mother land "England". But today , as we have seen, one does not have to be born in another country to have 'ill feelings' toward the US. One example is that of Timothy McVeigh and Oklahoma City bombing (1995) considered to be most destructive act of terrorism on American soil until the September 11, 2001 attacks. A strong case can be made for those becoming naturalized citizens, having a deep sense of 'loyalty' to this country because of the circumstances they have left behind to want to work hard and obtain citizenship of this great country.

Keeping this mind, I approached Senator John Cornyn's office , to explore the possibilities of filing a bill to allow naturalized citizens to run for the Office of the President, considered to be the highest honor in one's life. Senator Cornyn (Texas, R) is Co-Chair of the U.S. Senate India Caucus.  The Constitution cannot be changed, but a clause can be added to allow for a person, born outside the United States to make such an attempt.

Naturalized citizens consider this country as their home, just like those born here and  spend many years of their valuable lives, toiling hard to earn the privilage to be called "Americans". They pay taxes, buy homes, invest in the economy and their children attend schools here. They should therefore be offered the same opportunity to put their 'tears and sweat' to good use and the use of their experiences to  make this country a solid global leader.

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