According to the U.S. Constitution, Article II (Paragraph 5), to be president the following is required: Be a natural born citizen. Attained the age of 35-years. U.S. resident for 14 years. That means any inmate can run the asylum.

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On C-SPAN's Washington Journal this morning, the first question on open phones was "what do you think makes a person qualified to be president?"

Technically there are only three things.

According to the U.S. Constitution, Article II (Paragraph 5), to be  president the following is required:

*Be a natural born citizen
*Attained the age of 35-years
*Been a U.S. resident for 14 years

Not to hard to do.  Either you have them or you don't.

Of those three, there's only one I wonder about: 35-years-old.

Does that really apply today?  Is 35 years on this planet enough to give someone enough experience to be president?  Maybe it did when the Constitution was drafted, and you were lucky if you celebrated you first birthday let alone any birthdays beyond 50.

If I had my druthers, I'd rather take my chances with the 35- to 45-year-old who may still be pliable enough and open-minded enough to listen to and be open to suggestions, than the 65- to 75-year-old who may be so set in his ways that he's immovable.

Someone who's older, a lot older, may have the wisdom and experience, but he may also die in office, so the veep better be more than a figurehead who can garner votes, because he's from a certain part of the country.

Either way, it's a crap shoot.

Taking the Constitutional qualifiers to the outer limits of the extremely ridiculous, any inmate in any asylum qualifies (draw you own conclusions).  It also means that any one of us who meet the three Constitutional stipulations can be the prez, regardless of anything else.

Of course, those weren't the answers C-Span was looking for.

They got the usual responses and one from left field:
 
*Wisdom
*Foreign policy experience
*Experience period, no qualifiers
*Must have been a governor
*Intelligent, well-education, know American history
*Play well with others
*Ability to turn the country around and reverse Bush policies
*Sincere
*The ability to choose wise advisors
*Blah, blah, blah.

All of the above are qualifications to be considered, but in the final analysis no one is qualified to be the President of the United States, a one-of-a-kind job.

It's not like any other job in the country where you can work your way up through the ranks to be completely qualified.  Not even having been a representative, senator or governor are qualifiers.

There aren't any President-101 college courses, although a few courses in Constitutional law couldn't hurt.

The challenges of holding the number one office in the land are as mysterious and varied as whatever is hidden in Area 51.  It's alien territory for any man or woman who takes the oath of office for the first time...even the second time around.

Whoever is president will constantly face new challenges and dilemmas every single minute he's in office.

He can take the oath and everything in the country is going just swimmingly, and in one second it can all go south on him.

No matter what each candidate says while campaigning -- most of which is unbelievable pandering of the moment, flowery words and no answers -- all we can hope for is that whatever experience he or she brings with him works FOR us and not AGAINST us.

Authors Bio:
Sandy Sand began her writing career while raising three children and doing public relations work for Women's American ORT (Organization for Rehabilitation through Training). That led to a job as a reporter for the San Fernando Valley Chronicle, a weekly publication in Canoga Park, California. In conjunction with the Chronicle, she broadcast a tri-weekly, 10-minute newscast for KGOE AM. Following the closure of the Chronicle, Sand became the editor of the Tolucan Times and Canyon Crier newspapers in Burbank. She is currently a guest columnist for the Los Angeles Daily News and contributor to ronkayela.com