Some excerpts of Article II of the United States Constitution follow:
Article. II.
Section. 1.
The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America. He shall hold his Office during the Term of four Years, and, together with the Vice President, chosen for the same Term, be elected, as follows.....
In Case of the Removal of the President from Office, or of his Death, Resignation, or Inability to discharge the Powers and Duties of the said Office, the Same shall devolve on the Vice President, and the Congress may by Law provide for the Case of Removal, Death, Resignation or Inability, both of the President and Vice President, declaring what Officer shall then act as President, and such Officer shall act accordingly, until the Disability be removed, or a President shall be elected.
The President shall, at stated Times, receive for his Services, a Compensation, which shall neither be increased nor diminished during the Period for which he shall have been elected, and he shall not receive within that Period any other Emolument from the United States, or any of them.
Before he enter on the Execution of his Office, he shall take the following Oath or Affirmation:--"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."
Section. 2.
The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States; he may require the Opinion, in writing, of the principal Officer in each of the executive Departments, upon any Subject relating to the Duties of their respective Offices, and he shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.
He shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur; and he shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States, whose Appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by Law: but the Congress may by Law vest the Appointment of such inferior Officers, as they think proper, in the President alone, in the Courts of Law, or in the Heads of Departments.
That's enough to illustrate my following point. Quite clearly, the Founders intended for the President of the United States to be male. No female pronoun is used in reference to the President of the United States.
Now wait a minute before you burn me in effigy. I am not finished. Of course, in today's world, we give a gender neutral meaning to the pronouns "he" and "his," and obviously the President can be male or female.
I am sure all of those strict constructionists agree, given the evidence of their past desire for Condi Rice to run for President.
Oh but wait a minute....how do strict constructionists reconcile that? Aren't they contradicting themselves, giving today's meanings to words used by the Founders?
Further, if Hillary Clinton is elected President, and if she were to partake in a Bush-Cheney-Rovian "the law does not apply to me" way of thinking, she could say that Constitution's provisions and restrictions relating to the Executive Power do not in fact apply to her, for according to a strict reading of the Constitution, they only apply to men who are President.
Such a scenario may scare Strict Constructionists straight, wouldn't it?
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