Kingston Girl Wants To Change Constitution So She Can Run For President
BOSTON (CBS) - President Alena Mulhern has a nice ring to it. But the little girl from Kingston can't actually be elected to our nation's highest office. Alena was adopted from China. So since she wasn't a US citizen from birth, the Constitution forbids her from becoming President. She doesn't accept that and Wednesday she took her campaign for change to the State House.
"We should all have the opportunity to run for president," 10 year old Alena Mulhern says as she testifies before a State House committee.
She's not going to let anyone tell her the top job is beyond her reach just because she was born in China.
"I am an American as much as you are and everyone else. And I don't really remember China that much. All I know is America," she told us.
That's because she's been her almost her entire life. Alena was just 10 months old when she was adopted. Barbara Mulhern Caparell, Alena's mother, recalls the moment her daughter told her she wanted to grow up to be president.
"I said to her honey, unfortunately that's the only thing you can't be," she says.
The US Constitution says "No person except a natural born citizen....shall be eligible to the office of President." Which means you have to be a citizen at birth to hold the job and that of vice president.
"She said, well that's not fair. And I said what are you going to do about it, and she said I'm going to change the law," says Mulhern Caparell.
So Wednesday, Alena is trying to convince state lawmakers to pass a resolution asking the US Congress to change the law or even the Constitution.
WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Lana Jones reports
"I know that I am an American first and foremost," she told them. "Just think of all the great candidates that would not be able to serve our country because of a law that came into existence more than 200 years ago," she adds.
And Alena knows why she wants to run. "I would be a great leader and bring people together. I would guide our country so it would be an even greater place to live, work and raise a family. And most of all, I love my country. I want to serve my country, and this is my country," she says.
Of course changing the Constitution is a very tall order. But Alena says she's committed to her cause.