Text 9625, 73 rader
Skriven 2013-08-10 12:28:00 av Gary Perkins (11686.fidonews)
   Kommentar till text 9610 av Lee Lofaso (2:203/2)
Ärende: Re: How to raise a panic
================================
-=> Lee Lofaso wrote to Gary Perkins <=-

 LL> Hello Gary,

 LL>> Doubtful.  Remember, The One is term-limited and thus will not be
 LL>> seeking a consecutive third term ...

 GP>Or any third term, thank Goodness.  The 22nd Amendment is clear on
 GP>that.

 LL> Clear as mud, to be sure.

 LL> After serving two consecutive terms, a president must leave office.
 LL> After somebody else has had his/her turn, the former president would
 LL> then be free to serve a new first term (and be re-elected to a second
 LL> consecutive term).

While people often talk about consecutive terms, they did not include
that wording when passing the 22nd.  The relevant text is: "No person
shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice".
That's the beauty of constitutional law -- they keep it simple and to
the point, so that there is as little ambiguity as possible.
Otherwise it would have read something like "No person shall be
elected to the office of the President more than two consecutive terms".

The other parts furthur explain that should someone fall into the
Presidency without election (VP taking over for instance), then they
can only be elected once.  The last part is no longer relevent, having
to do with the presidency while the law was being written and ratified
(a grandfather clause).

 LL> Former President Bill Clinton noted the 22nd Amendment is poorly
 LL> worded and should be changed so that everybody could understand it
 LL> properly.  He also mentioned that he was a young man when first
 LL> elected, and that people are living longer today.  In fact, I do
 LL> believe President Bill Clinton would still be President today,
 LL> serving his sixth consecutive term.

He was being a typical politician trying to get a feel for the
political climate, thinking that if the timing was right he may get
support to either amend the text or get the Judicial to favorably rule
on it.  

 LL> But hey.  We're not talking about Mr. Bill.  This is about The One.

 LL> Another option for The One is to be Hillary Clinton's running mate.
 LL> Wouldn't that be a stunner?  The Dream Ticket - Clinton/Obama in 2016.

Not going to happen.  Eligibility for VP is tied to the Presidency.
If he's ineligible for President, he's inelgibile for the VP.  Of
course, this *particular* scenario of losing eligibility via the 22nd
hasn't been tested in the Supreme Court, so he's welcome to try if his
party is gutsy enough to nominate him.

 LL> That's right.  There is nothing in the Constitution forbidding Barack
 LL> Obama from being elected Vice President in 2016.  Nor is there anything
 LL> in the Constitution forbidding Barack Obama from serving as President
 LL> upon future President Hillary Clinton's resignation from office.

Amendment 12 (rather lengthy, I'll skip to the last sentence):

But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President
shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States.

Theoretically, he could be elected Speaker of the House (there's no
rule stating the Speaker has to be a member), and he could assasinate
the sitting President and VP, and still wouldn't be accepted as
president -- the succession would just pass over him due to
ineligibility, all the way down the line.
 
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