I want Bill Clinton to be president again. First there was this savvy framing of the upcoming election:
"This is an election unlike any other I have ever participated in. For six years this country has been totally dominated - not by the Republican Party, this is not fair to the Republican Party - by a narrow sliver of the Republican Party, its more right-wing and its most ideological element. When the chips are down, this country has been jammed to the right, jammed into an ideological corner, alienated from its allies, and we're in a lot of trouble ... The Democratic Party has become the liberal and conservative party in America. If you want to be fiscally conservative, you've got to be for us. If you want to conserve natural resources, you've got to be for us," he said. "If you want a change of course in Iraq ... you've got to be for us."
And now there's this:
Former President Bill Clinton was cheered today as he spoke to a university crowd in support of a California ballot measure that would tax oil to fund alternative energy research.
Clinton called Proposition 87 "California's way to energy independence."
The measure would tax companies drilling for oil in California until it has generated $4 billion. The money would be set aside for loans, grants and subsidies to promote alternative fuels and more energy-efficient vehicles.
"To save the planet, improve our national security and create the next generation of good jobs for the American people -- that's what Prop 87 represents to me," Clinton said at the University of California, Los Angeles.
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Do not repeal the 22nd amendment....
As much as you might like Bill Clinton to be president again, a repeal of the 22nd amendment would allow W to be president again sometime after 2008.
Term limits on presidents is a great thing. Without them, we run the risk of having a "president" like Zimbabwe has a president. Oh, not at first; it will be through popular FDR-like democratic elections at first. But there will be more and more motivation to fix those elections in order to maintain power. There will also be motivation to keep the country at war at all times, since many people buy the argument that "it is dangerous to switch administrations when we're in the middle of a war."
-Rob
Good point. I often forget how scary it is that our democracy might go from Bush to Clinton to Bush to Clinton. (That is, if Hillary runs, and, by some miracle, gets elected.) We clearly have a governing oligarchy. But I certainly wouldn't mind having Bill be First Husband...
He can be president without changing the constitution. Here's how. The constitution does not require that the Speaker of the House be a member of the House! So, after the Democrats gain control of the House, they elect Clinton Speaker, impeach and convict Bush and Cheney. Speaker of the House is next in line. The 22nd amendment only says that he cannot be _elected_ president again.
Of course, there are problems with this; the Speaker has always been a Representative before; Nancy Pelosi is in line for the Speakership, and not likely to give it up; Hillary may have something to say about it, too.