Yay let Obama have 6 terms!! Or more!!!

[Hanover Fist]

On Jan 6th of this year Rep. Jose Serrano (D-NY) submitted a resolution to committee to repeal the 22nd amendment, wherein if it was ratified Obama would no longer have term limits.
While I realize this has virtually no chance of reaching a vote in Congress, much less being ratified by enough states, it struck me as kind of funny because it's almost the exact same thing that just happened in Venezuela allowing Chavez to be "El Presidente" unlimited.
The fact that Obama hasn't even served one day and yet he already has Congressman thinking he needs to be President for life is kind of scary.

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=hj111-5

[Genius]

Maybe he's just returning fire for the repeal of habeas corpus and the Patriot Act.

[Yelram]

Maybe he's just returning fire for the repeal of habeas corpus and the Patriot Act.

You guys really need to learn some new propaganda soundbytes. These ones are getting pretty fucking old.

[Morfin]

Thankfully, the chance of this passing is virtually zero. The issue usually comes up during a president's second term, as it did with Reagan, and, to a much lesser extent, with Clinton.

That's all we need is an entrenched President for Life, just like all our Representatives and Senators. Term Limits are a good thing.

[Archangel]

Yeah, much better to have a hereditary monarchy, like with Bush sr and jr.

[heelsguy]

Yeah, much better to have a hereditary monarchy, like with Bush sr and jr.

no different than the kennedy family and politics.

[Archangel]

Obviously.

I mean, if Hillary had become president, then the US would have had, what, at least 24 years of being ruled by two families?

[Das Kahlua]

Obviously.

I mean, if Hillary had become president, then the US would have had, what, at least 24 years of being ruled by two families?

That has more to do with the culture of politics in the US than anything else. With so many uninformed voters being encouraged to 'Vote or Die' by people like P-Diddy, regardless whether they know who or what they're voting for or not, it's little wonder that name recognition often carries the day.

I don't know whether it's the 2 party system, the RNC and DNC selling out their values for immediate success, or the influence of the media and short attention spans of the electorate, but it doesn't look like there will be an end in sight anytime soon.

[riseabove!]

Term limit's don't matter. All but one president received more than 2, and that president's name was Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

[NOTKyle]

If the people want him for more than two, why take that away from them I say.

[Hanover Fist]

It would be the most fantastic thing ever if this passed and backfired on the Dems and GWB got elected again. It might once again restore my faith in God.

[HAWK]

You'd put this country back in the Bush?

[NOTKyle]

It would be the most fantastic thing ever if this passed and backfired on the Dems and GWB got elected again. It might once again restore my faith in God.

I thought you were crazy for wanting GWB to get re-elected, and then you said you believed in god and everything made sense.

[Hanover Fist]

I thought you were crazy for wanting GWB to get re-elected, and then you said you believed in god and everything made sense.

Actually I'm agnostic, so it's not that I believe or don't believe in God, it's more that I don't really care if there is or isn't one.
And yes, if somehow this got ratified, nothing at all would make me happier than seeing GWB get a 3rd term. Not that I necessarily like his policies, but more to the fact of how it would literally cause about 100 million people in this countries heads to explode. After all, the more Obama talks, the more he sounds like he's just going to continue what Bush was doing all along anyway.

[NOTKyle]

As if anybody's surprised. While running you play up to the people you want to vote for you, you can do whatever the fuck you want once you're elected.

I trust the man. But only cause he's 1/2 Hawaiian.

[Debo]

Maybe he's just returning fire for the repeal of habeas corpus and the Patriot Act.

Funny that you mention suspending habeas corpus because everyone is calling Obama the next Lincoln. You know, the guy that actually did suspend habeas corpus.

And your elected representatives voted for the Patriot Act. If you don't like it, then vote them out of office.

[Desperado]

Funny that you mention suspending habeas corpus because everyone is calling Obama the next Lincoln. You know, the guy that actually did suspend habeas corpus.

And your elected representatives voted for the Patriot Act. If you don't like it, then vote them out of office.


Havent they been doing that with republicans?

[Debo]

Havent they been doing that with republicans?

Yes, but supporters of the GOP aren't the ones bitching about it (I doubt that the GOP's loses have much to do with the Patriot Act anyway) and the Dems continue to re-elected everyone from their party that voted for it.

The Uniting and Strengthening of America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001 (Public Law 107-56), known as USA PATRIOT Act The USA Patriot Act, is an American act which President George W Bush signed into law on October 26, 2001. The Act passed in the Senate by a vote of 98 to 1, and in the House by a vote of 357 to 66.http://www.usapatriotact.com/pages/u/usapatriotact.com-index-nav-1.html

[Hoser]

Can you have elections at anytime in the US like in Canada? If so then this wouldn't be a problem, but if there were only an election if Obama called for it there could be a major problem.

Hell even if you still did the 4 year elections this wouldnt be a problem because he would only keep winning if he was doing good.

[Debo]

Can you have elections at anytime in the US like in Canada? If so then this wouldn't be a problem, but if there were only an election if Obama called for it there could be a major problem.

Hell even if you still did the 4 year elections this wouldnt be a problem because he would only keep winning if he was doing good.

We hold elections every two years with the office of the President being up for election every four years (During leap years). Members of the house serve two year terms, members of the senate serve six year terms and governors serve four year terms.

You can call a special election, but it is very rare for this to happen.

The problem is that there is a precedent for only serving two terms in office as POTUS because that is what George Washington did. Only FDR served for more than two and that was because of WWII (TR served two and tried to run for a third, but he lost).

Regardless, I doubt that Obama would want to run for more than two terms.

[Whiffleball]

Funny that you mention suspending habeas corpus because everyone is calling Obama the next Lincoln. You know, the guy that actually did suspend habeas corpus.

Yeah, of course, Bush did it because of a single yet certainly tragic terrorist attack, whereas Lincoln was embroiled in a conflict that may have very well split up the country, therefore ending the United States as it had existed, but who needs semantics

And your elected representatives voted for the Patriot Act. If you don't like it, then vote them out of office.Working on it, but it's hard when my fellow constituents love assholes

I like how those on the Far Right have jumped upon this story with salivating glee, as if it is yet another brick in the foundation for the Obama Socialist Dictatorship or (if you're one of Yelram's lot) the liberal North American Union that will evolve Pokemon-style into a One World Government

It's likely that Serrano is primarily motivated with pleasing his minority-dominated district by throwing himself onto the Obama bandwagon, but it's interesting to note that he actually put forward a similar bill in 2003, when an almost identical bill with bi-partisan sponsors was floating around, just after it had died in the previous Congress. And of course there were those Project 88 people trying to give Reagan the chance to get out from under that Iran Contra cloud

Prior to the 22nd Amendment, there was no rule that a president had to serve two terms. It had just been tradition, emulating Washington's desire to avoid the creation of an American monarch. The dude could have been king if he wanted to. When FDR broke the tradition, the aghast establishment decided to codify it as part of the Constitution

Of course, this creates an absurd double standard where the president is limited to two terms while members of Congress are allowed to run again and again and Supreme Court justices serve for life -- just like Adolf Hitler and Hugo Chavez (ZOMG GO SEE ZEITGEIST THE MOVIE YOU GUYS)

This one dude over at this one blog wrote about this back in '03 (http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/176.html)

Some have criticized the amendment as undemocratic, while others have said it raises practical difficulties for a president in a second term. When the nation knows that a president can’t seek re-election after a second term, he or she becomes less effective. As historian Haynes Johnson put it (http://www.pbs.org/newshour/forum/january97/second_terms_1-13.html), “The clock is running very quickly in a president’s second term because the amendment that limits him to succeed himself erodes power very rapidly.”

Chicago Tribune Columnist Stephen Chapman noted (http://www.townhall.com/columnists/stevechapman/sc20001031.shtml) in 2001 that few presidents have ever left the White House happy after a second term. “Dwight Eisenhower was said to be in a bad mood for most of 1960, thanks to his approaching expulsion. Calvin Coolidge chose not to run in 1928, but when the Republican Party nominated Herbert Hoover to replace him, he retired to his room with a bottle of whiskey, not to emerge for 24 hours. Biographer Leuchtenburg says he doubts that FDR would have ever willingly surrendered the office.”

The presidency is the only federal office in the United States to have legal term limits. We can re-elect members of Congress to our hearts’ content, federal judges are there for life, we can even re-elect the same person to be vice president indefinitely. Yet voters are denied the chance to elect someone to the presidency more than twice.


I personally am in favor of term limits because of guys like Strom Thurmond becoming careerists with too much power and just losing touch with the mood of the time. And just because the people want to vote for a candidate more than X number of times doesn't mean they should; people have gladly allowed dictatorships to arise out of democracies.

Still, there is credence to eight years for a president not being enough, although being allowed to serve indefinitely is obviously not the right way to go. I also think we should put limits on Congress and judges as well.

[vasili denisov]

While I realize this has virtually no chance of reaching a vote in Congress, much less being ratified by enough states, it struck me as kind of funny because it's almost the exact same thing that just happened in Venezuela allowing Chavez to be "El Presidente" unlimited.

It didn't just happen; the referendum on the constitutional amendment will be taking place in February. That amendment allows officeholders to be re-elected, and was initiated by Chavez; repeal of the 22nd would remove any limits on the number of terms a president can serve.

One recent complaint is that any promise of action or statement is judged poorly when committed by the current president, and judged approvingly when made by the president-elect. Well, here you have an action by a supporter of the president-elect which can be considered a conservative, strict constructionist reading of the constitution which would lessen restrictions on those running for office, and it's compared to the action of a left-wing strongman who's explicitly attempting to stay in power long enough to finish his revolution. So, here we have the actor being judged, not the action itself. This is the sinner throwing the first stone.

[taters]

This is old news. This was brought up for the bush administration a few years back, and the clinton admin before that.


This is all just political filler.

[Aegis]

I say we make this Tuesday another Black holiday.

demniggers need more.

[wonderllama]

Why are there term limits out of interest?
If someone is on the nose, won't they get voted out anyway?
Or is it simply a fail-safe because you don't trust your elected officials to relinquish power when the times up, which would be against the law...but which would also be against the law if they tried it now....anyone?

[wonderllama]

Yeah, but we recently got rid of our 2nd longest serving Prime Minister (after 12 years) because he sucked. He even lost his own seat in the Parliament...

Would that not happen in the USA?

[Satan]

Like we're gonna model ourselves after you guys.

[wonderllama]

Well, that wasn't the question was it...I just want to know why such a precaution is necessary.

[Satan]

Well, that wasn't the question was it...I just want to know why such a precaution is necessary.
Because I would not have been the least bit surprised if this country re-elected Bush if given the chance for a third term. That is exactly why, people are stupid.

[wonderllama]

Now THAT'S an answer.
Thanks man ;)

[Le Goat]

san jose is stupid

[Satan]

san jose is stupidCalifornia didn't go for Bush either time, Texas did.

We're the stupid ones?

[Le Goat]

yes

[Genius]

Funny that you mention suspending habeas corpus because everyone is calling Obama the next Lincoln. You know, the guy that actually did suspend habeas corpus.

And your elected representatives voted for the Patriot Act. If you don't like it, then vote them out of office.
You weren't always so fiercely partisan. What happened? Trouble at home? Lose your job to an illegal? Sued by the ACLU?

[Debo]

You weren't always so fiercely partisan. What happened? Trouble at home? Lose your job to an illegal? Sued by the ACLU?

I just find people bitching about Bush to be annoying because a majority of the time it is pure BS. I remember when people on here were posting that Bush was going to change the laws or invoke martial law to stay in office. Shit like that is so stupid, yet common place that I can't take it anymore.

Everything is going well for me. I am in the process of transferring groups at work, my home life is fine, I am 1-1 in lawsuits (Both were years ago) and the ACLU wasn't involved in either one of the cases. Thanks for asking.

[taters]

I just find people bitching about Bush to be annoying because a majority of the time it is pure BS. I remember when people on here were posting that Bush was going to change the laws patriot act + FISA + countless environmental deregulations + a few important corporate deregulations + war or invoke martial law to stay in office post 9/11 + patriot act. Shit like that is so stupid, yet common place that I can't take it anymore.


Thats because he did do all of those things. THose crazy bleeding hearts and tree huggers were right, so right that about 1/3 of those who formerly identified themselves as 'the right' flipped sides.

[Phil Theehor]

Okay, we get it. The Dems like this guy. They're optimistic that change will be for the better.

Look, I voted for the other guy, but I'm rooting for Obama. Elections are over and we should all be on the same team. I hope that I was wrong and I hope that he is re-elected via a Reagan-like margin because he is doing such a bang-up job.

But, can we let the guy show us what he can do in the Big Chair for a little while before we deify him?

[Debo]

Okay, we get it. The Dems like this guy. They're optimistic that change will be for the better.

Look, I voted for the other guy, but I'm rooting for Obama. Elections are over and we should all be on the same team. I hope that I was wrong and I hope that he is re-elected via a Reagan-like margin because he is doing such a bang-up job.

But, can we let the guy show us what he can do in the Big Chair for a little while before we deify him?

I agree. I am willing to give the guy a chance. But, based on what he has proposed so far I am not optimistic*.


* We can't spend our way out of our current problem. Since I am non-partisan, I said that same thing when Bush tried to spend his way out of the financial mess.

And solving a problem that was caused by taking on too much debt by taking on more debt isn't a great idea.

[freegood]

I think making Arnold President is a better idea than this one. Much better late night TV fodder and he can show up on TRL to say some cool catch phrases.

It might once again restore my faith in God.

You lost faith under Bush's watch?

[Hanover Fist]

I think making Arnold President is a better idea than this one. Much better late night TV fodder and he can show up on TRL to say some cool catch phrases.



You lost faith under Bush's watch?

Actually even though I was raised in a pretty religious household I don't think I ever really believed in God. It was more that I went to church either because I had to, or it just seemed like I was supposed to. I haven't actually been to church for services in over 20 years, and I don't really see any reason to change that.
I have no problem at all with people that believe in God or feel that it makes their life more complete or satisfying, it's just not for me.

[Grieves]

Elections are over and we should all be on the same team.The problem is that the elected officials are on one team and the general populace is on the other.

[redsox39]

Maybe he's just returning fire for the repeal of habeas corpus and the Patriot Act.


No, Obama is doing that by making a law banning torture unless Obama says it is ok. Because America doesn't torture, unless Obama says so.

http://hotair.com/archives/2009/01/16/shhh-obama-may-create-classified-loophole-for-enhanced-interrogations/

[Debo]

Thats because he did do all of those things. THose crazy bleeding hearts and tree huggers were right, so right that about 1/3 of those who formerly identified themselves as 'the right' flipped sides.

WTF are you talking about? I specifically said that you and the other far lefties said that he was going to change the 22nd amendment to allow him to stay in the White House after Jan., 2009.

Since when does changing the 22nd amendment equal the Patriot Act?

[gillkonam]

Fuck it. Clone 'em. Should kick in right about the right time... have Clonebama marry Chelsea... everybody happy. Seriously though, I voted for him, but he's a chance, not a fulfillment. What my little white boy hearts wants for real change is term limits on Senators (3 terms) and Reps. (4 terms). Shit kick out the legislative fiefdoms and force the nuts out after 20 years total WITHOUT the chance to move on down to K street.

[Tar Heel]

On Jan 6th of this year Rep. Jose Serrano (D-NY) submitted a resolution to committee to repeal the 22nd amendment, wherein if it was ratified Obama would no longer have term limits.
While I realize this has virtually no chance of reaching a vote in Congress, much less being ratified by enough states, it struck me as kind of funny because it's almost the exact same thing that just happened in Venezuela allowing Chavez to be "El Presidente" unlimited.
The fact that Obama hasn't even served one day and yet he already has Congressman thinking he needs to be President for life is kind of scary.

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=hj111-5

This happens every time we get a new president from a new party. The party in power suggests getting rid of term limits and the other one screams never!!!!

[Limp]

Nice bump... fag.

[Ghostrider]

Yeah, much better to have a hereditary monarchy, like with Bush sr and jr.

And Clinton a Kennedy