Twenty-Second Amendment

Seeing Bill Clinton last night got me thinking. Was the 22nd amendment a good idea? I sat there watching him thinking he could still be President now. Were it not for the two term limit I am fairly certain he would have successfully defended himself against Bush/Cheney. I mean Gore beat Bush, so had Clinton been able to run, even with the Monica scandal I think he would have easily managed a third term.


And that's where the gears start turning on this little fantasy. There was all the talk at the time about what would have happened had Gore been President on 9/11. I wonder what would have happened if Clinton had been President. Actually I wonder if 9/11 would have happened at all had Clinton been President. There's the idea that they were already looking at Bin Laden and the Bush administration dropped the ball, and then I just wonder how much the Bush family and oil forced the hand of the extremists. Whether it would have happened or not, I am fairly certain a Clinton administration would not have taken us into Iraq.

Here's another wrinkle. How about Senator Giuliani? Without Hilary to run against him, do you think Rudy would have been the Senator from New York state on 9/11 rather than the Mayor of New York City?

So the 22nd amendment... I would really have rather had a third Clinton term, and maybe a fourth instead of the first and second George W. Bush administrations. He could line interns up at the Oval Office door as far as I am concerned, at least I wouldn't have to worry about people being waterboarded in our custody, or more insidiously moved through extraordinary rendition to other custody so we can say our hands our clean.

Which is worse: I did not have sexual relations with that woman or The United States does not torture.

It's not all peaches and cream in this world though. No 22nd amendment for Clinton also means no term limits for Ronald Reagan. It's also fairly clear had it been possible there would have been a third Reagan administration - if he could stand up that long. In hindsight though I am not sure that would have been that much worse than the George H. W. Bush administration we did get. That election was much like this one, where the next term is really much like the administrations prior two. Essentially we did have a third Reagan administration, except it came with George I.

Which makes me think about Iraq again. One has to wonder what would have been Gulf War I under a Reagan administration. Would someone without oil in their veins run our troops out into the desert to defend the national borders of Kuwait? My recollection is that the Reagan administration really preferred insurgencies, economic pressure, and defense spending over actual military action. And thinking about the Bush relationship with oil, I can't help but wonder if Saddam would have even moved against Kuwait had Reagan still been President.

Now yes, this is rampant 20/20 hindsight and speculation, but really it does make me wonder if the 22nd amendment might be a mistake.