President Obama does not speak Texan or he would have said: "I shall not seek, nor will I accept the nomination of my party for another term as your President", which is what Lyndon Baines Johnson said because: Johnson's escalation of the Vietnam War ruined much of his credibility as President. Johnson was wary of potential political attacks from the right for losing a portion of the world to communism.(Wikipedia, LBJ). Obama now holds the same compass in his hand.
Obama was given the choice of two compasses, one pointing towards a return to peace and prosperity at home where it has been needed for a decade, the other one the "W" compass.
In a Diane Sawyer interview he recently said "I would rather be a really good one-term president, than a mediocre two-term president", indicating he can't get enough of those sugar crisps (ideological notions).
Then he set out to freeze the economy that helps the middle class and poor the most, leaving the military oil media complex budget at its fattest ever.
Not gonna be a good one term president nor a mediocre two term president using the "W" compass dude.
If you are so dead set on bringing the presidency down, the least you can do is not drag the many legitimate democrats, who do not like this compass, down with you.
Dredd,
ReplyDeleteI've thought a lot about this subject lately too. The ideal would be a two term limit like we have now, but presidents who actually governed like they were only entitled to and expecting to get one.
The only downside in limiting the fools to a single term, in my mind at least, is that then we have to trust the American sheeple to keep things on track with even MORE choice thrown at them, something we're demonstrably not very good at (even allowing for the fact that politicians are congenital liars and who in the hell even knows who or what you're voting for these days).
Obama's soon to be announced spending freeze is, fortunately, mostly just political theater, being too small to accomplish much. It is however, a sign of things to come, and your points on exempting the Military Oil Complex are well taken. Bin Laden, if he is an actual living human being, certainly knew what he was doing when he targeted the US the way he did. One headline attack, then sit back and watch as the great leviathan worries and spends itself to death, sewing destruction and ill-will throughout the world to boot.
disaffected,
ReplyDeleteYes, I would not want to change the two-term limit as a matter of law.
But what a commentary on our system if "W" got two terms and "O" only gets one because he did the "W" on us.
Interesting note to the GOP pre-response to Obama's forthcoming deficit reduction proposal: Judd Gregg and Kent Conrad appeared on PBS tonight wringing their little hands about how pitifully ineffective Obama's proposals will be (granted), without once acknowleding how politically difficult such small measures will be, OR, how the GOP has no credible counterproposal, given that they are beholden to the very same political pressures that Obama is.
ReplyDeleteThis is going to be a week of GRAND HIGH political theater. Those who enjoy such things are advised to lay in the stocks of chips and beer ahead of time, as the coming debate is likely to have considerably more drama (and one HELLUVA lot more impact) than the upcoming Super Bowl.