Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Should The Clintons Get A Third Term In The White House?

According to Section 1 of the 22nd Amendment to the United State Constitution, "no person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice." Yet in 2008, the Democratic Leadership Council [DLC] apparently wants U.S. anti-war voters in the Democratic Party to help former President Clinton and his 1990s "Co-President", Hillary Clinton, get elected for a third term--despite the Clintons' support for the Republican Bush Administration's morally disastrous and politically stupid military intervention in Afghanistan in 2001 and in Iraq in 2003.

The DLC folks who support the idea of allowing the Clintons to be elected for a third time (in violation of the spirit of the 22nd Amendment) claim that the Clintons will be able to win the 2008 election--even though Billionaire Ross Perot will not be running for president in 2008, like he did in 1992 and 1996. Yet as U.S. consumer activist Ralph Nader noted in an April 1, 2003 essay, "The Corporatist Democratic Leadership Council" that appeared in his 2004 book The Pursuit of Justice:

"Launched in 1985, the...Democratic Leadership Council [DLC] grew to have a controlling interest in the party through the efforts of then-Governor Bill Clinton...The DLC brags about one of their own--Bill Clinton--developing the message that brought the Democrats the White House in 1992...Clinton insiders will tell you that Ross Perot (and his 19 million votes) was more responsible for beating President George H.W. Bush than the DLC strategy."

Nader also noted in an October 25, 2000 essay, titled "Strengthen OSHA," that "according to a 1999 Public Citizen report, the Clinton administration's record" during the Clintons' first two terms "on protecting workers safety is the worst since passage of the OSH Act in terms of the number of annual inspections and the percentage of proposed serious, willful, or repeat (SWR) violations that were dismissed or downgraded."

Perhaps the Democratic Leadership Council folks should consider first repealing the 22nd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution before they give their party's nomination to the Clintons in 2008 for a third term in the White House?

Next: Former NBC News Anchor’s Son Is Columbia University’s Provost