Thursday, January 15, 2009

Three.



With President-elect Barack Obama set to take the oath of office to begin his first term, one New York Congressman wants to make it possible for him to one day serve a third. Representative Jose Serrano (D) has introduced a bill in the House to abolish the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution, which limits presidents to two consecutive terms or ten years in office. Until 1951, there was nothing preventing a president from seeing election for more than two terms. But all presidents prior to Franklin Delano Roosevelt honored a tradition begun by George Washington and served only two consecutive terms. Roosevelt stood for election for an unprecedented third term at the dawn of World War II and was elected to a fourth, only to die in office within months of his inauguration. He is the only American president to serve more than two terms.

No comments: