The 22nd Amendment and 2008 (w/poll)
Wed Nov 07, 2007 at 07:18:39 AM PDT
I attended a rally the night before last at the Andre Agassi College Prep Academy in Las Vegas last night. The speaker was President Bill Clinton, who spoke on behalf of Hillary's campaign and the importance of the Nevada caucus in setting the tone for the Democratic race.
The following disclaimer is important, because I don't want this discussion to get bogged down in a debate over the merits of Hillary Clinton versus the other candidates. I would be proud to support any of the current Democratic nominees. I expect that Senator Clinton has the best grasp of what the Democratic nominee -- any nominee -- can expect during the general election campaign, and understands that it will not stop on Inauguration Day. That said, I don't agree with her on all issues and she has been too cautious for my taste in many regards. But again, this is not about the candidates.
It's about running mates.
One thing that stood out for me in President Clinton's speech was the importance of climate change as a key issue in the race. He talked about how the next President would face the challenge of persuading China and India to support the U.S. in curbing greenhouse gas emissions, and opined that developing sustainable carbon-free energy would provide tremendous growth to the U.S. economy. His speech in many respects echoed what I've heard from another national Democratic Party icon: that climate change is both a challenge and an opportunity. In fact, the one Democrat he praised above all others, except his wife, was his former vice-president: he talked about how proud he was of Al Gore for being a pioneering voice on climate change and how thrilled he was that Gore won the Nobel Peace Prize.
President Clinton also talked about the Democratic field: he had praise for all of the candidates, but spent little time discussing them. He said (and I'm paraphrasing here) that he wasn't surprised at the shots Hillary took in the recent debate, but was proud of her for not saying anything bad about the other candidates in return.
As the campaign heats up, these attacks will likely disqualify many of the current crop of candidates from running on a Clinton ticket, if she does win the nomination. Soundbites from the debates and the campaign trail can be packaged into extraordinarily effective attack ads.
And I got to thinking:
The 22nd Amendment prohibits a president from being elected to more than two terms.
It says nothing about the vice-president.
Al Gore has experience, support within the progressive community, and credibility on what the Clinton camp calls a key issue in the campaign. His critiques of this administration and the right-wing in general have been devastatingly on point, and a visit from Gore during the campaign would draw huge crowds and galvanize Democratic support in a way that most other vice-presidential candidates could not match. And to the extent that there is a current of "buyer's remorse" in this country among independents who have become disillusioned with their support for the GOP, there is no better choice to tap into that current without saying a word.
And so I submit this proposal: if Hillary does prevail in the campaign, her ideal running mate would be the man who won in 2000, and who is at this point probably the most revered figure on the national Democratic scene beside Bill Clinton himself.
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