How many times can you run?

[Lost4words]

Lassie would have been pawfect as the President of the US!

 

[Divide]

Let's pretend he could. How would you all react given the current political climent?

He can't do it thank God. Two terms is the limit to be president. He maybe could be the anti christ but he'll never be President of the US again.

 

[Divide]

I did not vote for him the first two times. Why on earth would I vote for him a third?

In some ways we are in his third term right now.

I've thought that myself.

 

[dogs4thewin]

I wonder why B. O. doesn't run again and how many would be interested in him again?

You can only be elected twice. As long as you are not elected you may run as many times as you like ( for president) some offices do not have term limits. As to the question that would be a no from me I was too young to vote for him ( or anyone the first time ( but would not have if I could did not vote for him the second time ( when I could vote and there is not a snowball's chance in Tampa I would vote for him again even if he could legally run.

 

[Tropical Wilds]

How many would vote for Michelle? NOT ME!

I love her as a person, I suspect that her policies would align pretty exactly with mine, but given what she wrote about the presidency in her books paired with her profound distaste for running, I’d hesitate voting for her. I want somebody who wants to be president, not somebody who’s pressured to be or consigned to being president.

 

[Tropical Wilds]

Let's pretend he could. How would you all react given the current political climent?

If the limitation on serving two terms was ended, I’d absolutely vote for him again without even a pause.

If it were not ended, and I deeply believe it shouldn’t be, I would not.

 

[NxNW]

I did not vote for him the first two times. Why on earth would I vote for him a third?

In some ways we are in his third term right now.

Yes, you can tell by the amazing economy: GDP up, unemployment down, inflation back down, stock market at record highs, etc. Obama fixed the Dubya Recession, and Biden fixed the Trump Recession. Meanwhile the GOP complains that the Democrats didn't fix their recession fast enough, or something like that.

 

[hislegacy]

Yes, you can tell by the amazing economy: GDP up, unemployment down, inflation back down, stock market at record highs, etc. Obama fixed the Dubya Recession, and Biden fixed the Trump Recession. Meanwhile the GOP complains that the Democrats didn't fix their recession fast enough, or something like that.

Something like Jimmy Carter, but more intense

 

[SavedByGrace3]

What if Obama was elected or appointed VP, and then the President was gone... would he ascent to become president a third time?
The 22nd only says he cannot be elected for a third term. I do not see where it says he cannot serve a third term, only that he cannot be elected to a third term.
What say?

 

[MForbes]

Political parties aside.............

A former two-term president CAN serve as VP, and can be sworn in as President should something happen to the serving President; however, that person will only be able to serve out the remainder of the elected President's term.

Two-Time Presidents and the Vice-Presidency

Does the Constitution limit the ability of a twice-before-elected President to serve as Vice-President? This question, as it turns out, presents an intricate constitutional puzzle, the solution of which requires working through four separate sub-inquiries: Is a two-term President totally...

digitalcommons.law.uga.edu

I really never thought about this - and I'm not supporting this scenario one way or the other - but if Biden picked BO as his running mate, and BO accepted, I believe he (Biden) would definitely be elected again.

 

[Hazelelponi]

I wonder why B. O. doesn't run again and how many would be interested in him again?

Obama?

There's a 2 term limit to the presidency. You can only serve 2 terms and then your done forever.

His wife is looking to throw her hat in the ring... This way he can avoid following the law. He will try and finagle his way back.. I'm sure of that.

He's addicted to power.

 

[Mike DN]

Sorry, it's easier to use letters then spell it out.

Don't mean to pick on you, but I have a sincere interest in learning why so many younger (I'm 71 so most are younger than me.) people write "then" when they mean "than"? One of my theories is that it's related to a less than desirable speech habit of just quickly saying "th_n" or acquiescing to a tendency to spell a word the way the person thinks it sounds. Lately, I've even begun seeing the word "that" spelled "thet". Maybe it's just easier to move the middle left finger the short distance up and to the left of "D" on the keyboard instead of pushing down on the "A" key with the left pinky? We Boomers will eventually be gone and forgotten along with our caring about being good spellers. But, while still able to read, write and type, this will remain an important aspect of communication to me.

 

[MForbes]

His wife is looking to throw her hat in the ring...

Source?

People have been starting this rumor since before the election of 2020.

Michelle Obama Reveals Why She Won’t Be Running for President

Michelle Obama responded to rumors that she might be running for president in 2020.

www.hollywoodreporter.com

As of April 2023, she has specifically said she won't be running for president.

Michelle Obama Tells Oprah She'll Never, Ever Run for President

Netflix special ‘The Light We Carry’ features a talk between the former first lady and Oprah about the pandemic, Trump, mommy influencers, and more.

www.rollingstone.com

....and yet those who believe the unproven continue to spread unverified information.

Folks, unless it comes from the horse's mouth, it ain't factual.

 

[returntosender]

Don't mean to pick on you, but I have a sincere interest in learning why so many younger (I'm 71 so most are younger than me.) people write "then" when they mean "than"? One of my theories is that it's related to a less than desirable speech habit of just quickly saying "th_n" or acquiescing to a tendency to spell a word the way the person thinks it sounds. Lately, I've even begun seeing the word "that" spelled "thet". Maybe it's just easier to move the middle left finger the short distance up and to the left of "D" on the keyboard instead of pushing down on the "A" key with the left pinky? We Boomers will eventually be gone and forgotten along with our caring about being good spellers. But, while still able to read, write and type, this will remain an important aspect of communication to me.

I got called on it before. The truth is I've forgotten when to use than. I asked a friend and she couldn't explain the difference between the two. Btw, I'm older than you.

 

[returntosender]

Political parties aside.............

A former two-term president CAN serve as VP, and can be sworn in as President should something happen to the serving President; however, that person will only be able to serve out the remainder of the elected President's term.

Two-Time Presidents and the Vice-Presidency

Does the Constitution limit the ability of a twice-before-elected President to serve as Vice-President? This question, as it turns out, presents an intricate constitutional puzzle, the solution of which requires working through four separate sub-inquiries: Is a two-term President totally...

digitalcommons.law.uga.edu

I really never thought about this - and I'm not supporting this scenario one way or the other - but if Biden picked BO as his running mate, and BO accepted, I believe he (Biden) would definitely be elected again.

You're probably right

 

[returntosender]

I got called on it before. The truth is I've forgotten when to use than. I asked a friend and she couldn't explain the difference between the two. Btw, I'm older than you.

I thought deeply on this as i posted this answer to you and realized the difference. I will be watching now as i use them. Thanks

 

[Arcangl86]

His wife is looking to throw her hat in the ring...

People have been throwing her name around for years, but she has denied any interest in doing so for the same amount of time. Also the only people who seem to bring it up are conservatives, though I'm open to correction on that.

This way he can avoid following the law.

How exactly would he be avoiding following the law? He still wouldn't be President, though I'm sure of course his wife would take his advice seriously.

He will try and finagle his way back.. I'm sure of that.

Why are you sure of that?

He's addicted to power.

What indications has he given of that to you?

 

[returntosender]

Obama?

There's a 2 term limit to the presidency. You can only serve 2 terms and then your done forever.

His wife is looking to throw her hat in the ring... This way he can avoid following the law. He will try and finagle his way back.. I'm sure of that.

He's addicted to power.

Agreed

 

[JSRG]

What if Obama was elected or appointed VP, and then the President was gone... would he ascent to become president a third time?
The 22nd only says he cannot be elected for a third term. I do not see where it says he cannot serve a third term, only that he cannot be elected to a third term.
What say?

The Twelfth Amendment of the Constitution says that the same requirements that apply to the President also apply to the Vice President ("But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States.").

While this obviously includes the "normal" requirements for presidency (natural born citizen, required age, and so on), there is a notable difference in verbiage in the 22nd Amendment compared to the requirements for President later. Here's what the Constitution says are the requirements for President:

"No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States."

This refers to eligibility. You can't be President if you don't fulfill the requirements. Note also the Fourteenth Amendment's Disqualification Clause, which has gotten much attention as of late:

"No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability."

While there has been some dispute as to whether the President counts as an office under the United States and/or an officer of the United States (there's a decent analysis of the question here), in any event the phrasing here is a bit different, but again makes it clear that anyone who has run afoul of the rules here cannot be any of those things, and cannot hold any of those positions. The way someone could get that position is irrelevant; you simply can't have it.

Now let's look at the applicable portion of the 22nd Amendment:

"No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of the President more than once."

Notice the difference. The previous ones ruled out any possibility of being in the office at all. But this very specifically says "elected". This therefore raises two questions.

The first is, does this mean someone can--even if they have served two terms already--become President without being elected? The way someone becomes President without being elected is if they're in the line of succession and everyone "above" them dies or leaves office. The "line of succession", for those unaware, is a list of positions for President who will become President if everyone prior is unavailable. The Vice President is obvious, but if both President and Vice President are unavailable (due to dying or leaving office), then the Speaker of the House does so. If the Speaker of the House also can't, then it falls to the President pro Tempore of the Senate, then the Secretary of State, then the Secretary of the Treasury, and then there's a lot of other positions until it concludes with the Secretary of Homeland Security (the order, if anyone is curious, is the order that those positions were created).

Obviously there is no constitutional question of whether Obama could be elected to the House of Representatives and become Speaker or be appointed as a Secretary--but suppose he was Speaker of the House and both the President and Vice President were to leave office (death, resignation, impeachment, and/or invocation of the 25th Amendment). Would he then become President? After all, it says he cannot be elected president, but doesn't specifically say he can't be president!

The second question is related to the first. Even if we accept that Obama could become President in the above manner if he was Speaker of the House or anywhere else down the line of succession, does that mean he could be elected Vice President? As noted, the 12th Amendment says no person constitutionally ineligible for the President is eligible to become Vice President. But as we have discussed, the it doesn't specifically say someone cannot be president after serving two terms, only that they cannot be elected president. Does this therefore mean that the Vice President cannot be elected Vice President either? Or, because the requirement is for eligibility and the requirement isn't specifically a ban on eligibility but rather a restriction on the normal way of becoming Vice President, does this therefore not prevent them from being elected Vice President? Additionally, even if he cannot be elected Vice President, would this mean he can be appointed as the Vice President, should the position become open?

As one can see, there's a number of questions here! And we don't have hard answers, because no court has weighed in on these because, well, they can't weigh in on them officially until any of this becomes an issue, and it won't happen until someone who has been President for two terms opts to run for Vice President, a new President tries to appoint the two-therm President as Vice President, or they hold any of the later positions in the line of succession only for everyone ahead of them to die or leave office. None of these are particularly likely to occur anytime soon. And when that happens, we can be sure the whole issue will go to court and the SCOTUS is going to have to figure it out.

If I had to make the decision--and let it be noted I am neither a lawyer nor anyone who has done much research on this issue--I would be inclined to believe that while a two-term President cannot be re-elected as President, they can become President again if it's through the line of succession, and could even be elected as Vice President. But again, I'm not an expert, and it won't be my opinion that decides anything.

tl;dr version: The answer is "maybe."

 

[SavedByGrace3]

The Twelfth Amendment of the Constitution says that the same requirements that apply to the President also apply to the Vice President ("But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States.").

While this obviously includes the "normal" requirements for presidency (natural born citizen, required age, and so on), there is a notable difference in verbiage in the 22nd Amendment compared to the requirements for President later. Here's what the Constitution says are the requirements for President:

"No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States."

This refers to eligibility. You can't be President if you don't fulfill the requirements. Note also the Fourteenth Amendment's Disqualification Clause, which has gotten much attention as of late:

"No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability."

While there has been some dispute as to whether the President counts as an office under the United States and/or an officer of the United States (there's a decent analysis of the question here), in any event the phrasing here is a bit different, but again makes it clear that anyone who has run afoul of the rules here cannot be any of those things, and cannot hold any of those positions. The way someone could get that position is irrelevant; you simply can't have it.

Now let's look at the applicable portion of the 22nd Amendment:

"No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of the President more than once."

Notice the difference. The previous ones ruled out any possibility of being in the office at all. But this very specifically says "elected". This therefore raises two questions.

The first is, does this mean someone can--even if they have served two terms already--become President without being elected? The way someone becomes President without being elected is if they're in the line of succession and everyone "above" them dies or leaves office. The "line of succession", for those unaware, is a list of positions for President who will become President if everyone prior is unavailable. The Vice President is obvious, but if both President and Vice President are unavailable (due to dying or leaving office), then the Speaker of the House does so. If the Speaker of the House also can't, then it falls to the President pro Tempore of the Senate, then the Secretary of State, then the Secretary of the Treasury, and then there's a lot of other positions until it concludes with the Secretary of Homeland Security (the order, if anyone is curious, is the order that those positions were created).

Obviously there is no constitutional question of whether Obama could be elected to the House of Representatives and become Speaker or be appointed as a Secretary--but suppose he was Speaker of the House and both the President and Vice President were to leave office (death, resignation, impeachment, and/or invocation of the 25th Amendment). Would he then become President? After all, it says he cannot be elected president, but doesn't specifically say he can't be president!

The second question is related to the first. Even if we accept that Obama could become President in the above manner if he was Speaker of the House or anywhere else down the line of succession, does that mean he could be elected Vice President? As noted, the 12th Amendment says no person constitutionally ineligible for the President is eligible to become Vice President. But as we have discussed, the it doesn't specifically say someone cannot be president after serving two terms, only that they cannot be elected president. Does this therefore mean that the Vice President cannot be elected Vice President either? Or, because the requirement is for eligibility and the requirement isn't specifically a ban on eligibility but rather a restriction on the normal way of becoming Vice President, does this therefore not prevent them from being elected Vice President? Additionally, even if he cannot be elected Vice President, would this mean he can be appointed as the Vice President, should the position become open?

As one can see, there's a number of questions here! And we don't have hard answers, because no court has weighed in on these because, well, they can't weigh in on them officially until any of this becomes an issue, and it won't happen until someone who has been President for two terms opts to run for Vice President, a new President tries to appoint the two-therm President as Vice President, or they hold any of the later positions in the line of succession only for everyone ahead of them to die or leave office. None of these are particularly likely to occur anytime soon. And when that happens, we can be sure the whole issue will go to court and the SCOTUS is going to have to figure it out.

If I had to make the decision--and let it be noted I am neither a lawyer nor anyone who has done much research on this issue--I would be inclined to believe that while a two-term President cannot be re-elected as President, they can become President again if it's through the line of succession, and could even be elected as Vice President. But again, I'm not an expert, and it won't be my opinion that decides anything.

tl;dr version: The answer is "maybe."

You put a lot of work into this. Thanks!