The American Prospect's blog, Tapped, alerts us to a bill emanating from the US House of Representatives, sponsored by the Congressman from the South Bronx, Jose Serrano. It proposes a repeal of the 22nd Amendment of the Constitution, which limits a President to two terms.
Since Mr. Serrano is described in the Almanac of American Politics as "Fidel Castro's greatest champion in the House" who has sought repeal of economic sanctions and overturn of the four decade embargo of Cuba, the thought of him tinkering with the sacred document of American liberty is a little disconcerting.
The thought that there's a group of Americans willing to elect this man SIX times in a row is more than a little disconcerting. But I'll just have to get used to being disconcerted since Serrano received an appalling 92% of the vote in 2002 in his district (NY-16). Since it appears Castro operates in a healthier democratic environment than what the Democratic Party choke hold allows in the South Bronx, I don't expect to see Serrano at the other end of a voters' revolt anytime soon.
Continuing the stream of disconcertion this morning, consider this - "Tapped" suggests that this proposal to repeal the 22nd Amendment is an attempt to enable the political comeback of none other than Harlem's own ...... Bill Clinton.
Now that you've no doubt spat coffee all over your monitor, I'll ease your anxiety a little by saying that I think "Tapped" was suggesting this motive facetiously.
But since Serrano probably isn't trying to ensure a third Bush presidency in 2012 (by which time we ought to be down to the South Bronx as the last remaining pocket of totalitarian tyranny on Earth), I don't know if we can dismiss a Clinton comeback movement as completely out of the question.
If the Democratic nominee in 2004 gets waxed by a Bush juggernaut, especially if the Democratic nominee is from the dovish extreme Left, I think the cry will go up among their party faithful to nominate a proven winner. Assuming JFK and FDR are still dead at that time, Bill Clinton may be all they have left. (This also assumes Jose Serrano doesn't get an amendment passed allowing a corpse to run for office. Such an amendment would also greatly revive the electoral chances for Al Gore).
Therefore we may all have to get used to the idea of a Clinton heading up the Democratic ticket in 2008. The only silver lining is that the first name might not be 'Hillary'.
