Clinton’s re-election plans?

The Internet and talk radio programs across the country are buzzing
about presumably joking remarks made by White House press secretary Joe
Lockhart regarding plans by President Clinton to seek re-election to a
third term and legislation introduced in Congress that could facilitate
such a bid.

Before taking questions during a Jan. 27 press briefing, White House
spokesman Joe Lockhart and reporters exchanged some light banter about a

proposed constitutional amendment that could have a lasting impact on
the
office of the presidency. The exchange went this way:

MR. LOCKHART: We’ll do a couple of quick announcements before we get
to questions.

Q: Is he (President Clinton) running for re-election?

MR. LOCKHART: Well, I guess we buried the lead here. The president
announced that he wants to undo the Constitution and repeal the 22nd —
23rd
Amendments?

Q: Sounds like gymnastics — constitutional gymnastics you’re talking
about
here. (Laughter)

MR. LOCKHART: Yes, there you go. (Laughter.) All’s fair in
constitutional
gymnastics. This is our double flip in the pike position.

The bill, H.J. Res. 17, was introduced in the House by Rep. Jose E.
Serrano, D-NY, and his lone co-sponsor, Rep. Christopher Shays, R-CT, on
Jan. 6. The bill was referred to the House Judiciary Committee for
review, but, thus far, no floor action has been scheduled for it.

If the proposed repeal were to pass before Nov. 4th, 2000, then
theoretically Bill Clinton could be the Democrat’s choice for a third
term in office. There is no language in the bill as it is currently
written to bar the present commander-in-chief from running again.

The bill proposes “an amendment to the Constitution of the United
States to
repeal the twenty-second article of amendment, thereby removing the
limitation on the number of terms an individual may serve as president.”

If H.J. Res. 17 were to be approved by both the House and Senate,
then it
would require three-fourths of the state legislatures to ratify it
within
seven years before the new amendment would be added to the Constitution.

However, few experts see much chance of passage.

Marshall Whitman, director of congressional relations with the
Heritage
Foundation, told WorldNetDaily it had “virtually

no chance” of passing during the 106th Congress.

“It’s dead on arrival,” he said.