Professor Obama Says He’d Be President for 8-10 Years
July 22nd, 2008 at 06:17pm Matt Margolis
Today on CBS’s Face the Nation, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., in Afghanistan, told the paparazzi-pursued correspondent Lara Logan that “the objective of this trip was to have substantive discussions with people like President Karzai or Prime Minister Maliki or President Sarkozy or others who I expect to be dealing with over the next eight to 10 years.
“And it’s important for me to have a relationship with them early, that I start listening to them now, getting a sense of what their interests and concerns are.”
That’s the same Barack Obama, the former constitutional law professor, who apparently doesn’t know the length of a presidential term.
Let’s give the professor a little crash course… from The Constitution, Article II, Section 1:
The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America. He shall hold his Office during the Term of four Years, and, together with the Vice President, chosen for the same Term, be elected [...]
Maybe Obama should review it before he continues his campaign, before he gets something else wrong.
Entry Filed under: Campaign 2008, Democrats
15 Comments
1. The New Conservative | July 22nd, 2008 at 6:20 pm
8-10 years and they think McCain is the one that’s confused?
http://www.thenewconservatives.blogspot.com/
2. kmg | July 22nd, 2008 at 6:22 pm
Matt says while McCain frets about the Iranians helping the Sunni insurgents in Iraq and the situation on the Iraq-Pakistan border.
3. neocon | July 22nd, 2008 at 6:29 pm
We all just need to sit back, relax and watch the MSM and Obama himself lose this election.
Pass the popcorn
neocon
4. Nietzsche-Is-Pietzsche | July 22nd, 2008 at 9:42 pm
KMG-
“Iraq - Pakistan border”
KMG you have to understand Commander Brainfart McCain didn’t have ol’ Holy Joe behind him to set him straight.
5. gotbrains? | July 22nd, 2008 at 10:17 pm
“That’s the same Barack Obama, the former constitutional law professor, who apparently doesn’t know the length of a presidential term.”
You’re kidding - right? You’re are completely delusional if you actually believe Barack Obama doesn’t know the length of a presidential term.
Consider this: Mr Bush served his maximum two terms, which as we all know (yes, including Barack Obama) is equal to 8 years. Lets just say that the world will be “dealing” with Mr Bush’s destructive legacy a lot longer than just 8 years.
6. Thrower | July 22nd, 2008 at 10:57 pm
What garbage. I guarantee you that Obama knows that he can only serve eight years, and McCain knows Iraq and Pakistan do not share a border. This sort of gotcha nonsense results from 24-7 coverage of fallible humans, and blogging partisans eager to attack. If you are actually keeping score Matt, your guy is going to screw up more than the other guy.
How about turning off the noise long enough to hear what these guys have to say about the economy? The guy that wins this will have to lead us and I would prefer the decision to be made on things that matter to me and my family.
7. Ricorun | July 22nd, 2008 at 11:00 pm
What disturbs me about this kerfuffle is that Matt would be so presumptive about the presumptions of Obama. It almost sounds like he’s basically conceding Obama the first 8 1/2 years and only quibbling about what he may have meant about the remainder. Lol!
8. Retired Spook | July 22nd, 2008 at 11:20 pm
I think this makes perfect sense. I’ll bet Obama thinks with the extra 7 or 8 states he’s visited (over and above the 50 “original” states) that he’ll pick up enough votes to get him an extra 2 years. If he decides to count the votes from Alaska and Hawaii, he might even stretch it to 12. The guy is a math genius; that’s for sure.
9. William Teach | July 23rd, 2008 at 10:17 am
Thrower, you are mostly correct. However, this is politics, this is the type of stuff the media will cover, and they will attack McCain more then Obama, hence, the need for those of us on the Right to highlight the Obama gaffe’s.
As far as the economy thing goes, why not explain that to the MSM? They are the ones running around the world following Barry on his summer camp trip, and rarely ask any substantive, hard edged questions of the Messiah.
If you want the short explanation, Obama will jack you taxes up, cause the price of oil to go even higher, and reduce the amount of money in your pocket.
McCain will reduce your taxes, do his best to reign in an out of control Congress in the the area of spending (and, yes, Republicans are part of the problem along with the Democrats), and allow you to keep more of the money you earn.
10. navydad | July 23rd, 2008 at 10:26 am
Has anyone heard the phrase “first to invent”?
The DNC has finally figured this marketing phenomenon out and they’re taking it to McCain.
Let’s face it guys, until McCain decides to take the gloves off and commence with an offensive campaign, rather than a defensive campaign, he’ll go down in a five point November flame.
Most of us here have been right about McCain all along, and to be truthful, I’m not sure I can vote for the guy.
11. Rana Quijotesca | July 23rd, 2008 at 10:35 am
I think that you guys are forgetting that Obama said that he would deal with an issue for a length of time longer than one in which he could serve as President, not that he would serve 10 years as President. In fact, it’s not uncommon for former Presidents to be used for diplomacy on behalf of their nations (eg: Bush I and Clinton, Carter, Roosevelt)
12. HeyHey | July 23rd, 2008 at 11:29 am
“However, this is politics, this is the type of stuff the media will cover, and they will attack McCain more then Obama”
You’re nuts! I don’t know which shows you watch or papers you read but McCain, so far, has gotten a pass from the media. All his flip flops, gaffes, and grandpa moments don’t really get reported on. Obama on the other hand has been attacked over the most trivial things. Just look at this thread…. No where does Obama say ‘I’m going to be President for 8-10 years’. Once again, you spin something non-existent into something existent. Let me ask you this, Have previous President’s ever traveled abroad after they leave office to speak with leaders of other countries? According to you, they do not.
13. Timothy Horrigan | July 23rd, 2008 at 6:18 pm
The left made fun of McCain for saying Czechoslovakia when he meant the Czech Republic. (He is also unclear on the fact Czechoslovakia split into two countries: the Czech Republic and Slovakia.) However, Obama made that remark about 57 states… even though there are only 50 states. In so doing, he evidently RELEASED McCain from the obligation to get his facts straight.
14. Timothy Horrigan | July 23rd, 2008 at 6:27 pm
On a less snarky (though still snarky note), the 22nd amendment says: “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. ” (The second part of that prevision, BTW, prevents George W. Bush from being re-elected, because he was appointed to serve all four years of Al Gore’s term before being elected once in his own right in 2004.)
So Obama can serve eight years, should he be re-elected in 2012 (or later, if he pulls a “Grover Cleveland.”) The Constitution has a provision for modifying or repealing constitutional amendments. Bills have been introduced several times proposing an amendment repealing the 22nd Amendment. There was a fair amount of support during Bill Clinton’s second term for such an amendment, though for some reason this support evaporated during Dubya’s Presidency. It is possible that such an amendment might be voted in at some point in the future by the Congress and then ratified by the states. It is not inconceivable that Obama might serve a third term.
15. The Buffalo Bean » &hellip | August 2nd, 2008 at 11:12 am
[...] I guess it could be worse.. He could be a presidential candidate who thinks he’s visited 57 states and thinks he’ll serve 8-10 years if elected. [...]