Biden/Obama in 2020

[Billy_Bob]

As the Twenty-Second Amendment is written, there is nothing to stop a former two-term President from serving again as President, if he achieved that office by any other means than being directly elected to it. The scenario described in the OP could indeed legitimately happen—Biden (or any other candidate) could choose Obama as his running mate, Obama could be thus elected vice President, and then service again as President if the President with whom he ran died or was otherwise removed from office. Obama could also be elected or assigned to other positions within the line of succession, and then rise to the Presidency if all those ahead of him in that line were removed.

It's all possible, and legal, albeit extremely unlikely.

On a related note, there has been one President of this country who was never elected to either the position of President nor Vice-President. I am wondering who else here on this forum knows which President that was, and how he became President.

Wrong:

The 22nd amendment is written in the precise term. As the President and Vice President ARE ELECTED TOGETHER it is an elected position for which he may not be elected to again.

OMG, I feel sorry for you. You are so wrong. There is nothing preventing Obama from being elected vice president - he just can't ever be ELECTED president again. But he could ascent to the presidency under certain circumstances.

Tell me again. On the election ballot you voted on did not BOTH names appear requiring your affirmative vote?

Mine did;

 

[Nosmo King]

Legendary idea. It will ensure Drumpf has zero chance of reelection.

Obama's corruption will be exposed by the next election, before or while he is campaigning. He has a snowballs chance in Hell.

Glass houses and stones being thrown immediately sprung to mind. Can Trump use a campaign flamethrower like corruption without self immolation?

Why? when not one bit of evidence has emerged to prove anything. You are going to be throwing spitballs.

As they say on the playground, my name's rubber, your's is glue...

Where is the proven Obama corruption? And while you're thinking about that, where are Trump's tax returns?

 

[Lakhota]

As the Twenty-Second Amendment is written, there is nothing to stop a former two-term President from serving again as President, if he achieved that office by any other means than being directly elected to it. The scenario described in the OP could indeed legitimately happen—Biden (or any other candidate) could choose Obama as his running mate, Obama could be thus elected vice President, and then service again as President if the President with whom he ran died or was otherwise removed from office. Obama could also be elected or assigned to other positions within the line of succession, and then rise to the Presidency if all those ahead of him in that line were removed.

It's all possible, and legal, albeit extremely unlikely.

On a related note, there has been one President of this country who was never elected to either the position of President nor Vice-President. I am wondering who else here on this forum knows which President that was, and how he became President.

Wrong:

The 22nd amendment is written in the precise term. As the President and Vice President ARE ELECTED TOGETHER it is an elected position for which he may not be elected to again.

OMG, I feel sorry for you. You are so wrong. There is nothing preventing Obama from being elected vice president - he just can't ever be ELECTED president again. But he could ascent to the presidency under certain circumstances.

Tell me again. On the election ballot you voted on did not BOTH names appear requiring your affirmative vote?

Yeah, so what would prevent Obama from being elected vice president?

 

[frigidweirdo]

Lakhota you forgot about Valerie Jarrett, she was our first woman president. But I think she was born in Iran, shucks.

Do I have to put your dumbass on ignore?

Cant read that link. It wants me to sign up for a subscription. What does it say?

It's too long to post - but does sound legally possible. Here are some excerpts:

The answer seems straightforward. But it is less straightforward than it appears.

Michael Dorf is a professor of constitutional law at Cornell University. In 2000, he argued that an Al Gore-Bill Clinton ticket could withstand legal scrutiny. And when we spoke by phone on Thursday, he said that he stood by that argument.

The rough outline of his argument is this: The 22nd Amendment doesn't say you can't be president for more than two terms. It says you can't be elected president twice. If a Biden-Obama ticket won (which we'll get to), and tragedy were to befall Joe Biden, Barack Obama could become president, according to the letter of the law (which we'll also get to), since he wasn't elected to the position. As such, Obama is not constitutionally ineligible to serve as president.

So, in short: Yes, Joe Biden can name Barack Obama as his running mate. It's even conceivable that, if they won, they could argue their case before Congress to be seated as president and vice president.

Maybe, but there's what it says, and there's what it means.

I think people would find this a little hard to digest, and I think the attacks would be quite strong.

Quite strong? No shit. NaziCons would be up in arms. But it's a feasible way to send Trump and his mafia into political oblivion.

Would it?

In Biden a candidate that would do that?

Would Obama overshadow him? Of course.

The attacks would be relentless, the insinuations that Obama wants to be President for life and all of that would make it impossible.

So what? At least they wouldn't be Russian puppets, crooks, and cavorting with hookers and porn stars. Both men are of honorable character and good family men.

Both are politicians.

The problem in the US is that those in political jobs all tend to be politicians.

Do I trust Obama? No, not really. Do I trust Biden? No, not really.

I trust them more than Trump, but that isn't hard.

 

[Rustic]

Could Joe Biden pick Barack Obama as his running mate? Yes. But.

The answer seems straightforward. But it is less straightforward than it appears.

Michael Dorf is a professor of constitutional law at Cornell University. In 2000, he argued that an Al Gore-Bill Clinton ticket could withstand legal scrutiny. And when we spoke by phone on Thursday, he said that he stood by that argument.

The rough outline of his argument is this: The 22nd Amendment doesn't say you can't be president for more than two terms. It says you can't be elected president twice. If a Biden-Obama ticket won (which we'll get to), and tragedy were to befall Joe Biden, Barack Obama could become president, according to the letter of the law (which we'll also get to), since he wasn't elected to the position. As such, Obama is not constitutionally ineligible to serve as president.

So, in short: Yes, Joe Biden can name Barack Obama as his running mate. It's even conceivable that, if they won, they could argue their case before Congress to be seated as president and vice president.

More: Could Joe Biden pick Barack Obama as his running mate? Yes. But.

This sounds like a great idea to me! It's sinking in! The A-Team! What do you think?

Washington redskin
A senile shit stain and a half black shit stain...

 

[Rustic]

Drunk or bored tonight?
Little of both?

What do I think?
I think you didn't.

Don’t mind Washington redskin, He gets into the firewater quite often

 

[Billy_Bob]

As the Twenty-Second Amendment is written, there is nothing to stop a former two-term President from serving again as President, if he achieved that office by any other means than being directly elected to it. The scenario described in the OP could indeed legitimately happen—Biden (or any other candidate) could choose Obama as his running mate, Obama could be thus elected vice President, and then service again as President if the President with whom he ran died or was otherwise removed from office. Obama could also be elected or assigned to other positions within the line of succession, and then rise to the Presidency if all those ahead of him in that line were removed.

It's all possible, and legal, albeit extremely unlikely.

On a related note, there has been one President of this country who was never elected to either the position of President nor Vice-President. I am wondering who else here on this forum knows which President that was, and how he became President.

Wrong:

The 22nd amendment is written in the precise term. As the President and Vice President ARE ELECTED TOGETHER it is an elected position for which he may not be elected to again.

OMG, I feel sorry for you. You are so wrong. There is nothing preventing Obama from being elected vice president - he just can't ever be ELECTED president again. But he could ascent to the presidency under certain circumstances.

Tell me again. On the election ballot you voted on did not BOTH names appear requiring your affirmative vote?

Yeah, so what would prevent Obama from being elected vice president?

The 22nd amendment you moron...

 

[Lakhota]

Lakhota you forgot about Valerie Jarrett, she was our first woman president. But I think she was born in Iran, shucks.

Do I have to put your dumbass on ignore?

It's too long to post - but does sound legally possible. Here are some excerpts:

The answer seems straightforward. But it is less straightforward than it appears.

Michael Dorf is a professor of constitutional law at Cornell University. In 2000, he argued that an Al Gore-Bill Clinton ticket could withstand legal scrutiny. And when we spoke by phone on Thursday, he said that he stood by that argument.

The rough outline of his argument is this: The 22nd Amendment doesn't say you can't be president for more than two terms. It says you can't be elected president twice. If a Biden-Obama ticket won (which we'll get to), and tragedy were to befall Joe Biden, Barack Obama could become president, according to the letter of the law (which we'll also get to), since he wasn't elected to the position. As such, Obama is not constitutionally ineligible to serve as president.

So, in short: Yes, Joe Biden can name Barack Obama as his running mate. It's even conceivable that, if they won, they could argue their case before Congress to be seated as president and vice president.

Maybe, but there's what it says, and there's what it means.

I think people would find this a little hard to digest, and I think the attacks would be quite strong.

Quite strong? No shit. NaziCons would be up in arms. But it's a feasible way to send Trump and his mafia into political oblivion.

Would it?

In Biden a candidate that would do that?

Would Obama overshadow him? Of course.

The attacks would be relentless, the insinuations that Obama wants to be President for life and all of that would make it impossible.

So what? At least they wouldn't be Russian puppets, crooks, and cavorting with hookers and porn stars. Both men are of honorable character and good family men.

Both are politicians.

The problem in the US is that those in political jobs all tend to be politicians.

Do I trust Obama? No, not really. Do I trust Biden? No, not really.

I trust them more than Trump, but that isn't hard.

So, would you rather have rabid religious assholes like Ayatollah Pence and Evangelicals in the White House? I would gladly choose Biden/Obama.

 

[The Professor]

There are some people out there who think Obama could actually become Vice President and then be appointed to the office of President if something happened to Biden. To those people I say: It can't happen.

According to the U.S. Constitution, Obama could never become Biden's Vice President. First, the Constitution provides that a Vice President cannot be elected if he/she is constitutional ineligible to the office of President. Second, the Constitution provides that no person can hold the office of President for more than two terms. Therefore, since Obama has served two terms as President he cannot hold that office again, and since he is unqualified for the office of the presidency he cannot become Vice President. The relevant portions of the Constitution are found in Amendments XII and XXII and they are provided below.

Amendment XII
“The person having the greatest number of votes as Vice-President, shall be the Vice-President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed, and if no person have a majority, then from the two highest numbers on the list, the Senate shall choose the Vice-President; a quorum for the purpose shall consist of two-thirds of the whole number of Senators, and a majority of the whole number shall be necessary to a choice. But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States” (emphasis my own).

Amendment XXII
Section 1
“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. But this article shall not apply to any person holding the office of President when this article was proposed by the Congress, and shall not prevent any person who may be holding the office of President, or acting as President, during the term within which this article becomes operative from holding the office of President or acting as President during the remainder of such term.”

Obama would not be eligible to run for the office of Vice President. When the Constitution says, “But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States” it means that no one who is ineligible to be ELECTED President can Be ELECTED as Vice President. So what does it take to be eligible to run for the office of president? Well, according to Article II, Section 1, he must be a natural born citizen, at least 35 years old and have resided in the United States for 14 years; further, according to Amendment 22, Section 1, he cannot have been previously elected to the office for two terms.

Some people think that Obama could become Vice President and serve again as President if something happened to Biden because he would be appointed to that position rather than being elected. This is not true. In order to become Vice President Obama would have to be elected to that position; however, the Constitution prohibits him from becoming Vice President since he is not qualified to be President. The language of the Constitution is plain and simple: Obama's gone. Obama's final departure from the presidency reminds me of this old country song:

 

[frigidweirdo]

Lakhota you forgot about Valerie Jarrett, she was our first woman president. But I think she was born in Iran, shucks.

Do I have to put your dumbass on ignore?

Maybe, but there's what it says, and there's what it means.

I think people would find this a little hard to digest, and I think the attacks would be quite strong.

Quite strong? No shit. NaziCons would be up in arms. But it's a feasible way to send Trump and his mafia into political oblivion.

Would it?

In Biden a candidate that would do that?

Would Obama overshadow him? Of course.

The attacks would be relentless, the insinuations that Obama wants to be President for life and all of that would make it impossible.

So what? At least they wouldn't be Russian puppets, crooks, and cavorting with hookers and porn stars. Both men are of honorable character and good family men.

Both are politicians.

The problem in the US is that those in political jobs all tend to be politicians.

Do I trust Obama? No, not really. Do I trust Biden? No, not really.

I trust them more than Trump, but that isn't hard.

So, would you rather have rabid religious assholes like Ayatollah Pence and Evangelicals in the White House? I would gladly choose Biden/Obama.

But that's the point isn't it?

The choice is between this and that. That's no democracy.

It's like China saying Hong Kong has democracy because they can choose between two different people who Beijing chose.

What I choose is proportional representation, so that I could actually have a choice of lots of political parties, of policies I actually agree with, with something coming a lot closer to democracy than the shit that's served up right now.

 

[Lakhota]

As the Twenty-Second Amendment is written, there is nothing to stop a former two-term President from serving again as President, if he achieved that office by any other means than being directly elected to it. The scenario described in the OP could indeed legitimately happen—Biden (or any other candidate) could choose Obama as his running mate, Obama could be thus elected vice President, and then service again as President if the President with whom he ran died or was otherwise removed from office. Obama could also be elected or assigned to other positions within the line of succession, and then rise to the Presidency if all those ahead of him in that line were removed.

It's all possible, and legal, albeit extremely unlikely.

On a related note, there has been one President of this country who was never elected to either the position of President nor Vice-President. I am wondering who else here on this forum knows which President that was, and how he became President.

Wrong:

The 22nd amendment is written in the precise term. As the President and Vice President ARE ELECTED TOGETHER it is an elected position for which he may not be elected to again.

OMG, I feel sorry for you. You are so wrong. There is nothing preventing Obama from being elected vice president - he just can't ever be ELECTED president again. But he could ascent to the presidency under certain circumstances.

Tell me again. On the election ballot you voted on did not BOTH names appear requiring your affirmative vote?

Yeah, so what would prevent Obama from being elected vice president?

The 22nd amendment you moron...

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 President more than once.​

How does that prohibit Obama from being vice president - or ascending to the president in the even of Biden's death or incapacitation?

 

[frigidweirdo]

There are some people out there who think Obama could actually become Vice President and then be appointed to the office of President if something happened to Biden. To those people I say: It can't happen.

According to the U.S. Constitution, Obama could never become Biden's Vice President. First, the Constitution provides that a Vice President cannot be elected if he/she is constitutional ineligible to the office of President. Second, the Constitution provides that no person can hold the office of President for more than two terms. Therefore, since Obama has served two terms as President he cannot hold that office again, and since he is unqualified for the office of the presidency he cannot become Vice President. The relevant portions of the Constitution are found in Amendments XII and XXII and they are provided below.

Amendment XII
“The person having the greatest number of votes as Vice-President, shall be the Vice-President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed, and if no person have a majority, then from the two highest numbers on the list, the Senate shall choose the Vice-President; a quorum for the purpose shall consist of two-thirds of the whole number of Senators, and a majority of the whole number shall be necessary to a choice. But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States” (emphasis my own).

Amendment XXII
Section 1
“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. But this article shall not apply to any person holding the office of President when this article was proposed by the Congress, and shall not prevent any person who may be holding the office of President, or acting as President, during the term within which this article becomes operative from holding the office of President or acting as President during the remainder of such term.”

Obama would not be eligible to run for the office of Vice President. When the Constitution says, “But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States” it means that no one who is ineligible to be ELECTED President can Be ELECTED as Vice President. So what does it take to be eligible to run for the office of president? Well, according to Article II, Section 1, he must be a natural born citizen, at least 35 years old and have resided in the United States for 14 years; further, according to Amendment 22, Section 1, he cannot have been previously elected to the office for two terms.

Some people think that Obama could become Vice President and serve again as President if something happened to Biden because he would be appointed to that position rather than being elected. This is not true. In order to become Vice President Obama would have to be elected to that position; however, the Constitution prohibits him from becoming Vice President since he is not qualified to be President. The language of the Constitution is plain and simple: Obama's gone. Obama's final departure from the presidency reminds me of this old country song:

Your second point is wrong. You cannot be elected to be President more than twice. You could serve more terms than that.

The first point you made is that a President must be a natural born citizen, Obama is, 35 years old, he is, and 14 years a resident, he is.

So, he's not ineligible there.

 

[Lakhota]

There are some people out there who think Obama could actually become Vice President and then be appointed to the office of President if something happened to Biden. To those people I say: It can't happen.

According to the U.S. Constitution, Obama could never become Biden's Vice President. First, the Constitution provides that a Vice President cannot be elected if he/she is constitutional ineligible to the office of President. Second, the Constitution provides that no person can hold the office of President for more than two terms. Therefore, since Obama has served two terms as President he cannot hold that office again, and since he is unqualified for the office of the presidency he cannot become Vice President. The relevant portions of the Constitution are found in Amendments XII and XXII and they are provided below.

Amendment XII
“The person having the greatest number of votes as Vice-President, shall be the Vice-President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed, and if no person have a majority, then from the two highest numbers on the list, the Senate shall choose the Vice-President; a quorum for the purpose shall consist of two-thirds of the whole number of Senators, and a majority of the whole number shall be necessary to a choice. But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States” (emphasis my own).

Amendment XXII
Section 1
“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. But this article shall not apply to any person holding the office of President when this article was proposed by the Congress, and shall not prevent any person who may be holding the office of President, or acting as President, during the term within which this article becomes operative from holding the office of President or acting as President during the remainder of such term.”

Obama would not be eligible to run for the office of Vice President. When the Constitution says, “But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States” it means that no one who is ineligible to be ELECTED President can Be ELECTED as Vice President. So what does it take to be eligible to run for the office of president? Well, according to Article II, Section 1, he must be a natural born citizen, at least 35 years old and have resided in the United States for 14 years; further, according to Amendment 22, Section 1, he cannot have been previously elected to the office for two terms.

Some people think that Obama could become Vice President and serve again as President if something happened to Biden because he would be appointed to that position rather than being elected. This is not true. In order to become Vice President Obama would have to be elected to that position; however, the Constitution prohibits him from becoming Vice President since he is not qualified to be President. The language of the Constitution is plain and simple: Obama's gone. Obama's final departure from the presidency reminds me of this old country song:

From the OP:

The answer seems to be pretty straightforward. The 12th Amendment to the Constitution states that "no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States." And the 22nd Amendment, the political response to Franklin Roosevelt's impressive run of presidential victories, capped presidents to two terms. Ergo: No Clinton-Clinton or Bush-Bush. Or Biden-Obama, for that matter. Done and done, right?

The answer seems straightforward. But it is less straightforward than it appears.

Michael Dorf is a professor of constitutional law at Cornell University. In 2000, he argued that an Al Gore-Bill Clinton ticket could withstand legal scrutiny. And when we spoke by phone on Thursday, he said that he stood by that argument.

The rough outline of his argument is this: The 22nd Amendment doesn't say you can't be president for more than two terms. It says you can't be elected president twice. If a Biden-Obama ticket won (which we'll get to), and tragedy were to befall Joe Biden, Barack Obama could become president, according to the letter of the law (which we'll also get to), since he wasn't elected to the position. As such, Obama is not constitutionally ineligible to serve as president.

What's more, Dorf said, the case of Powell v. McCormack in 1968 established precedent for a narrow reading of what constitutes "eligibility." In that case, the House sought to prevent Adam Clayton Powell from being sworn in as a representative, arguing that the Constitution gave them the ability to "be the judge of ... qualifications" to sit in the House. The Supreme Court disagreed, deciding that the House couldn't add new qualifications (in Powell's case, that he faced legal problems) by which to deem someone eligible.

"I interpret the Powell case to mean that when the Constitution refers to 'qualifications,' or whether someone is 'qualified' for an office, that's a kind of term of art," Dorf said. "When we learn that the vice president has to have the qualifications for the office of the presidency, that is also a term of art. We look to the part of the Constitution that tells us what it takes to be qualified to be president, and not having served two prior terms is not among them."

"The 22nd Amendment, to my mind, is a sort of stand-alone provision," he continued. And that provision says "elected." "The drafters of this language knew the difference between getting elected to an office and holding an office. They could have just said 'no person may hold the office of president more than twice.' But they didn't."

Here's the interesting part, though: Dorf also notes the distinction between running for the vice presidency and becoming vice president. I asked him where a challenge would arise to a Biden-Obama candidacy, and his response was that it would come up at the Electoral College -- or once Congress was asked to certify the already-voted-upon results. There's a completely valid argument to be made that the country would never elect Barack Obama as vice president, of course, in part because is seems to violate the spirit of the 22nd amendment. But if we did, it wouldn't actually become a constitutional question until after Election Day. Remember: We don't elect the president and vice president; the Electoral College does.

 

[petro]

This thread is nothing more than another desperate futile excersise in "I wish Trump wasn't President".

Not to mention the sheer irony of Lackota arguing the Constitution while arguing on other threads about its dated perceived flaws.

 

[Lastamender]

So is that picture of Obama and Farrakhan.

So. David Duke likes him too.

Of course he does.

Do you know what else he does not do? He does not control who likes him or doesn't.
.

You're right. Farrakhan and Duke both chose to like him because they approve of the things he embodies. Nothing forced either of them to make that choice.

Are you really stupid enough to believe that?

 

[Lastamender]

Could Joe Biden pick Barack Obama as his running mate?

No, he cannot. Obama is constitutionally ineligible to serve again as president under any circumstances..

How so?

You really are clueless.

 

[Billy_Bob]

There are some people out there who think Obama could actually become Vice President and then be appointed to the office of President if something happened to Biden. To those people I say: It can't happen.

According to the U.S. Constitution, Obama could never become Biden's Vice President. First, the Constitution provides that a Vice President cannot be elected if he/she is constitutional ineligible to the office of President. Second, the Constitution provides that no person can hold the office of President for more than two terms. Therefore, since Obama has served two terms as President he cannot hold that office again, and since he is unqualified for the office of the presidency he cannot become Vice President. The relevant portions of the Constitution are found in Amendments XII and XXII and they are provided below.

Amendment XII
“The person having the greatest number of votes as Vice-President, shall be the Vice-President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed, and if no person have a majority, then from the two highest numbers on the list, the Senate shall choose the Vice-President; a quorum for the purpose shall consist of two-thirds of the whole number of Senators, and a majority of the whole number shall be necessary to a choice. But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States” (emphasis my own).

Amendment XXII
Section 1
“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. But this article shall not apply to any person holding the office of President when this article was proposed by the Congress, and shall not prevent any person who may be holding the office of President, or acting as President, during the term within which this article becomes operative from holding the office of President or acting as President during the remainder of such term.”

Obama would not be eligible to run for the office of Vice President. When the Constitution says, “But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States” it means that no one who is ineligible to be ELECTED President can Be ELECTED as Vice President. So what does it take to be eligible to run for the office of president? Well, according to Article II, Section 1, he must be a natural born citizen, at least 35 years old and have resided in the United States for 14 years; further, according to Amendment 22, Section 1, he cannot have been previously elected to the office for two terms.

Some people think that Obama could become Vice President and serve again as President if something happened to Biden because he would be appointed to that position rather than being elected. This is not true. In order to become Vice President Obama would have to be elected to that position; however, the Constitution prohibits him from becoming Vice President since he is not qualified to be President. The language of the Constitution is plain and simple: Obama's gone. Obama's final departure from the presidency reminds me of this old country song:

From the OP:

The answer seems to be pretty straightforward. The 12th Amendment to the Constitution states that "no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States." And the 22nd Amendment, the political response to Franklin Roosevelt's impressive run of presidential victories, capped presidents to two terms. Ergo: No Clinton-Clinton or Bush-Bush. Or Biden-Obama, for that matter. Done and done, right?

The answer seems straightforward. But it is less straightforward than it appears.

Michael Dorf is a professor of constitutional law at Cornell University. In 2000, he argued that an Al Gore-Bill Clinton ticket could withstand legal scrutiny. And when we spoke by phone on Thursday, he said that he stood by that argument.

The rough outline of his argument is this: The 22nd Amendment doesn't say you can't be president for more than two terms. It says you can't be elected president twice. If a Biden-Obama ticket won (which we'll get to), and tragedy were to befall Joe Biden, Barack Obama could become president, according to the letter of the law (which we'll also get to), since he wasn't elected to the position. As such, Obama is not constitutionally ineligible to serve as president.

What's more, Dorf said, the case of Powell v. McCormack in 1968 established precedent for a narrow reading of what constitutes "eligibility." In that case, the House sought to prevent Adam Clayton Powell from being sworn in as a representative, arguing that the Constitution gave them the ability to "be the judge of ... qualifications" to sit in the House. The Supreme Court disagreed, deciding that the House couldn't add new qualifications (in Powell's case, that he faced legal problems) by which to deem someone eligible.

"I interpret the Powell case to mean that when the Constitution refers to 'qualifications,' or whether someone is 'qualified' for an office, that's a kind of term of art," Dorf said. "When we learn that the vice president has to have the qualifications for the office of the presidency, that is also a term of art. We look to the part of the Constitution that tells us what it takes to be qualified to be president, and not having served two prior terms is not among them."

"The 22nd Amendment, to my mind, is a sort of stand-alone provision," he continued. And that provision says "elected." "The drafters of this language knew the difference between getting elected to an office and holding an office. They could have just said 'no person may hold the office of president more than twice.' But they didn't."

Here's the interesting part, though: Dorf also notes the distinction between running for the vice presidency and becoming vice president. I asked him where a challenge would arise to a Biden-Obama candidacy, and his response was that it would come up at the Electoral College -- or once Congress was asked to certify the already-voted-upon results. There's a completely valid argument to be made that the country would never elect Barack Obama as vice president, of course, in part because is seems to violate the spirit of the 22nd amendment. But if we did, it wouldn't actually become a constitutional question until after Election Day. Remember: We don't elect the president and vice president; the Electoral College does.

You should really stay off the kookaid..

 

[BULLDOG]

So. David Duke likes him too.

Of course he does.

Do you know what else he does not do? He does not control who likes him or doesn't.
.

You're right. Farrakhan and Duke both chose to like him because they approve of the things he embodies. Nothing forced either of them to make that choice.

Are you really stupid enough to believe that?

They both praised Trump. What more do you need?

 

[The Professor]

There are some people out there who think Obama could actually become Vice President and then be appointed to the office of President if something happened to Biden. To those people I say: It can't happen.

According to the U.S. Constitution, Obama could never become Biden's Vice President. First, the Constitution provides that a Vice President cannot be elected if he/she is constitutional ineligible to the office of President. Second, the Constitution provides that no person can hold the office of President for more than two terms. Therefore, since Obama has served two terms as President he cannot hold that office again, and since he is unqualified for the office of the presidency he cannot become Vice President. The relevant portions of the Constitution are found in Amendments XII and XXII and they are provided below.

Amendment XII
“The person having the greatest number of votes as Vice-President, shall be the Vice-President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed, and if no person have a majority, then from the two highest numbers on the list, the Senate shall choose the Vice-President; a quorum for the purpose shall consist of two-thirds of the whole number of Senators, and a majority of the whole number shall be necessary to a choice. But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States” (emphasis my own).

Amendment XXII
Section 1
“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. But this article shall not apply to any person holding the office of President when this article was proposed by the Congress, and shall not prevent any person who may be holding the office of President, or acting as President, during the term within which this article becomes operative from holding the office of President or acting as President during the remainder of such term.”

Obama would not be eligible to run for the office of Vice President. When the Constitution says, “But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States” it means that no one who is ineligible to be ELECTED President can Be ELECTED as Vice President. So what does it take to be eligible to run for the office of president? Well, according to Article II, Section 1, he must be a natural born citizen, at least 35 years old and have resided in the United States for 14 years; further, according to Amendment 22, Section 1, he cannot have been previously elected to the office for two terms.

Some people think that Obama could become Vice President and serve again as President if something happened to Biden because he would be appointed to that position rather than being elected. This is not true. In order to become Vice President Obama would have to be elected to that position; however, the Constitution prohibits him from becoming Vice President since he is not qualified to be President. The language of the Constitution is plain and simple: Obama's gone. Obama's final departure from the presidency reminds me of this old country song:

Your second point is wrong. You cannot be elected to be President more than twice. You could serve more terms than that.

The first point you made is that a President must be a natural born citizen, Obama is, 35 years old, he is, and 14 years a resident, he is.

So, he's not ineligible there.

I didn't say Obama was ineligible. As for serving more than two terms, LBJ served less than two years of Kennedy's remaining term, If LBJ had served for more than two years, he could not have been elected to that position more than once. Here is what the Constitution says: “.... 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” (Article XXII, Section1). According to the Constitution, ten years is the most that anyone could serve as President and it could be as little as six years.

 

[Billy_Bob]

There are some people out there who think Obama could actually become Vice President and then be appointed to the office of President if something happened to Biden. To those people I say: It can't happen.

According to the U.S. Constitution, Obama could never become Biden's Vice President. First, the Constitution provides that a Vice President cannot be elected if he/she is constitutional ineligible to the office of President. Second, the Constitution provides that no person can hold the office of President for more than two terms. Therefore, since Obama has served two terms as President he cannot hold that office again, and since he is unqualified for the office of the presidency he cannot become Vice President. The relevant portions of the Constitution are found in Amendments XII and XXII and they are provided below.

Amendment XII
“The person having the greatest number of votes as Vice-President, shall be the Vice-President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed, and if no person have a majority, then from the two highest numbers on the list, the Senate shall choose the Vice-President; a quorum for the purpose shall consist of two-thirds of the whole number of Senators, and a majority of the whole number shall be necessary to a choice. But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States” (emphasis my own).

Amendment XXII
Section 1
“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. But this article shall not apply to any person holding the office of President when this article was proposed by the Congress, and shall not prevent any person who may be holding the office of President, or acting as President, during the term within which this article becomes operative from holding the office of President or acting as President during the remainder of such term.”

Obama would not be eligible to run for the office of Vice President. When the Constitution says, “But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States” it means that no one who is ineligible to be ELECTED President can Be ELECTED as Vice President. So what does it take to be eligible to run for the office of president? Well, according to Article II, Section 1, he must be a natural born citizen, at least 35 years old and have resided in the United States for 14 years; further, according to Amendment 22, Section 1, he cannot have been previously elected to the office for two terms.

Some people think that Obama could become Vice President and serve again as President if something happened to Biden because he would be appointed to that position rather than being elected. This is not true. In order to become Vice President Obama would have to be elected to that position; however, the Constitution prohibits him from becoming Vice President since he is not qualified to be President. The language of the Constitution is plain and simple: Obama's gone. Obama's final departure from the presidency reminds me of this old country song:

Were talking to stupid liberals who cant grasp the concept of "shall not be infringed" and you want them to take the 12th and 22nd amendments and use cognitive thought?