THE SIX-YEAR PRESIDENT

By Thomas Kelly

Mike Gravel (D-Alaska) formally announced he would seek the office of the Presidency in April 2006, two and a half years before the upcoming 2008 election. Most of the 18 or so presidential candidates announced they were running for the office by January 2007. With President Bush constitutionally prohibited from seeking a third term, everyone, Republican candidates and Democrat alike, wanted to get a fast start. This is the first time in decades a President or his Vice-President are not running.

If the constitution changed the term of the President from two four-year terms to one nonrenewable six-year term, a new President could focus on the national interest and not worry about reelection politics. Campaigning for reelection begins after the mid-term elections and much of the president's schedule is consumed by political events. He would have no interest in delaying controversial decisions until after his reelection because there would be no reelection. The two extra years for a term will also hinder Congress from trying to wait out a bad President. Members of Congress have no Constitutional term limits and if firmly entrenched with their constituency may remain in Congress for decades. Many members of Congress delay acting on certain legislation until a new President is elected. If a president has a six-year term, Congress will be more inclined to act on legislation.

If the president had those two extra years he would have more time to foster relationships with foreign leaders. In today's post-9/11 world the president needs the personal relationship with other nations’ leaders to assist in the protection of mutual global interest.

The best argument against having a six-year president is that six years is too long for a bad president. Maybe this is also the best argument for the new term, because six years is too short for a good president. One remedy for a good president to be limited to only six years is a plan designed by political scientist Larry Sabato, called the Presidential Confirmation Election. Under this plan the president would serve a six-year term and then request a two-year extension, thereby serving 8 years in office, the same amount of time as a president who wins reelection.

How would this plan work? Simple. By July 1st of his fifth year in office the president would request an extension. At the November general election, the public would vote yes, to extend his term two years (three years total, the remaining year of his six-year term and the extension), or no, to allow him to finish his remaining year in office. The advantages of the Presidential Confirmation Election is that the president would run unopposed and could focus his four month extension campaign on trying to sell the American people a positive agenda and not worry about tearing down a political opponent. Of course the opposition party would campaign saying the president has failed and is not worthy of the extension. It would be difficult for the opposition because it would have no actual candidate to run against the president.

Another advantage is that if a president is rejected in the confirmation election he would have one year to make amends with the American people to improve his presidential legacy for the history books. Of course the real advantage is that if the president is rejected for extension, it would actually limit potential candidates from both parties to one year to campaign for the party nomination and run for the office of the president. Candidates could file right after the extension election, and only have two months before the New Hampshire primary (instead of the current two to three years candidates have been running in this election cycle).

Another key element to an extension election is that the newly elected president would not have to spend his first three and a half years in office catering to the ideologists of his own party to get renominated to a second term. The President could focus his agenda on the national interest and not on his party’s political agenda.

Imagine if the six-year term for president was part of the Constitution today. Would President Bush have requested an extension in 2006? Would he have had a chance for winning the Presidential Confirmation Election? It would have been interesting to find out.