Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama had very thin résumés for the presidency. One can argue that Mr. Clinton and Mr. Bush learned in office, but this came at great expense to the nation, surely in Mr. Bush’s case. The jury is still out on Mr. Obama. Almost certainly, future presidents will be as unready as the last three were.
Harlan Ullman, senior adviser for the Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security, writes to the Washington Post on US presidential term limits:
Thomas E. Cronin’s Jan. 4 op-ed, “Eight years is enough for any president,” neglected the past 22 years of U.S. history. For better or worse, we simply are not electing presidents sufficiently qualified or experienced for the job. Assuming presidents grow in office, and I would argue that Mr. Bush did, someone else soon takes over, and the process starts again. Given the demands of the 21st century, perhaps a third term is not a bad idea.