Kevin Drum touches on something that's increasingly been a bugaboo of mine: term limits.

The key point for me is the first sentence in this quote from Jim Newton writing in the LA Times.

Power has shifted from those we elect to those we don't, to the permanent bureaucracy and to lobbyists. Problems get kicked down the road in favor of attention-grabbing short-term initiatives that may have long-term consequences.

I'm absolutely not in favor of term limits at the Congressional level, and i am in favor of repealing them for the president. It's worth remembering that they were only imposed after FDR. As the quote says, lobbyists and bureaucrats don't have term limits, so every time we get a new president they have to fight against the entrenched interests that have always been there and will remain there long after they are gone. If a president wants to, for example, reform the CIA, the career officials at the CIA can basically slow pedal any reforms and hope the next president will think differently. And the same would be true for other elected officials if term limits were established.

(It's also worth observing that based on approval ratings, i'm not sure that either George W. Bush or Barack Obama would have been elected to a third term in any event. If we have a democracy, then we shouldn't need artificial ways to prevent "dictatorship". We can vote people out of office if we don't want them anymore. I should note that i also support a better primary process and campaign finance reform, so that it's easier for an incumbent to be challenged. But we need those things anyway.)

Yes, presidential term limits were only imposed after FDR but no President other than FDR has served more than 8 years. Reagan and Eisenhower were too old and too unhealthy to serve a third term. So the only President that might have served three terms is Clinton. I'm not sure it makes that much of a difference.