Hey, it could happen. In 1947 the Presidential succession law was changed. Prior to that year, if the President and Vice President died in office, the Secretary of State was next in line. The 1947 law changed the order, moving up the Speaker of the House (now John Boehner), followed by the Present Pro Tempore of the U.S. Senate (currently Sen. Inouye). Fifth in line would be Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
This is just wrong. In 1947 it was generally assumed that the President and the House majority would be from the same party. While exceptions had occurred in the past, that had been the normal order of things. Now, however, we frequently have divided (and deadlocked) government in the U.S.
If Air Force One crashed and Joe Biden had a fatal illness, John Boehner, the man who represents the interests of Tea Party fanatics, the Koch Brothers, and Karl Rove, would become President of the United States.
We need to change the law back to what it was before 1947. It is true that the Speaker is an elected official, but she or he represents one of 435 House districts, hardly a mandate. The Secretary of State, on the other hand, was appointed by the elected President and has the trust and confidence of the President. Think about it--Clinton or Boehner? That is a law that needs changing.
Sorry to say. but in 1947 the Democrats had control of all branches and what they were doing was to put lock on things so they thought it would never change. Just like the super majority in the senate. Sooner of later it may come back to bite you. Things should not be changed at will just to accommodate things at the time.
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