Nor does Zimmerman offer any evidence that presidents governed better before 1953, when they had the option of running for a third term. The period from 1789 through 1953 included some great presidents, some stinkeroos, and plenty of mediocrities. And only two presidents actually sought a third term: Theodore Roosevelt and Franklin D. Roosevelt. TR’s unsuccessful run, as a third-party breakaway candidate, came four years after he left office…

If we were going to make an argument for repealing the 22nd Amendment, it would be even more counterintuitive than Zimmerman’s: It seems to us too many presidents are running for second terms. Among the 10 presidents who’ve been eligible for re-election since the 22nd Amendment took effect, 9 of them–every one but LBJ–has run. By contrast, of the 28 presidents between Washington and Truman who survived their first terms, 9 did not seek a second term or, in the case of Coolidge, a second full term that would have been permitted under the 22nd Amendment.

It may be that this has nothing to do with the 22nd Amendment. After all, the first eight presidents all sought re-election, as did Hoover, FDR and Truman before the amendment took effect. It may be that the period between the 1840s and the 1920s–especially from 1841-1884, when only two presidents sought re-election–was a historical anomaly. Then again, perhaps the 22nd Amendment, like the unlamented 55-mile-an-hour speed limit, has come to function as a lower limit as much as an upper one.