Of course XII says that.
Here's the entire text of Amendment XXII:
" No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of the President more than once. But this Article shall not apply to any person holding the office of President when this Article was proposed by the Congress, and shall not prevent any person who may be holding the office of President, or acting as President, during the term within which this Article becomes operative from holding the office of President or acting as President during the remainder of such term.
It would have been very simple to say, "Any person who has served as President for two terms, or for one term plus 731 days, shall be permenently ineligible to the office of President or Vice-President".
But that's not what it says.
It says that WJC "shall not be elected to the office of President".
Now I grant you that the drafters of XXII did not imagine such a creature as X42 being elected once, let alone twice.
But were WJC to run as Kerry's VP (that's not the plan, it's Hillary, but IF) there is no penumbra or emanation of the XXII Amendment sufficient to bar him from office.
Nor to bar his ascent to the Presidency after Kerry's tragic murder by a crazed, right-wing gun nut who just saw "The Passion of the Christ".
Yes, but it isn't necessary to recapitulate the 12th amendment.
I see your argument though, that "election" and "eligibility" can somehow be construed differently. The argument has to boil down to "Clinton is not constitutionally ineligible to the office of President," even in light of the 22nd amendment. I wouldn't want to be the one making the argument.
The Relevant Section of 22 reads thusly.
and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of the President more than once.
The Strikethru is a clause, and the first bolded part is a clause, it limits service to 9 years 355 days MAX.
The other salient point is the exclusion, at the End
But this Article shall not apply to any person holding the office of President when this Article was proposed by the Congress, and shall not prevent any person who may be holding the office of President, or acting as President, during the term within which this Article becomes operative from holding the office of President or acting as President during the remainder of such term.
Which was inserted to keep it from being Voided by being an ex post facto law, vis-a-vis Harry Truman.
Truman was the last President eligible to serve 3 terms. Period. No amount of Wishful thinking, or Paranoia can Change that.