Election 2008: No More Clinton or Bush’s
I was just going to add this to the links of the day, when I saw a few things I wanted to highlight here from Paris Lemon
The Los Angeles Times had a very interesting op-ed piece today which points out something that seems to be almost completely overlooked; say Hillary Clinton is elected President in 2008 and again in 2012, by the times she leaves office in 2017 that would have been 28 straight years of someone named either Bush or Clinton in the White House! This is even worse if you consider the 8 years George H.W. Bush served as Ronald Reagan’s Vice President…that would be 36 years!
As the article points out, when George Washington turned down a 3rd term as President and later Thomas Jefferson warned of an “unnatural aristocracy” they would likely not be happy with this potential situation. Though America is not supposed to have an oligarchy (that is where the power of the government rests with only a small, elite segment of society) that seems to be what is evolving. What are the odds that both the son of George H.W. Bush and the wife of Bill Clinton would be the best people out of 200 million + citizens to run the country at the times they were elected? Not very good….
To take it a step further, it would seem that the people of this country despite the strength of that name recognition don’t even want relatives of former Presidents in office. The LA Times lays this out perfectly:
“Three times in American history have close relatives of former presidents won the office. John Quincy Adams, son of John Adams, lost the popular vote to Andrew Jackson in 1824 but won in the electoral college amid charges of a “corrupt bargain.” Benjamin Harrison, grandson of William Henry Harrison, lost the popular vote to Grover Cleveland in 1888 and also suffered as a “minority president” and mere figurehead. George W. Bush lost the popular vote to Al Gore in 2000.”
In the 3 times where a relative of a former President has been elected, the person elected actually lost the popular vote all three times ! That is perhaps another argument for why we should get rid of or at least drastically alter the electoral college, but that is another topic.
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I will be doing another post on why I don’t think Hillary has a snow ball’s chance in hell of winning the presidency in 2008 in the near future.
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Stumble It!
January 22nd, 2007 at 10:43 pm
I really don’t see any of the cadidates from either side being what I want in a President. Maybe Sam Brownback from Kansas. However, I have lost all faith in either side doing what they say they will do. Combined with the fact everything has to go through congress and the President doesn’t hold that much power without the numbers in congress to back it up.
I am about ready to vote for a Libertarian since they seem to want less of government. Or is there a Constituition party? One that thinks we should adhere strictly to the Constitution and get rid of all this interpentationist crap?
January 22nd, 2007 at 11:43 pm
Yes. No more Bushes or Clintons please.
I had high hope for GWB, but his desire to cede the southwest to Mexico and his complete inability to inspire and lead our country through a difficult time has disappointed me.
At least we didn’t have Kerry or Gore. I would like to see Newt or Tancredo.
Anybody else with some suggestions?
January 23rd, 2007 at 8:41 am
And here I was under the silly notion that FDR was related to Teddy (Roosevelt).
Still, I think we don’t need anymore “Bush” in the Whitehouse.
January 23rd, 2007 at 11:43 am
Regardless the last names, there is an oligarchy. Even the chattering class, the ones of note who actually have a little insight, have been around Washington since teens polishing their resumes and kissing the behinds of the politicians du jour. There is a full field and a bullpen and a stacked farm club. The chance of anyone outside those few thousand people breaking in is zero, and a few thousand is nothing when the chain of vetting leads back up to a couple of hunderd people.
Oligarchy indeed.