It took FDR four terms to nudge the USA out of depression (with policies which may have exacerbated it), and he didn't live to see us win WW2 or use the powerful bomb whose secret he guarded above all else. Those are the good points. He also tried to pack the Supreme Court and failed. He interned 50,000 US citizens. And foisted upon us Social Security (his chief legacy)- which is technically a Ponzi Scheme. His was certainly an imperfect administration.
Truman had the guts to use the bomb, ending WW2. China fell. He started the Marshall Plan - which saved Europe. He integrated the military. He had the guts to wage war in Korea. His was certainly an imperfect administration. He basically got fired.
Eisenhower retreated from Korea. He got caught lying about U2 flights. Cuba fell. Hungary fell. The USSR was on the move. Remember the Suez Crisis? SURE: He built the highways. And began integration. His was certainly an imperfect administration.
JFK chickened out during the Bay of Pigs. He nearly started a nuclear war during the Cuban Missile Crisis - which he actually lost, but which the MSM said he won. Then he got killed.
LBJ gave us a seemingly intractable Vietnam War and The Great Society. Nuff said. Their legacies were very damaging for decades.
Nixon opened up China - changing the entire dynamic of the Cold War; he invented detente and signed arms deals with the USSR; he ended the Vietnam War. He also reestablished Law & Order. AND signed the Clean Air/Water Act and invented the EPA. All this in just five years. He got fired. In most circles he is reviled. Yet, by comparison to most presidents he achieved a very many great and important things of huge lasting value. HE GOT FIRED.
Ford. FORD? Nice man. Tried to save Vietnam, but failed. Got fired.
Carter? The worst ever. Lost Iran. Let the USSR have Afghanistan. REMEMBER THE MISERY INDEX?! Got fired.
Reagan: He cut taxes, and weathered the tough year that followed. Then the economy finally responded. Has ever since. He increased defense spending and challenged the USSR all over the globe. But he didn't see the USSR fall on his watch. And the MSM hammered him non-stop - tied to get him impeached for secretly selling arms to.... IRAN during their war with SADDAM. And don't forget, his retreat from Beirut after the Hizballah attack on our Marine barracks was a disgrace and harmed us for decades.
The USSR fell on GHW Bush's watch - and then he defeated Saddam, but didn't finish the job. He seemed disconnected from the public during a mild recession. He got fired. By Perot.
Clinton gave us what of lasting value!?!?! .... NAFTA (against his party's wishes). He gave us Family Medical Leave Act. Some liberal judges. And the biggest market bubbles since Hoover - (NASDAQ, New Economy, etc). He lost the Congress. And got freakin' impeached for committing perjury. But he didn't get fired. Too smooth for that.
Now... GW Bush. Wanted to become the EDUCATION president. Sheesh. Then came 9/11. He liberated 50 million people. Reigned in Kim Jong Il. And Gaddafy. And AQKhan. He's trying to transform the Middle East and spread democracy to another billion humans. But because it can't happen on an election cycle, much of the MSM and the glib politerati think he's bitten off more than WE can chew. Then there's Miers. Dubai. Amnesty. Plamegate. He can't be fired, or he wouldabin. (Thanks his lucky stars for Cheney and Kerry!)
And now.... two dozen politicos are fighting for the job.
WHY?!
A president's faults are magnified in minutes just as their greatest achievements won't be recognized for decades.
That sorta defines thankless, don't it?
I think there are a few good men running. And a few running who would be disasters on a Jimmy Carter scale.
Not one good candidate is on the Democrat side. Not a one.
I think the one who has the most inner strength and deep values - who can stand for and stick by high principles - and be the best president is Thompson.
He strikes me as someone who can - like Truman and Reagan and GW Bush (a haberdasher, an actor, and an alcoholic failed oil-man/baseball team owner) - have the simple and sincere guts to do the right thing, weather the inevitable storms and stick to the right thing no matter what.
And not for personal legacy's sake, either. But for history's sake. Our common history. Our destiny. For the generations to come.
Whether he gets thanked or fired. Odds are - in his lifetime - it'll be more much of the latter.
Whether he gets thanked or fired. Odds are - in his lifetime - it'll be more much of the latter.
Absolutely thankless job. Have no idea why anyone would want it!
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