The Best President the US Never Had

Discussion in 'History' started by Anthony, Dec 14, 2007.

  1. NMMatt

    NMMatt Member+

    Apr 5, 2006
    Had Goldwater won, we would likely not exist, what with the resulting nuclear holocaust and all :D.

    Personally I'm curious what these past 8 years would have been like with a President Gore. Maybe not the best president, but we would have avoided one of the worst ;).
     
  2. topcatcole

    topcatcole BigSoccer Supporter

    Apr 26, 2003
    Washington DC
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Would you have preferred him to who you got in '92?
     
  3. yossarian

    yossarian Moderator
    Staff Member

    Jun 16, 1999
    Big City Blinking
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I won't speak for others....but initially I thought a Cuomo candidacy would have been really interesting. However, after weeks and weeks of his Hamlet-like pontificating on whether he would enter the race or not, like many critics of the young Danish prince, I was thinking "either pick up the sword and start stabbing people or STFU."

    :p
     
  4. Matrim55

    Matrim55 Member+

    Aug 14, 2000
    Berkeley
    Club:
    Connecticut
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    If "best" is "biggest improvement over what we ended up with", Gore's gotta be in the running.
     
  5. Ismitje

    Ismitje Super Moderator

    Dec 30, 2000
    The Palouse
    Club:
    Real Salt Lake
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    William Edgar Borah, 1936.
     
  6. Owen Gohl

    Owen Gohl Member

    Jun 21, 2000
    It's interesting to hear what people were saying about RFK's prospects before he got shot. Had he lived the odds of political success were very much against him. Death elevated the man as it has few others.

    Whatever your view this is fascinating video:

    Some people believe that if Robert F. Kennedy had not been assassinated in early June 1968, he surely would have made it to the White House. Some of them are convinced Kennedy's victory in the California Democratic primary over Senator Eugene McCarthy guaranteed him his party's presidential nomination. However this is simply not so.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMr97_M7okw
     
  7. RobertK

    RobertK Member

    Jan 10, 2007
    Manhattan Beach
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I think Nixon would have been great in '60. Getting jobbed by the Kennedy clan in '60 kinda messed with his noggin I think.
     
  8. USvsIRELAND

    USvsIRELAND Member+

    Jul 19, 2004
    ATL
    Yeah Nixon would have handled the Cuban Missile Crisis with no problems.....!:rolleyes:
     
  9. John Kevin W. Desk

    John Kevin W. Desk New Member

    Mar 5, 2007
    Why the skepticism? Nixon was familiar with Khruschev - more so than Kennedy was. Nixon's later foreign policy was famous for detente and recognition of Red China.

    Kennedy's performance in the Cuban Missile Crisis was magnificent, especially given the horrible botch he made with the Bay of Pigs, but if there was another man who might have done as well, it was the Trickster.
     
  10. Dr. Foosball™

    Dr. Foosball™ New Member

    Dec 23, 2006
    Hot Springs, AR
    Club:
    FC Dallas
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Henry Clay...and after next year I will add Ron Paul to that list.
     
  11. USvsIRELAND

    USvsIRELAND Member+

    Jul 19, 2004
    ATL
    Fair enough. I'm just glad JFK+RFK were in power when that happened. We'll never know otherwise.

    It will be nice to get a President in 2008 that understands the world around him(or her) again.
     
  12. topcatcole

    topcatcole BigSoccer Supporter

    Apr 26, 2003
    Washington DC
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I wouldn't hold my breath.
     
  13. Autogolazo

    Autogolazo BigSoccer Supporter

    Feb 19, 2000
    Bombay Beach, CA
    I like the "McCain in 2000" comment.

    I actually gave money to his campaign hoping he'd beat Bush.

    I would very likely have voted for him against a poor version of Gore in the same year.

    I never considered myself to be a liberal before Bush came to power--but now that I've seen the enemy (him, his coterie of crooks, the people who voted for him), I'm as liberal as they come and proud of it.

    Something has happened to the Republican party to make it unrecognizable from when I was growing up in the 1980s. Unrecognizable and disgusting. Jesus, eternal war, profligate spending, and on and on.

    Yet, if I'm honest with myself, trying to remember how I felt in those innocent pre-Bush days of 2000, I would've voted McCain over Gore.
     
  14. m1150

    m1150 New Member

    Mar 3, 2007
    "I was a Republican -- until they lost their minds" -- Charles Barkley
     
  15. USvsIRELAND

    USvsIRELAND Member+

    Jul 19, 2004
    ATL
    Depends how much faith you have that Obama will get elected.

    Fareed Zakaria has a great article on this subject in the new Newsweek out.
     
  16. topcatcole

    topcatcole BigSoccer Supporter

    Apr 26, 2003
    Washington DC
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    In all honesty, I don't think Obama has a hope in hell. We have come a long way in race relations, but I have seen too many examples of voters saying one thing to the pollsters and doing another when they get in the ballot box.

    But I really hope that I'm wrong.
     
  17. RobertK

    RobertK Member

    Jan 10, 2007
    Manhattan Beach
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I really do think you are wrong on this. There may be a minority that would say that and then do something different due to race. Further more, most who would be doing that would likely not support his policies and not be a potential voter anyway.
     
  18. saosebastiao

    saosebastiao New Member

    May 22, 2005
    Well, I will tell you this much, despite the fact that I am not representative of any specific faction:

    There is not a single candidate from the Republican party that I would not vote for if Hillary was the Democratic nominee.

    There are only two Republican candidates that I would vote for if Obama was the Democratic nominee: Ron Paul and Mike Huckabee.
     
  19. Dr. Foosball™

    Dr. Foosball™ New Member

    Dec 23, 2006
    Hot Springs, AR
    Club:
    FC Dallas
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Good post.

    After all, we know there is no way a relatively inexperienced Congressman from Illinois can win the Presidential election. ;)
     
  20. Flyin Ryan

    Flyin Ryan Member

    May 13, 2004
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I, on the other hand, have already made a list of candidates I will definitely not vote for, even if I have to vote third party:

    Hillary Clinton
    John Edwards
    Rudy Giuliani
    Mike Huckabee

    I may not vote for Mitt Romney or Barack Obama. Depends on how their views change as they progress if nominated.
     
  21. JaredSS07

    JaredSS07 Moderator
    Staff Member

    Dec 6, 2005
    Club:
    Newcastle United FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Alexander Hamilton – Easily one of the most influential Founding Fathers who never became President.

    Daniel Webster - Same level of statesman as Clay and Calhoun.

    Sen. Richard Lugar - Another great statesman and one-time Presidential candidate. Has more foreign policy experience and knowledge than any other living American.

    Stormin' Norman Schwarzkopf. – "I WANT HOLYFIELD! I WANT HOLYFIELD! I showed you what these guns can do in the Middle East, and now I'm gonna show you what they can do in the ring!"

    Richard J Daley – I can’t say he would be the best President, but definitely an interesting one.
     
  22. england66

    england66 Member+

    Jan 6, 2004
    dallas, texas
    Margaret Thatcher.
     
  23. Dr. Foosball™

    Dr. Foosball™ New Member

    Dec 23, 2006
    Hot Springs, AR
    Club:
    FC Dallas
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    HA! I have a history professor that is obsessed with that lady.

    ...But he also says that Harding was the best US President.
     
  24. RobertK

    RobertK Member

    Jan 10, 2007
    Manhattan Beach
    Nat'l Team:
    United States

    Harding gets a bad rap!
     
  25. RobertK

    RobertK Member

    Jan 10, 2007
    Manhattan Beach
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Harding and Polk did alot in office short periods of time.
     

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