American Presidency

Newt Gingrich, If Elected, Would Be A Disaster For America In More Ways Than One!

Ronald 2 Comments

Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, soaring in the public opinion polls, has demonstrated in the past his super confidence, his narcissism, his cockiness, his egotism, his instability, his mercurial nature, his reckless statements and behavior, his lack of ethics, his ability to antagonize fellow Republicans, his total lack of “family values”, and his hypocrisy to the extreme!

Many Republicans see him as a total disaster in the White House, were he by some magic to reach the Oval Office. They are terrified at how he would act autocratically with Congress and the media, and get involved in ethical scandals, and with his bluster and his cowboy attitude, might get us involved in new foreign adventures. He would be, very likely, worse than either Richard Nixon or George W. Bush, or both of them combined!

And also, the lingering thought must be present among many people opposed to Newt Gingrich, that were he to occupy the Oval Office, he would be certain to become involved in a sex scandal, just like Bill Clinton wasted a year of our time, and undermined his own Presidency’s effectiveness in its last three years, due to his dalliances!

After all, Gingrich has been married THREE times, and only Ronald Reagan was married TWICE, and no one ever accused Reagan of sexual hijinks!

With Gingrich having power, there would be the great temptation for Newt to cheat on Callista, his third wife, because he cheated on the first wife with the future second, and on the second wife with Callista. Why, with his ego infused with power, would he not pursue the same actions, and in so doing, embarrass himself and the nation, and possibly endanger the security of the nation, because of his inability to control his own sexual appetite?

An impeachment possibility would arise from abuse of power and sexual hijinks, and it would add to the tragedy of the Presidency, that we were stupid enough to select a man who has no concept of how to unify and unite a nation desperate for common ground and compromise!

If Newt Gingrich Became President . . . . . . .

Ronald Leave a comment

If former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich became President:

1. He would be taking the oath of office as the second oldest to Ronald Reagan, but about five and a half months younger than Reagan was when he took the first oath of office.

2. He would be only the second Speaker of the House to become President, after James K. Polk in 1844.

3. He would have had the second longest career in the House of Representatives of any President, a total of 20 years, as compared to
Gerald Ford’s nearly 25 years.

4. Only three other Speakers of the House were nominated for the Presidency–Henry Clay in 1824, 1832, and 1844; John Bell in 1860, and James G. Blaine in 1884.

5. He would be the longest out of public office (14 years), with Abraham Lincoln second with 12 years.

6. He would come into office with the most controversial and divisive reputation since Richard Nixon in 1968.

7. He would be only the second President to have an earned Ph. D. (Tulane University in History), after Woodrow Wilson (Johns Hopkins University, History and Political Science), elected in 1912, exactly a century earlier!

8. He would be the second President to be divorced after Ronald Reagan, but the first to have had two divorces and a third wife, and interestingly, his first two marriages lasted precisely 19 years each!

9. He would be the second President to come from the state of Georgia, after Jimmy Carter in 1976, although Gingrich was born and grew up in the state of Pennsylvania.

10. Gingrich would enter the Presidency as the most controversial and “ethically challenged” President since Richard Nixon, and only James G. Blaine, nominated by the Republicans in 1884, might be considered to be of equal “ethical challenge” to Gingrich.

11. Gingrich would compete with other Presidents for prolific authorship of books, including Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Richard Nixon, and Jimmy Carter.

12. Finally, Gingrich would continue the “summer birth” tradition of the previous four Presidents–Bush I in June, Clinton in August, Bush II in July, and Obama in August, if he were elected!

The Profession Of Politics And The Field Of Business: Never The Twain SHOULD Meet!

Ronald Leave a comment

The field of politics, despite many cynics, is a PROFESSION, and requires a lot of training and expertise to do it well.

That is why people who go into politics run for local office and state office usually before running for national office, such as the Senate and House of Representatives.

That is why ALL Presidential winners in our history, except for three generals–Zachary Taylor, Ulysses Grant, and Dwight D. Eisenhower–have had some kind of political experience before becoming President.

Only two people have ever been nominated for the Presidency WITHOUT any political or military experience–Wendell Willkie in 1940 by the Republicans, and Ross Perot, who ran as an Independent and Reform Party candidate in 1992 and 1996.

The thought of Herman Cain running for the Presidency without any knowledge or expertise in any field of government policy turned out to be a total disaster, beyond his own moral and ethical issues. It is obvious that Herman Cain undermined the respect of the Presidential office by having the gall to run, knowing full well that he was not qualified by any measurement!

Cain took advantage of his race to enter the race, knowing no one would dare challenge it because of his race. But all he did was exploit the publicity that one gains running for the Presidency to sell books, promote more lucrative, highly paid speeches, and to gain the opportunity for a likely television show, because now he is a celebrity, who loves the spotlight and the ability to profit from it by his associations with the political class that he knows nothing about!

This disaster of Herman Cain is good enough reason to say that never again should an arrogant businessman, including Donald Trump, think he or she is qualified to hold our highest office! If one wishes to strive for such, get serious and get experience in politics and political office first before lessening the dignity of the Presidency for one’s own selfish gains!

Newt Gingrich: The Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde Of American Politics

Ronald Leave a comment

Newt Gingrich displayed intelligence, thought, and some good ideas in last night’s Republican National Security Debate on CNN, and over the years, he has been judged as being an “ideas” man who made some major contributions to our intellectual and political discourse. He showed real common sense and compassion about illegal immigrants who have been here for many years and contributed positively to America, a view which will anger many Tea Party conservatives, and probably kill his chances for the GOP Presidential nomination.

But just the few days before the debate, Gingrich displayed the mean, nasty, ugly, divisive side of his personality–suggesting child labor return, and telling Americans involved in the “Occupy Wall Street” Movement to take a bath and get a job, rather than protest the unfairness of our economic and political system.

Gingrich has also been particularly nasty and disrespectful toward President Obama, adopting the “Birther” ideas for a long time, and generally, saying wild, reckless things about many issues surrounding the President.

And of course, his ethics in government when Speaker of the House of Representatives, and his scandalous private life, with three marriages and two divorces, and multiple examples of adultery, also make him look positively evil to many observers.

What seems apparent is that Newt Gingrich has multiple sides to his personality, which makes it easy to compare him to Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

The question is IF somehow Gingrich became President, what kind of behavior and personality traits would show up on a daily basis. The fear is that he would be dangerous in office, because his behavior would be so unpredictable!

What A Newt Gingrich Presidency Would Bring: A Wish For The “Good Old Days”

Ronald Leave a comment

With Newt Gingrich, the former House Speaker, suddenly rising to first place in the polls, he has become the new “Flavor of the Month” in the Republican Presidential race.

The question is will Newt Gingrich be able to sustain his first place position, overcome the odds, and become the 45th President of the United States, and what kind of President would he make?

What are his positives?

1. He is very intelligent, very articulate, speaks with assertiveness and a certain level of charisma surrounds him.
2. He has great debating ability, and would never be boring in a presidential race against a primary opponent or the President.
3. He would be more exciting to follow as a candidate for the White House than Mitt Romney, his likely major opponent for the nomination.

What are his negatives?

1. He is highly undisciplined and comes across as an egotistical, self promoter who loves the sound of his own voice.
2. He has a history of being a “flame thrower”, with reckless accusations, and utilizing character assassination and innuendo and distortions against his opponents.
3. He is seen as highly unethical in his dealings, as a “typical” politician of the worst kind, and of course, has the worst “family values” of any of the GOP candidates, all the others being only married once, not three times as he is.

If Gingrich were to end up as the Republican Presidential nominee against Barack Obama, it would cause the following scenario:

1. It would bring about a series of grand debates on the level of the Lincoln-Douglas debates, a discussion of grand ideas and concepts, fascinating to watch.
2. It would lead to the nastiest campaign in American history, as far as advertising and false accusations by both sides, since Gingrich has no limits to what he would claim about Obama, so the President would have to return the favor, with plenty of ammunition available against Gingrich.
3. It would lead to a great divide that already exists among the American people becoming wider, not more narrow, a regrettable situation.

What if Gingrich won, although it seems unlikely that would occur?

1. It would lead to an ideas oriented Presidency with a very strong, assertive executive branch, no lessening of the power of the office, and in fact, much more power would be likely.
2. It would cause a further splintering of the American political system, as Gingrich would not work to unite, and the political rhetoric would be at an all time high on both sides of the political divide.
3. It would lead to more high level corruption and scandals than at any time since the Presidency of Richard Nixon, and even, depending on the circumstances, a move to impeach President Gingrich if the Democrats controlled the Congress.
4. It would lead to likely warfare with Iran, Pakistan, North Korea and Venezuela, and growing tension between our nation and China and Russia, as Gingrich has no sense of tact in diplomacy, and would stir up tensions and confrontations, as he would cause animosities and fear that would be likely to lead to a much more dangerous world.
5. The economy would not improve, and the likelihood of abuse of civil liberties in the name of security would be likely, as Gingrich would advocate action against what he would call ‘radical, leftist elements”.

If the above is not convincing enough to make people realize the dangers of a Gingrich nomination and election to the Presidency, then we may look back on the present difficulties in five years, and wish for the “good old days”!

The Republican Party Worship Of Ignorance: “Anyone” Can Run For President!

Ronald 2 Comments

The only “white collar” professional position that requires no formal qualifications is the Presidency of the United States!

The only requirements are to be 35 years of age, a citizen of the United States, and be alive when elected!

No professional job–doctor, lawyer, professor, accountant, engineer or others–allows the success of a person who is ignorant, lacking in knowledge, or comes across as weird or lazy, except the Presidency of the United States!

So Herman Cain can claim to know nothing, and lean on “experts” to come up with all the answers to every problem. It is true that a President needs top advisers, but he also should be well informed about the major issues that he or she will have to deal with.

No matter how much a fool Herman Cain, or Michele Bachmann, or Rick Perry is, they can claim they are qualified to be President! The Republicans offer us people who are ill qualified to be our Commander in Chief, and ignores the qualified candidates such as Jon Huntsman, who SHOULD be the GOP nominee and give us hope for the party’s future!

The only hope is that the voters know how to sort out who should be eliminated, as no voter should want a person who is just “ordinary” to be the leader of the free world in the 21st century!

What we need are the best among us, NOT the ignorant among us, to lead America into the future!

The Riches Of Embarrassment In The Republican Presidential Field: Herman Cain, Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry!

Ronald Leave a comment

The Republican Party is in the midst of major riches of embarrassment about its Presidential field.

Herman Cain, already having displayed how inadequate a candidate he is in so many ways, adds to the riches of embarrassment when he cannot answer a simple question about Libya when asked, and seems totally confused and out of touch with reality. He is best at repeating his ill fated plan—9-9-9–when asked to explain himself on some issue. He also said he was for collective bargaining for workers one day, and then the next day says he considers collective bargaining to be collective hijacking! He also has the stupidity to ask Henry Kissinger to be his Secretary of State in his administration, as if Cain is about to become President tomorrow! And, of course, Cain forgets or does not know that Kissinger, as great as he might be considered to be by many diplomats, has been out of government for 34 years, and is going on 89 next year, and would be 90 years old in 2013, and therefore, a bit ridiculous to imagine him as a cabinet member at such an advanced age! Cain lives in his own reality, and he has demonstrated total incompetence to be President.

But then Michele Bachmann says the most inane things, and now has suggested that we should be socialist as China is, just the opposite of what she has always professed, and demonstrating no idea of what socialism is in the first place! Whatever she says makes one’s eyes roll, and she and Cain both endorsed waterboarding as not torture, despite so much testimony by people in the military who know it is torture, and produces no verifiable evidence helpful to national security.

And then Rick Perry, who cannot remember what agencies he wants to close, and now advocates a radical concept to “uproot, tear down, and rebuild” Washington, DC, when he cannot even run the state government of Texas adequately and competently, and has been a true disaster in debates and in his other public appearances!

These three candidate have no shame, no embarrassment gene, and seem to be running for the sake of their own warped egos, believing somehow that they are qualified to be sitting in the Oval Office!

They cannot leave the Presidential race soon enough, as they are making our past Presidents alive and dead look better all of the time, even those who were far from adequate in the office!

If this is the best we can do, America is doomed!

Richard Nixon After 37 Years: What It Tells Us About The GOP Race For President!

Ronald Leave a comment

Richard Nixon’s grand jury testimony, given in 1975 after he resigned as a result of the Watergate Scandal, and was given a pardon by Gerald Ford in 1974, shows the same Richard Nixon we know–manipulative as always, feeling sorry for himself, and avoiding responsibility for ANYTHING! The National Archives and the Richard Nixon Presidential Library released new evidence a few days ago.

He is a master of the filibuster, as his party has been conducting in recent years in the Senate!

He claims to have no recollection of lots of details, even though he was the master detail man in the Presidency!

Nixon tries to explain away the famous 18 and a half minute gap as maybe a blank spot never erased!

Nixon spent a lot of time in the 298 pages of grand jury testimony talking about his love of foreign affairs, and in complaints about the brutal nature of politics, which he, of course, heavily contributed to!

Imagine if he was around in the age of the internet and blogs and the 24 hour news cycle, when he complained at the time about constant assault from the electronic news media for 30 minutes per evening!

Nixon portrays himself as the victim , a favored tactic of Sarah Palin and other Republicans today who love to attack the media for exposing their fallacies and shortcomings!

He also talks about his fragile health, emphasizing that he could die any minute because of his trouble in the fall of 1974 with leg phlebitis.

So he wants pity, and to be given a pass, and is insulted that he was not given one!

Reading Nixon should make us aware of the dangers of selecting for presidential nominations or elections ANY candidate who makes himself out to be a victim, who has demonstrated lack of ethics, who has obvious mental problems, who is ill informed, who says inappropriate things in debates, who acts strangely in ways that we can see–in other words, ALL of the GOP candidates except Jon Huntsman, Mitt Romney, and Ron Paul! And this includes a much rumored candidate, who thankfully, did not run–Sarah Palin!

Political Experience, Public Office, And The Presidency

Ronald 1 Comment

One would think that to be President of the United States, one should have political and governmental experience, and have been voted into office by American citizens. That is, the Presidency is NOT a place to learn how government works, and experience of some type electorally is essential!

And yet, Herman Cain is running without ANY government credentials, and having never been elected to any office by any part of the American population!

What gall to think that he is qualified because he is a businessman, when government is NOT a business, and business experience is greatly overrated, and does not train one to run a government, on the scale that being in elective office DOES qualify someone to lead the American people!

The question arises as to how many Presidential candidates or Presidents have had no government electoral experience.

There have been two businessmen who ran for President–Wendell Willkie in 1940 as a Republican and Ross Perot in 1992 and 1996 as an Independent candidate for the White House. Both had a much more distinguished business career than Herman Cain could ever even dream of!

We have also had military generals who have run for office without political experience, with three being elected President–Zachary Taylor in 1848, Ulysses Grant in 1868 and 1872, and Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1952 and 1956, with only Eisenhower rated highly by scholars of the Presidency.

Three other generals ran and lost the Presidential race–Winfield Scott in 1852, George McClellan in 1864, and Winfield Scott Hancock in 1880.

Also, there were two cabinet members who never served in elective office, other than the Presidency–William Howard Taft in 1908 after serving as Secretary of War; and Herbert Hoover in 1928, after serving as Secretary of Commerce. But neither is rated very high among the Presidents.

So the best way to look at it is: If you wish to run for President and lead our nation, you MUST have electoral experience, particularly in the modern era when the job requires political experience as crucial, not business experience as head of a corporation whose only aim is PROFIT!

Have We Ever Had A Dumb, Stupid President? Yes, Warren G. Harding And Andrew Johnson!

Ronald 3 Comments

With the growing evidence that many people who run for President are ill informed, lacking in basic knowledge and curiosity about public affairs, and in some cases, plain dumb or stupid, the question arises whether we have ever had a truly dumb, stupid President of the United States!

We are not talking about one’s personality, or level of success or failure as President, but simply someone who was truly the “ordinary” man or woman, who often is not involved or interested in public affairs and does not have the intelligence or knowledge or judgment to be President of the United States!

The question is whether an “ordinary” man or woman should be allowed to ascend to the highest public office, and have the power to affect the lives, not only of Americans, but the world at large.

We have certainly had Presidents who were truly brilliant and intellectual, including John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, John Quincy Adams, Abraham Lincoln, James Garfield, Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, Woodrow Wilson, Herbert Hoover, John F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. That makes a list of 15 of the 43 Presidents, one out of every three.

Then we have had Presidents who were not brilliant or intellectual, but had great qualifications that made them appropriate for the office of President, including George Washington, James Monroe, Andrew Jackson, Martin Van Buren, John Tyler, James K. Polk, James Buchanan, Rutherford Hayes, Grover Cleveland, Benjamin Harrison, William McKinley, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Lyndon B. Johnson, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, and George W. Bush, making it a list of 18 Presidents, approximately 40 percent, and together with the earlier list, a total of 33 out of 43 Presidents, about 75 percent of the entire list of Chief Executives.

That leave us with ten Presidents who can be divided into two groups: the military generals who had little or no experience in politics–William Henry Harrison, Zachary Taylor, Ulysses Grant, and Dwight D. Eisenhower, who can at least be given credit as having proved themselves in the military.

And finally, there are six Presidents who can be considered as mediocrity personified–chronologically Millard Fillmore, Franklin Pierce, Andrew Johnson, Chester Alan Arthur, Warren G. Harding, and Calvin Coolidge, but even among them, it is clear cut that TWO Presidents would be considered the closest to dumb, stupid, ill informed, ill equipped to be President, and one was simply a successor not elected, while the other was elected President and was a true disaster!

So if the reader has gone this far, the question is who makes the final cut of the two? They are Andrew Johnson, a terrible choice by Abraham Lincoln for his second term, clearly not thinking about his competence to be President–and Warren G. Harding, who was elected in a landslide by the voters in 1920, and was the absolute total disaster above all Presidents, and did us a favor by dying in office after 29 months as President!

Can we afford nearly a century later to have another Warren G. Harding or Andrew Johnson? Can we afford a Sarah Palin, a Michele Bachmann, a Herman Cain, a Rick Perry? God forbid that were to happen!