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There's Just no Substitute for "It"

Filed under: US Elections

David Broder, dean of political correspondents, in the Washington Post:

It was fascinating to watch the three top contenders for the Democratic nomination discuss their concept of the presidency during Tuesday night's MSNBC debate in Las Vegas. But it was also stunning to realize that the three current and former senators who have survived the shakeout process -- Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John Edwards -- have not a day of chief executive experience among them. By contrast, the Republican field is loaded with people who are accustomed to being in charge of large organizations. Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee were governors of their states of Massachusetts and Arkansas, Rudy Giuliani served as the mayor of New York, and John McCain, as he likes to remind audiences, commanded the largest squadron in the Navy air wing. In the past, voters have preferred to entrust the White House to those with executive credentials. John Kennedy was the last sitting senator to be elevated to the presidency. Since then, the former governors of Georgia, California, Arkansas and Texas have dominated the list of successful candidates. All of them stumbled during their tenures in the White House, and only Ronald Reagan left the presidency with his place in the history books seemingly securely enhanced.

David comes a bit late to the party, I've been making this point here for some time. But it's nice to have MSM confirmation. And David overlooks a major fact: While it may be true that all those with executive experience "stumbled" while in office, Kennedy did too, big time. He didn't even manage to protect his own life and finish his term. Plus which, little things like the Bay of Pigs, Vietnam, concealing his woeful physical condition and sexual peccadillos that would make Bill Clinton look like a choir boy may be the reason that, since his tenure, the public feels experience counts.

Proving once again how ignorant/insane they are, the feral lunatics at the Daily Kos responded furiously to Broder:

But nice how Broder parses his list. Missing from his list of recent Senators and members of Congress who became president are Harry Truman, Lyndon Johnson and Gerald Ford, none of whom had any executive experience prior to their short stints as Vice President. On those various lists of the best and worst presidents compiled by scholars, Truman often ends up in the top ten, and Kennedy typically does well. Ford and Johnson seldom if ever appear in the bottom ten.

Apparently, the Daily Kos is unaware that Truman, Johnson and Ford became president only because they were vice president when the president died (literally or figuratively) in office (and/or that the point of Broder's analysis is electability). What's more, both Johnson and Ford were denied reelection, and Truman decided not to seek it. Apparently, they think not being in the bottom 10 is an accomplishment. Little wonder, then, that the Democrats haven't reelected an elected president with a majority of the popular vote since World War II, while Republicans have done this many times (Eisenhower, Nixon, Reagan, Bush II).

What a bunch of totally clueless freaks. Heaven help America if their ilk ever govern.

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