All modern presidents of both parties have been too much with us. Talking incessantly, they have put politics unhealthily at the center of America’s consciousness. Promising promiscuously, they have exaggerated government’s proper scope and actual competence, making the public perpetually disappointed and surly. Inflating executive power, they have severed it from constitutional constraints. So, sensible voters might embrace someone who announced his 2016 candidacy this way....The rest of the column is the candidate's announcement. See if it sounds like anyone who exists.
May 24, 2014
"The 2016 presidential candidate we need."
That's the headline for George Will's new column which begins with a great paragraph:
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The 2016 presidential campaign and election winner is: Hillary!
(Notice the past tense and the candidate name.)
Why?
- GOP has no vision.
- GOP does not want smart women to be leaders. They only like Sarah Palin types - you know, quitters and generally "not bright."
- GOP hates - almost scathingly - immigrants, scientists, ethicists, and others who are actually good for America.
In response:
- Media loves Hillary!
- Media are fakes but they know how to talk about women rights, immigration, etc.
Bottom line: There is NOTHING anyone can do.
The 2016 election has already been decided.
IT IS NOT GOING TO BE A GOP WINNER.
Sounds like Calvin Coolidge. At least he existed, once.
I can't think of any actual person but it is a wonderful campaign position for those who believe in constitutional limited government.
(Notice the past tense and the candidate name.)
I am having difficulty "noticing the past tense" in a sentence written in the present tense. Sorry.
Calvin Coolidge for President!
To Ann's actual point: It sounds rather more like Scott Walker than anyone else actually running, but not very much even like him.
I particularly like Will's desire to get rid of the SOTU address. Of all the things Woodrow Wilson has to answer for, great and small, that's the first one I'd undo.
It sounds like a lot of people I know who are not running and never will. Will does seem to be describing Calvin Coolidge, Ronald Reagan's favorite president.
George Will's candidate aligns with my beliefs. I even use "axiomatic" in regular conversation! But I have no interest in running for any public office, which is sadly generally true of most anyone who shares ill's mythical candidates beliefs.
If I had to pick an actual potential candidate that is closest... Ted Cruz? Rand Paul?
(Professor, why would you allow the first comment to be an attempted thread-jacking?)
"To Ann's actual point: It sounds rather more like Scott Walker than anyone else actually running, but not very much even like him."
Yeah. Exactly. My first approach to writing this post was that I read the first paragraph and thought: Scott Walker. But then I thought better of it and, as you say, not very much even like him.
Though I do think he's the type to stay out of campaign mode and not talk to us much.
Probably not, you can't go from the present situation to something significantly more reasonable in one step. The American people have to a great degree become used to the game that has been played. I'll start with a simple desire for 2016...No Hillary..that would change directions. You can't run on that but there is a lot of baggage to exploit. "What difference, at this point, does it make?"
Hillary? You mean the one that quit her job as Sec of State when the going got hard? That one?
It doesn't sound like a woman.
George Will occasionally hits the nail precisely on the head.
A day without blather from Jugears and his administration stooges and press supporters would be like a day of sunshine after a period of gloomy weather.
Coolidge actually ordered managers of all federal employees to require them to turn in pencil stubs before being issued new pencils.
And Grover Cleveland? He actually worked as an executioner while sheriff.
Bring 'em on.
The underlying philosophy of government is excellent, but even Calvin Coolidge and Ronald Reagan knew that you had to appeal to the people to be elected President and to be effective once in office. No one who, in the very first sentence of his announcement of candidacy, used the phrase "unseemly ardor" would never be elected President.
Unfortunately many Presidential candidates are buffoons as this article illustrates.
I pray Scott W can rise above that.
Anyone but HC
Will is talking crazy talk!
Who would lead our much needed national "conversations"?
In an age of television and instant military action, the kind of minimalist President that George Will wants is no longer possible.
There's a reason we haven't had one of those since Coolidge.
Times have really changed.
When Lincoln gave his Gettysburg Address, nobody paid attention.
Today, anything the POTUS says on any subject ends up on YouTube within a day or two.
If only......
Unfortunately, such a president could not possibly survive by ceding the public debate to the lefties who would be incessantly nasty in their raucous partisan chatter. The moment the administration begins, Code Pink will magically reappear.
In today's media world, a president has to take charge of the discussion or be left hunkered down in a perpetual posture of defense.
- Krumhorn
Mayor Rudy Giuliani sounded a bit like that when he first took office. New Yorkers were accustomed to demanding "What are you going to do about...?" of their former mayor who tried to micromanage everything. Giuliani never sweat the small stuff, but worked and succeeded in getting government out of the way.
It sounds like a lot of people I know who are not running and never will.
Exactly. There are plenty of people out there that align closely to the values expressed in this announcement. But they will never run for president since they would have to compromise too much to do so. And even if they wanted to they would be unelectable in our current climate.
I just wish a clear majority of people would admit or realize that our government can't do very much very well except fight wars and perhaps run a national parks service. There are many problems in our society that the government has attempted to solve in various ways at various times. In almost every case these attempts have generally not solved these problems and instead have created new problems. Until a clear majority of people understand that we'll be doomed to have a political system which is little more than a grotesque pageant of windbags, grievance mongers, and concern trolls who promise much and deliver nothing but chaos and acrimony.
And please get rid of the weekly Prez radio address too.
Sounds like Dr. Ben Carson.
Dr. Ben Carson sounds very good so far. I'm still uncertain how he will react to Islam's war on the West otherwise he seems great. He certainly has a soothing voice.
Unfortunately he will soon be under attack by the Democrat character assassination squad. Where will they attack? I'd guess that the words Uncle Tom will become quite common. Also since he is a man who has had a long successful career in medicine as a neurosurgeon and has taken on very difficult cases he is probably vulnerable to criticism by those demand perfection of results because they don't understand the complexity of what he has done.
I like that.
Ron Paul ?
This candidate will never be seen this side of the collapse and would lose if reality were altered just enough to make such a fantasy realistic.
Naturally I would vote for such a person and so would many who are as wise as I am. We don't amount to much, taken altogether. Freedom is bedding down to hibernate. The sleep will be long.
Listen Think me, using the word vote just as if it was a real force in the 21st century. My apologies for claiming any wisdom after that.
So, sensible voters might embrace someone who announced his 2016 candidacy this way....
Fuck that shit. As a sensible voter I want a president who will take stuff away from people who have more than me (fucking Wall Street bankers)and give it to me. I also want a president who will take stuff away from people who have less than me (fucking welfare queens) and give it to me. Also, as Commander-in-Chief, he needs to blow some stuff up. We spend more on our military than the rest of the planet combined, so what are they waiting for, an invasion from Mars? An American should not have to go to the multiplex to see stuff blown up.
Coolidge was not elected in his first term, remember.
I really don;t know who it will be but I still wonder if Romney might make another go of it.
Kasich has dine pretty well in Ohio. So has Walker. No Senators please.
I'll go with George Will on this. Find some one who has actually run something other than his or her mouth. Find somebody who doesn't talk too much. Ignore those horse dung photo ops and insults at the State of the Union address. I can read what the bloviator in chief has to say, and would prefer to do so. If the Prex doesn't talk so much, he won't lie so much.
Of course the possibility of this taciturn paragon being elected is about as great as the chances of this 70 year old man being elected Miss America next year.
It doesn't sound like anyone who is currently running, but that's pretty much the point.
I believe such a candidate is possible, but it would need to be someone obscure, yet charismatic and perhaps famous for something in an obscure way. Like a Albert Einstein of our time, so to speak.
And he would need to be really good at working hard, very hard, at getting other people to do most of the work for him.
For example, it seems that such a person would want to stay out of the public eye. Minimize the role and purpose of the President. No perpetual campaign. No stump speeches going around the country trying to convince them of this or that. No constant interviews on Cable television, or gold outings, or Basketball picks, etc.
And to stay out of the public eye like that? It would take a lot of work. Your party would be putting on the pressure all the time to make appearances, to raise money, to give speeches. And you've have to keep saying, "I have nothing to say. We do not need a constant campaign. Let the American people forget about politics for a time. Let them think on their families instead. Their communities. Let them think on other things."
Possible today but highly improbable. A person with high character, exceedingly charismatic and likable, and able to resist the lure of power.
Don't count on this happening anytime soon.
If a presidential candidate would refrain from saying, "I believe America's best days still lie ahead" I would vote for him/her out of appreciate for him/her respecting my intelligence.
It is Romney, isn't it?
@Althouse: No, it's NOT Romney, if there is a just God in Heaven. Nice guy, good human being, hopeless candidate.
Sounds to me more like Rand Paul, that struck me particularly in the war making phrase. He does seem like a politician that would not be flat footed after coming across like that. Note how he deftly volleyed the ''War on Women' back to the Clintons.
"It is Romney, isn't it?"
And so, I missed my chance with one of the lords
Of life.
And I have something to expiate:
A pettiness.
DH Lawrenbce
sinz52,
"Today, anything the POTUS says on any subject ends up on YouTube within a day or two."
All the more reason for the motto.
From Will's article: "So I expect to cast more vetoes than the 2,564 cast by all previous presidents."
Sounds a lot like Gary Johnson, former two-term Republican governor of New Mexico, who ran for president in 2012 as the Libertarian Party nominee (and likely 2016 nominee)
He often touted his record of numerous vetoes as governor. If memory serves, it was more than all other governors during those 8 years.
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