The Presidential Voice,Part Five: President's Day

Today is President's Day in the U.S. It's a day between Abraham Lincoln's birthday (Feb 12) and George Washington's birthday (Feb 22), but the honor is passed to all U.S. Presidents. I've seen lots of photos of Mt. Rushmore floating around the internet today. I know I've posed the question here before about who would be next President to be added to Mt. Rushmore or a Rushmoresque honor. Who was the last great President? The latest addition to Rushmore was Teddy Roosevelt who left office almost 100 years ago. Modifying Rushmore might be too difficult a task, but is there an equivalent honor? And if so who in th e last 100 years is deserving of such an honor? I believe it's virtually impossible to be considered a great president anymore. In an age of harsh partisanship and the media's no holds barred exposure journalism (and frankly, our "enlightened" desire for knowing every detail about our leaders). It's been well documented how the press kept FDR's physical disabilities quiet, but now the party leadership will discourage a candidate from entering the primaries if they have anything that might have to be explained in their family tree or their past. On one hand the American people are loosening up their standards, but the media is looking for a story too, so it's safer to try to find a perfect candidate than have to explain a divorce or experimental drug use. Four names that get thrown around since Rushmore are FDR, Kennedy, Reagan and Clinton. I think all four of these president's have dibs on a Rushmore level honor, for their own accomplishments. FDR guided the US through World War II and helped to rebound the U.S. Economy from the Depression. Kennedy was outspoken on Civil Rights and gave Americans hope when he made his famous Man on the Moon speech and started the modern space program, and there's a lot of speculation as to what the world would be like today had Kennedy not been assassinated. Reagan strengthened the Economy and kept the U.S. from getting into a global conflict with the Soviet Union while still maintaining a healthy challenging relationship that ultimately lead to the Berlin Wall and the Soviet Union to be torn down. Clinton enabled technology to develop and helped bring back the Reagan economic progress. Sure, they each have their limitations and vices, but if you put whatever partisan leanings you have aside, and just look at the progress they managed from the Oval Office, they definitely the distinction of being great presidents. So honor the presidents from Washington to Adams to Jefferson to Polk to Taft to Nixon to Carter to Bush, for only the 42 (Cleveland twice makes 43 presidencies, but 42 men) to sit behind those desks with that title can really judge who was successful and who did the best they could with their row to hoe. As for the next president, we can only hope that they realize the responsibility and the history of the office and strive to be a great American President.

The Presidential Voice,Part Four: The Birth of America

Though the constitution says that the President must be a natural born citizen of the United States, the first several presidents were well along in life when the birth of the nation took place, but they have all been born on what would ultimately become U.S. soil. The nine candidates that I've been tracking in the race for the White House in 2008 have some potential for some firsts. John McCain was born on a Naval Base in the Panama Canal region and if elected would be the first president to be born outside of the continental U.S.; also his home state of Arizona has never been represented in the Oval Office. Speaking of the continental U.S., Barack Obama was born on Hawaii (yes, it was already a state at the time of his birth) and would be the first U.S. President to be born on Hawaii, though his residence and constituency is Illinois and Lincoln was born and raised there, and Ronald Reagan was born in Illinois though represented California. Hillary Clinton was born in Illinois, established residency in Arkansas, but ultimately wound up in New York and New York has produced both President Roosevelt's, Van Buren and Grover Cleveland (though born in New Jersey). Sam Brownback would be the first president to be born and represent Kansas (Eisenhower lived there in his childhood, but was elected representing New York); Kansas has been the representative state of two defeated presidential candidates in Bob Dole (1996-Clinton) and Alf Landon (1936-Roosevelt). Mike Huckabee could follow Bill Clinton's lead being born in the same town in Arkansas and being governor of that same state. Mitt Romney's dad endured some buzz because he was born in Mexico (though his parents were U.S. citizens) when he ran for President, but one of his Republican opponents Barry Goldwater was born in Arizona before it was a state. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts was born in Michigan, so no controversy there as Gerald Ford represented Michigan when he was president. Rudy Guiliani was born and raised in New York and still represents New York in his run for the White House. John Edwards was born in South Carolina but represents North Carolina, Andrew Jackson was born in South Carolina but represented Tennessee while James K. Polk and Andrew Johnson both were born in North Carolina but represented Tennessee. No president has represented North Carolina. Joseph Biden of Delaware would be the first president to represent that state, though he shares his birth state of Pennsylvania with James Buchanan. We're a long way off from having all 50 states represented in the White House, we have the distinct possibility of a new state to be added to the list.

The Presidential Voice,Part Three: Timing and Rhetoric

As I'm sure you're aware, Barack Obama (D-IL) officially announced his intention of running for President in the 2008 election yesterday. There isn't much suspense between when a potential candidate declares they are setting up an exploratory committee and when they announce they're going ahead with their campaign, but don't think for a moment that yesterday's announcement isn't significant. Senator Obama will be a key figure in American politics for years to come.
I was watching Tim Russert's interview show on MSNBC last night and he was interviewing Terry McAuliffe (former DNC chair and current Hillary Clinton campaign chair) and he pointed out that Bill Clinton didn't enter the 1992 election until October of 1991. Translate that fact to this year's election cycle and the precedent is there for someone off the radar today entering the race 8 months from now. While I know "the event of the internet" has made it less and less likely for someone with presidential credentials to be even relatively unknown, the possibility remains. This might be a particularly hopeful thought to the Republican Party, considering their lackluster cast of candidates.
This is an interesting time for the candidates, too. While the most exciting time might be as we get closer to November 2008, this time period between candidates declaring their intentions and the actual primaries is rare. The candidates are messaging to define themselves which sometimes gets lost once the "eating of young" starts. I've always thought the most fascinating part about a Presidential election is when the non-incumbent party's candidates shred each other to bits for the nomination, but this year both party's are in that position of not having a predetermined candidate. The rhetoric today is not a foreshadowing of things to come. When Senator Obama says, "Each and every time, a new generation has risen up and done what's needed to be done. Today we are called once more — and it is time for our generation to answer that call" Hillary's campaign will counter with something about the lack of experience in Washington. It's all rhetoric and the toughest thing is to try to disseminate who the candidate really is through the message of the people behind the candidate. Barack Obama's speech had a great deal of energy and genuineness to it, and I admire that. Like Reagan spinning the age question back on Mondale in the 1984 debate, Obama has spun the inexperience question to be a genuine message of change. I'll be interested in the coming weeks to see who joins the Obama campaign.

The Presidential Voice,Part Two: A Question of Age

I've been developing an idea for a novel for years now wherein the central character wakes up on his 35th birthday with a neurotic borderline psychotic obsession with the idea that he's now eligible to be President of the United States. 35 is the minimum age, though the youngest president to be sworn in was Theodore Roosevelt at 42. It's a common misconception that John Kennedy was the youngest president, but he was the youngest elected president. Teddy was VP and took over office when McKinley was killed. Why is it that anyone 35, or 42 for that matter would be laughed out of the race? Well the average age of a POTUS (President of the United States) sworn in is 54.9 years old, and the average age of a POTUS leaving office is 60, which takes into account the 1 term Presidents and those that left office prematurely for whatever reason. The oldest president to take office was Ronald Reagan who was 70 when he was inaugurated in 1981. The next oldest was William Harrison, who was sworn in at 68, but died a month later. To look at the field of candidates for the 2008 election, something that immediately stands out is that if elected, John McCain would surpass Ronald Reagan as the oldest president to take office. McCain will be 72 on Inauguration day, January 20, 2009. McCain would also become the first president born in the 1930's to become president (the 30's are the only decade between 1810-1819 decade to not produce a president). Does age set him, and perhaps his party, back in the race for the Oval Office? I think it plays a part. Hillary Clinton will be 61 on the next Inauguration day, whereas Barack Obama will be a spry 47 and John Edwards will be right in the median range with 56. On the other side of the aisle, Rudy Guliani will be 65 and Huckabee will be 53. If you're a stickler for averages, your candidate that will battle it out in the 2008 election will be John Edwards and Mike Huckabee. Joseph Biden who just entered the race, is the oldest Democrat in the conversation at this point and would be 66 on that January day in 2009. Someone anonymously commented on my last Presidential Voice post asking about Mitt Romney and why I left him out of my post (I won't reveal where their IP address came from). I'm willing to include him (he'll be 62 in 2009, btw), but I don't think his religious affiliation will play well nationally. The religion question is a big one for Huckabee and Brownback, too. 2004 proved that the religious right still had a big influence on the election, but 2006, though not a Presidential election, showed that there's a shift happening, even in traditionally conservative districts. Religion is a whole big topic that can easily be a separate post, but I will point out that the traditional religious right has pretty strong negative feelings about Hillary, whereas Edwards and Obama have strong connections with the red states.

The Presidential Voice,Part One: Disclosure

With all the candidates throwing their hats into the ring of the Presidential Election of 2008, I've been looking a lot at the major candidates and stacking them up against history. I definitely haven't decided on a candidate. To kick off my series on this topic I feel it necessary to make a few disclosures. I've traditionally voted and supported the Republican Party, though I've always considered myself an Oregon Republican in the vein of Mark Hatfield. I'm excited that there isn't a legitimate front runner from either party, and I am open to lending my support to a candidate of either party if their values line up with mine. The title of this series, The Presidential Voice, is in reference to the idea that through their life experiences as well as grooming and coaching, a candidate starts to sound like a President rather than a candidate for President. In my opinion, The Presidential Voice has been missing from this country for many years. Since perhaps Ronald Reagan left office, the presidential elections have ended up being a contest for the lesser of two evils. While I have reverence for the presidents since Reagan, I think both Bushes and Clinton lacked the Presidential voice, even though the term was coined with reference to Clinton's rise in public image from Bubba from Arkansas to a legitimate answer to George H. W. Bush. The candidates that have stepped forward to declare their intentions to seek the presidency will, over the course of the coming months, define themselves and their policies. We will get a better idea of what they stand for and who they stand for. Like I said I don't see a front runner at this stage in the game, but the early favorites are Senator Barack Obama (D-Ill), Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY), fmr Senator John Edwards (D-NC), Senator John McCain (R-AZ), Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS), fmr Mayor Rudolph Guliani (R-NY) and fmr Governor Mike Huckabee (R-AR). All 7 of these leading candidates have things they stand for that I can buy into, but they also have things that can hurt their chances to be inaugurated on January 20, 2009. I will explore both the strengths and weaknesses of the candidates in this series. The primaries leading up to the election in 1992, showed that a candidate who wasn't even on the early radar could emerge as the president, when the nationally-unheard-of Clinton gained the nomination of the Democrats over previous national figures of Al Gore, Paul Tsongas, Jerry Brown, and Bob Casey. So, based on that precedent, our next president might not even be on the radar, but in this new age of information, I imagine one of the 7 candidates I listed above will end up being elected the 44th President of the United States.