rubber soul

40. RONALD REAGAN (Da Doo Ron Ron)




Born: February 6, 1911, Tampico, Illinois
Died: June 5, 2004, Bel-Air, California

Term: January 20, 1981- January 20, 1989
Political Party: Republican

Vice President: George Bush

First Lady: Nancy Davis Reagan

Before the Presidency: Ronald Reagan was born in an apartment in rural Illinois. His father was an alcoholic, though not an especially abusive one. He also came from a family of Democrats and he himself started out as a New Deal liberal. His father, in fact, was named as director of the local WPA by FDR. Reagan noted that his father also forbade his children to see Birth of a Nation and he was very tolerant of other races and religions. Reagan’s mother was known as a do-gooder and was a devout Christian. Reagan admired her so much that he moved her to Hollywood after his father died.

Reagan was rather athletic growing up, playing football and basketball in High School. He also was the Student President. He worked as a lifeguard for six summers and reportedly saved 77 swimmers from drowning. He later attended Eureka College in Illinois. An average student at best, he stayed active with the extracurriculars, excelling in sports as well as joining the drama club, editing the college yearbook, was member of the debate club, and was Student Council President. He also washed dishes at his fraternity to earn his keep.

After graduating college, Reagan landed a job as a radio sportscaster in Davenport, Iowa. He learned much of his speaking skills there and would be hired at WHO in Des Moines, Iowa where he announced recreations of Chicago Cubs games and where he was also a staff announcer.

In 1937, the acting bug hit the handsome Reagan and he moved to Hollywood to start his acting career in films. He found luck when he was hired by Warner Brothers where he would enjoy a substantial twenty year movie career. While never the big box office success of say, Jimmy Stewart or John Wayne, Reagan still enjoyed a successful career in films such as Knute Rockne-All American and King’s Row. Reagan was considered a competent actor known for his punctuality and was very good at memorizing his lines. A man who was good at self-depreciation, Reagan jokingly referred to himself as the Errol Flynn of B- movies. He knew he wasn’t the greatest actor, but he knew how to perform within his limitations.

Reagan was drafted during World War II, but he was nearsighted, so he stayed stateside. He had been a reservist for the US Army Calvary, and he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant. He helped to produce and appear in propaganda films for the war effort. He also narrated training films for new recruits during his three year stint.

Reagan had always had an interest in politics, starting out as a New Deal Democrat, but he would become more conservative, staunchly conservative, in fact, as he got older. By the late forties, it was alleged that he was ratting out alleged Communists within Hollywood for the FBI, this while he was President of the Screen Actors Guild.

Reagan had been married to actress Jane Wyman until they divorced in 1948. Four years later, Reagan met another actress, Nancy Davis. The two were married and she would go on to be, perhaps, one of the most devoted first ladies in history.

By 1954, Reagan’s movie career had fizzled somewhat, and he gave TV a shot. He narrated and occasionally acted on General Electric Theatre. He would later become one of the hosts of the Western Anthology, Death Valley Days.

Reagan was a staunch Anti-Communist but even he was concerned about the tide of McCarthyism. He worried that innocent lives were being affected. Though he was responsible for the blacklist that the SAG came up with, he made pains to keep names out that he felt were innocent.

Though now a conservative by the 1950’s, he continued to campaign for Democrats including Helen Gahagan Douglas who ran against Richard Nixon. He changed horses by 1952, however as he supported Eisenhower as a Democrat for Eisenhower. He stuck with the Republicans in the 1960 election, supporting Nixon (though he personally despised him). He finally switched parties in 1962 when he supported Nixon when he ran for California Governor in 1962.

Reagan truly came to the forefront from a political standpoint in 1964 when he campaigned for Barry Goldwater in 1964. Reagan embraced Goldwater’s arch-conservative policies, maybe out of a sense of greed (Now affluent himself, Reagan somehow compared having to pay higher taxes and a loss of personal freedom as the same thing). Goldwater was crushed in the election that year, but he, and Reagan, would succeed in the long run as the Conservative movement had just begun.

And it was that conservative movement that landed Reagan his first office when he upset Governor Pat Brown of California. Reagan was quite the controversial Governor, being somewhat hostile to student protestors in particular. He was also something of a pragmatist, however, and he worked with Democrats to push the most important aspects of his agenda such as cutting domestic spending. He was re-elected in 1970 and he made most of his accomplishments in that second term. In 1971, he got the Welfare Reform Act which tightened eligibility requirements but increased benefits. He also got some property tax relief passed (though the radical Prop 13 movement would make all that moot some years later).

Reagan would have some Presidential aspirations and he first was a factor in the 1968 campaign. That was Nixon’s to lose, however, and Reagan was content to get some more experience as Governor.

By 1976, however, Reagan was a free agent, and he gave President Ford a serious run at the nomination. Indeed, as both candidates stumbled from time to time, the nomination was still in doubt by the time of the Convention in Kansas City. Reagan tried one last hail mary when he picked liberal Richard Schweiker as his running mate but by then, Ford had just enough delegates to put him over the top. The Reagan Revolution would have to wait for 1980.

And by then, they were loaded for bear.

Summary of offices held:

1947-1952, 1959-1960: President, Screen Actors Guild

1967-1975: Governor of California


What was going on: The cold war, AIDS crisis, Challenger Explosion, War on drugs, War on terrorism

Scandals within the administration: HUD scandal, Wedtech, Savings and Loan scandal, Sewergate and, of course, Iran- Contra

Why he was a good President: Reagan was a very persuasive President, and he had a knack of comforting the public during times of tragedy, such as when the Challenger exploded. He also helped to speed up the end of the Cold War.

Why he was a bad President: His policies in general. By his success at shifting the center to the right, he didn’t anticipate that the right would be shifted closer into fascism. He also wasn’t the most tolerant when it came to freedom from religion.

What could have saved his Presidency: A more moderate approach to domestic issues. He certainly should have done more to address the AIDS crisis, but he was betrothed to the Moral Majority, I guess.

What could have destroyed his Presidency: In some ways, the Democratic Congress saved Reagan from himself when it came to Contra Aid. One wonders if he would have gone full blast with American troops in Central America. That would not have gone well. Also, if his rhetoric against the Soviet Union had backfired and we would have had another Cuban Missile Crisis.

Election of 1980: Reagan came in as the favorite to win the nomination despite some trepidation about not only Reagan’s age (He was 69 in 1980), but his views which seemed to be a bit out of the mainstream. As such, Reagan had some stiff competition from liberal Republican John Anderson, who would later run as a third party opponent, and Senator Howard Baker among others. But his toughest opponent would be George Bush of Texas, who came off as a moderate conservative. Bush upset Reagan in the Iowa caucuses and was seen as an alternative to Reagan’s occasionally right wing positions.

Nevertheless, the Conservatives won the day, and Reagan would be nominated on the first ballot. He had impressed Republican voters with his stands against what was being seen as the establishment such as when he insisted that all the candidates be allowed on a debate podium at an event his campaign paid for. There, he famously and sternly said, “I paid for this microphone.” This combative side of Reagan would do wonders for him not only in political campaigns, but as President as well.

Reagan won the nomination easy, then asked the more moderate Bush to be his running mate. This proved to be a solid combination.

Not that it was necessary. Reagan was facing a very unpopular incumbent, Jimmy Carter. The United States was in the middle of the Iranian Hostage Crisis and the nation was in yet another recession. Carter didn’t do himself any favors when he refused to participate in a debate with both Reagan and Anderson (Carter wanted a one on one with Reagan). Reagan went on to debate with Anderson and both candidates basically jumped on Carter.

Carter did manage to close the gap as Reagan was seen by some as too extremist, not unlike Goldwater in 1964. But when Carter did get his one on one debate with Reagan, it would prove to be a disaster for him. While Carter came off as tense and grim, Reagan seemed genuinely affable, not charming like a Kennedy, but more like a kind grandfather. And he had his ammo ready by responding to Carter’s attacks with, “There you go again.” The big moment came when Reagan simply asked the American Public, “Are you better off now than you were four years ago?” This would also prove to be a successful ploy for Clinton, Obama, and even Biden as well. But Reagan did it first.

And because America wasn’t better off than it was four years before, Reagan ended up winning in a landslide. The United States would never be the same.

First term: The impact of the Reagan Revolution began on practically the first day. The Iranian Hostages came home during Reagan’s inauguration speech, and he was able to announce the good news.

And he had plans to reverse what he saw as a too permissive course. The first things he did was to advocate increased defense spending and to push for massive tax cuts as well as cuts in domestic spending. There was a time he considered maybe even doing away with Social Security until he was convinced by aides that messing with Social Security was political poison.

Reagan’s crusade to cut programs designed to help the poor (a criticism of the Democrats) was put on the back burner briefly. After an appearance at a DC hotel, shots were fired at Reagan’s entourage, one bullet severely injuring Press Secretary James Brady. President Reagan was hit in the chest and was rushed by limo to a local hospital. Reagan, with bravado, was able to walk in on his own before he collapsed on the hospital floor. He regained consciousness soon after and never lost his composure as he cracked jokes such as, “Honey, I forgot to duck,” to a worried Nancy and, to the doctors that operated on him, “I hope you’re all Republicans.” The warm side of Reagan came out through this ordeal, and he was granted a lot of goodwill when he returned to the Oval Office.

And off to work he went. Though known, sometimes derisively, as a part time President (he didn’t really work long hours), he knew what he wanted to accomplish. So, he worked with the Democratic majority in Congress to score compromises on his budget mainly.

Of course, Reagan was something of a strike buster as well. In the summer of 1981, the Air Traffic Controllers went on strike. Reagan threatened to fire them if they didn’t return. When they defied his order, Reagan did, in fact, fire them; few would get their jobs back. It started a trend of union busting and Unions, in general, would have less clout as the years went on.

There was also a Supreme Court vacancy in President Reagan’s first year and he fulfilled a promise to put a woman on the court. He went with conservative Arizona judge, Sandra Day O’Connor. As a justice, she was probably a little closer to the center as she supported abortion rights for example.

Abortion was a major issue in the Reagan Administration. During the 1980 campaign, Reagan had courted the Moral Majority, led by Jerry Falwell. Reagan had promised that he would find a way to get Roe vs. Wade reversed as well as letting the Equal Rights Amendment ratification process expire. Needless to say, Reagan was not popular with the socially liberal set.

On the foreign front, President Reagan was scaring just about everybody. He took a hard line against the Soviet Union, even referring to them as the Evil Empire. In 1983, he sent US troops to Beirut to have a presence in the war torn region. It proved disastrous as two bombings left nearly 300 Marines dead.

Indeed, Reagan was something of a cowboy President, especially when it came to fighting Communism. He was sending aid to Contra Rebels in Nicaragua and El Salvador, and he ordered troops into Grenada to overthrow a military government that had just overthrown a US backed government.

Reagan’s first two years were not his most popular, politically speaking, though people liked him personally. But the economy improved greatly in 1983 and the President’s popularity rose with it. By 1984, re-election looked like it was Reagan’s to blow.

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rubber soul

RONALD REAGAN (Part 2)

Election of 1984: There was no doubt as to the renomination of Reagan and Bush as Reagan was now seen as very popular, especially among conservatives and independents and even some of what were known as “Reagan Democrats.” The only question being, how big would his victory be in the general election.

The Democrats would reluctantly go with Walter Mondale, who had the baggage of having been Carter’s Vice President. He did have some competition with upstart Gary Hart of Colorado and activist Jesse Jackson, but the nomination was really Mondale’s to lose.

With not the most popular of candidates, the Democrats needed something to spruce things up. In the end, it was decided that it was time for a woman to be on the ticket and they went with Congresswoman Geraldine Ferraro of New York. This may have not been the best choice as her husband would be under investigation for a variety of issues.

But the election was all about Reagan. Economically the country was in the best shape in years, maybe even decades, and only a Reagan stumble in the first debate gave Mondale any hope. That was eradicated in the second debate however when Reagan, now 73, responded to a question concerning his age that he would not exploit Mondale’s youth and inexperience. The audience responded favorably to the joke and even Mondale laughed, but Mondale knew it was all over after that.

And, indeed, Reagan would win in the largest electoral landslide in history, Mondale winning only his home state of Minnesota and DC.

Second Term: President Reagan would make a lot of history this term as the Soviet Union was in a bit of an upheaval. After three consecutive deaths in the early eighties, the Soviets finally went with youth and they nabbed the reformer, Mikhail Gorbachev, as its new Premier. Gorbachev would implement economic reforms as well as Glasnost, or openness. He also wanted to improve relations with the United States, and Reagan responded to the olive branch. The two would hold two spirited summits, one in Iceland which ended in no agreement, and a second one in Moscow, this one much friendlier, and they made an agreement to notify each other before performing ballistic tests as well as some economic agreements. Reagan now considered Gorbachev a personal friend and the Cold War had thawed considerably.

Reagan’s other moves though were more controversial. He bombed Libya after Gadhafi backed a terrorist act that downed a plane in Lockerbie, Scotland. Even more controversial was the support of Contra rebels in Nicaragua still. By now, Reagan had a Republican Senate but even they didn’t really want to go along with more aid. Reagan was also overridden when he vetoed a bill imposing sanctions on Apartheid South Africa, Majority Leader Bob Dole announcing on the floor that Reagan was wrong.

But Reagan’s biggest crisis would be the Iran-Contra scandal. In what was the biggest political scandal since Watergate, Reagan aides were implicated in an arms for hostages deal with Iran as a way to support the Contras. Hearings were held and there was bi-partisan criticism on how the situation was handled. Oliver North became something of a rock star for conservatives as a result of these hearings, but he, like several other people implicated, would later face criminal charges. Worst yet, this also affected prominent cabinet members even though they actually opposed the deal, notably, Secretary of State George Shultz, Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger, and even Vice President Bush, the latter two who would be investigated by a special prosecutor during Bush’s presidency. As for Reagan, he said he didn’t recall though he admitted that as President, he should have known.

Reagan had another justice to appoint after the retirement of Lewis Powell. First, he managed to get William Rehnquist elevated to Chief Justice. Then he appointed the controversial Robert Bork to take Rehnquist’s spot on the Supreme Court. Bork was the guy who followed Nixon’s orders to fire Archibald Cox in the Saturday Night Massacre. He also had views that were even to the right of Reagan and there was some fallout even from a few Republicans. In the end, Bork would be rejected by the Senate by a surprisingly large margin.

So, Reagan went with another conservative, Douglas Ginsberg. He too was headed for a rocky confirmation hearing, but he would withdraw when it was discovered he had smoked marijuana. In the end, Reagan abandoned his determination to nominate a justice who was just as conservative and settle for the more moderate Anthony Kennedy.

Reagan would also have to deal with other domestic issues of the day such as the AIDS crisis, which he largely ignored, and a brief economic crisis when the stock market crashed in 1987 (it would quickly recover). But all in all, Reagan left as one of the most popular Presidents in history.

At least for some, anyway.


Post Presidency: After the Presidency, Reagan retired to his home in Bel Air, California. He often would visit his ranch in Santa Barbara. For the most part, he stayed out of the public eye except for a controversial speaking engagement in Japan where he was paid two million dollars. After that incident, he no longer gave foreign speeches.

In 1994, Ronald Reagan was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease. After a heartfelt letter where he sympathized for what his wife, Nancy, would have to go through, Reagan disappeared from the public eye for good, his name only being brought up by Conservatives who thought he was the Greatest President of all time. Reagan died at the age of 93 in June 2004.


Odd notes: Reagan once starred with a chimp. Anyone hear of Bedtime For Bonzo?

Reagan once was a sportscaster who broadcast Chicago Cubs games out of Iowa.

Final Summary: This is a tough one, as my politics are totally opposite to Reagan’s and many of his policies are still with us today and not for the better in my opinion. Reagan was obviously very strong in his convictions, and it showed in both his rhetoric and his actions. On the bright side, he did engage in talks with Gorbachev, and it really did thaw tensions between the two nations. I can even overlook some of his economic policies including the ridiculous trickle down theory (If you give rich people more money, they’re just going to keep it, stupid, even David Stockman knew that).

But his social policies, his refusal to address the AIDS issue both medically and socially and some policies that were detrimental to minorities in general (though he didn’t really reverse the clock; he merely stalled it). I can’t give him a good grade, I just can’t.

Yes, Reagan did have a way with words and I’m sure he was a very nice guy outside of politics. Anyway, I’m pretty sure the average Conservative will give him a much better grade than I will, and liberals like Batty will probably give the guy an F.

But I have to try to be at least a little objective so, with points off for not being moderate enough for my tastes…

Overall rating: C-

https://millercenter.org/president/reagan

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rubber soul

41. GEORGE HW BUSH (Watch out for that tree)





Born: June 12, 1924, Milton, Massachusetts
Died: November 30, 2018, Houston, Texas

Term: January 20, 1989- January 20, 1993
Political Party: Republican

Vice President: Dan Quayle

First Lady: Barbara Pierce Bush

Before the Presidency: George Bush was born into a wealthy family. Though wealthy, his parents insisted on modesty and public service. In fact, George’s father, Prescott Bush, would become a well-known Senator from Connecticut.

As a teenager, Bush attended a boarding school in Andover, Massachusetts. There, he excelled at soccer and baseball and was the Senior Class President. Upon graduation from the school on his eighteenth birthday, Bush signed up for the United States Navy.

Bush became a Navy pilot in 1943, earning the distinction as the youngest pilot in the Navy. He flew fifty-eight missions and was even shot down by Japanese fire. Luckily, he was recovered by a submarine and would be awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.

Back home and still in the Navy, Bush married Barbara Pierce. They would raise six children including sons George W. and Jeb, both of whom would follow in their father’s footsteps. After his discharge from the Navy, Bush entered Yale University where he majored in economics. At Yale, Bush captained the baseball team and was a member of the secretive Skull and Bones society.

Bush was an adventurous sort and he moved to Texas in 1948. Two years later, he would form an oil company with a friend of his. By 1954, the company had expanded into Zapata Off-Shore Company. Buoyed by the success, Bush moved the family to Houston.

In Houston, Bush started his own political career as the chair of the Harris County Republican Party. Bush was a conservative and he had a way of working with people. In 1964, Bush ran for the Senate against incumbent Senator Ralph Yarborough, but he couldn’t escape the carpetbagger tag and Yarborough would be re-elected.

Bush fared better in his run for a House seat in 1966. Running as a Moderate Republican, he would be elected to two terms. He could have been elected to a third, but Bush thought he could beat the very liberal Yarborough in the 1970 Senate election. But the Democrats thought so too, and they nominated Conservative Lloyd Bentsen instead. Bush was going home.

He wasn’t home for long though. In December 1970, President Nixon appointed Bush as US Ambassador to the United Nations. He wasn’t very effective as he wasn’t part of Nixon’s inner circle (luckily for him in retrospect) but he was able to make friends and connections on his own and he proved to be quite adept at his position.

Nixon removed Bush as UN Ambassador in 1973 and asked him to be Chairman of the Republican National Committee, mainly because he was what Nixon wasn’t, honorable and with great integrity. Bush tirelessly defended Nixon throughout Watergate until the tapes were released. It was then Bush who advised Nixon that he had lost the support of his own party. Though not the final straw (that was likely Goldwater), it did eventually help Nixon on his decision to resign in 1974. Bush, subsequently, resigned as RNC Chairman soon after.

Bush’s career was far from over, however. President Ford quickly appointed him as the US Envoy to China. Bush was in his element there as he absorbed the culture especially. The liaison position would be short lived, however, as President Ford had a new position for him, CIA Director. The CIA was in desperate need for reform and Bush was seen as someone that could bring integrity back to the organization. Bush’s tenure there wouldn’t be long either as Ford would lose the 1976 election to Carter. So, the Bushes returned for Houston.

But the political career wasn’t over. He was already eying the 1980 Presidential nomination and he announced his candidacy in May 1979. Though considered the underdog to Reagan, he was seen as the more moderate (and thus, more electable) alternative. And, as a dark horse favorite, he surprised everyone by winning the Iowa Caucus and would be Reagan’s toughest competitor in the 1980 primaries.

In the end, though, it was Reagan’s nomination to lose, and he clearly didn’t. But Reagan was also a pragmatist in his own way, and he asked Bush to be his running mate. Bush accepted and the rest is history.

Bush proved to be a loyal Vice-President to Reagan as his own positions began turning to the right, especially on the abortion issue, something that put him at odds with his pro-choice wife. He also became a personal friend of Reagan’s and the two had weekly lunches. The Vice President also traveled widely and was on a number of task forces. He also was involved in foreign discussions and could be influential on such matters.

He also, though likely inadvertently, got tied up in the Iran-Contra Affair. And though there was never any proof, there were suspicions that he was not out of the loop as he insisted, and he would be investigated by a Special Prosecutor during his own Presidency.

In the meantime, Bush was getting ready for a Presidential run of his own.

Summary of offices held:

1942-1945: US Navy Lieutenant Junior Grade

1963-1964: Chairman, Harris County, Texas Republican Party

1967-1971: US House of Representatives

1971-1973: US Ambassador, United Nations

1973-1974: Chairman, Republican National Committee

1974-1975: Chief of the US Liaison Office to the People’s Republic of China

1976-1977: Director, Central Intelligence Agency

1981-1989: Vice President of the United States


What was going on: Invasion of Panama, Fall of the Berlin Wall, The Gulf War, recession, end of the Cold War

Scandals within his Presidency: Post Iran- Contra investigations and subsequent pardons

Why he was a good President: He can get some credit for the end of the Cold War as most of the Communist nations fell during his administration. While it is questionable whether we had a right to go to war with Iraq in the first place, he did show some restraint at the end. And there is also the Americans With Disabilities Act.

Why he was a bad President: He was a social conservative for the most part, and the Clarence Thomas nomination for the Supreme Court is now having some pretty chilling effects on basic freedoms today, all over the abortion issue basically. He also didn’t have a clue on how to handle the economy and seemed standoffish when people told him they were hurting.

What could have saved his Presidency: More of the kinder gentler conservative that he yearned to be at the GOP convention. A better grasp of the economic situation that he seemed to be ill prepared for.

What could have destroyed his Presidency: If the Gulf War turned out to be a disaster. Like it or not, the Gulf War is Bush’s lasting legacy and it saved him from being less than average.

Election of 1988: It was a foregone conclusion that Bush would run for the Presidency in 1988 but the nomination wasn’t etched in stone like it had been for Reagan. For one thing, he had to contend with the strong Senator Bob Dole of Kansas, and he would launch an aggressive campaign against Bush, who had been seen by some as a softie. Evangelist Pat Robertson was also making a quixotic run for the nomination but, realistically, it was between Bush and Dole.

With the help of James Baker, a Chief of Staff of Reagan’s and one of Bush’s closest advisers, and down and dirty campaign manager, Lee Atwater, Bush overcame a slow start and was the clear choice by the time the Republican Convention took place in New Orleans. He picked the youthful conservative, Dan Quayle of Indiana, as his running mate and it would prove to be his only blunder in the general campaign. Bush also hoped to blunt out the harsher aspects of the Reagan Administration as he called for a kinder, gentler, nation. He also made the ill-fated pledge, “Read My lips: No new taxes.”

In the meantime, the Democrats seemed ready to take back the White House and close to a dozen candidates had their hat in the ring ranging from Jesse Jackson to Tennessee Senator Al Gore to Colorado Representative Pat Schroeder among others. Even a young Joe Biden was in the race briefly.

But it was former Massachusetts Governor Mike Dukakis who had the edge. He was a traditional liberal, but he was also seen as kind of bland. He certainly didn’t have the charisma of Jesse Jackson in particular or even the nerdy appeal of Illinois Senator Paul Simon. But he was strong as a policy wonk and, after what ended up as a three way race between, he, Jackson, and Gore, Dukakis emerged as the Democratic Candidate.

The general campaign was perhaps one of the nastiest in recent memory, not on Dukakis’ end so much, but on Bush’s. They successfully painted Dukakis as an extremist liberal (and, in many ways, a long political war against liberalism was beginning), and Bush famously confronted liberal newscaster Dan Rather in a TV interview.

The lowest point though was the Atwater led advertisement depicting the story of Willie Horton. He had been released under a Dukakis furlough program. Horton went on to rape a woman in Maryland. The Bush campaign jumped on the story and aired a commercial that clearly had racial overtones. It hurt Dukakis badly, but it also set race relations back a bit, even as Bush himself had African Americans in his inner circle.

And Dukakis didn’t do himself any favors either. After an Ill-advised photo op in a tank to prove he’d be tough on defense, he stumbled on a debate question about what he would do if his wife had been murdered. This was asked because Dukakis was an opponent of the death penalty. Dukakis didn’t give a straight answer, he simply iterated his opposition to the death penalty. It proved to be his death knell despite Dan Quayle’s screw up in the Vice Presidential debate when he tried to compare his experience to that of John Kennedy. Lloyd Bentsen, Dukakis’ running mate, pounced on the misstep when he declared that Quayle was no Jack Kennedy. Democrats afterwards wondered if Bentsen should have been their candidate instead of Dukakis.

But, alas, he wasn’t, and Bush would win an easy election in November.



First term: The first year of Bush’s term was very much a transformative year from a global standpoint as there were pro-democracy protests in China that Bush supported and the planned reunification of Germany which saw the Berlin Wall come down late in 1989. He also came up with a bailout plan during the back end of the Savings and Loan crisis that started in Ohio and Maryland in 1986 but by now had gone national. Another issue would be the ballooning deficit from the Reagan years that Bush had to decide how to handle.

But it would be foreign affairs and how to use the military that dominated Bush’s term, or at least the first half of it. By 1989, it was obvious that strongman Manuel Noriega of Panama was using his power to sell illegal drugs to cartels in the United States. Bush wanted to capture and try Noriega on drug charges in the States but that would mean violating International Law. No matter, just before Christmas 1989, The United States invaded Panama and Noriega would surrender just two weeks later. He would be tried in the States and convicted in 1992. He remains in prison to this day.

The most famous, or arguably infamous, period of Bush’s term would concern one Saddam Hussein in Iraq. Neighboring Kuwait was rich in oil reserves and Hussein decided he wanted the reserves for himself and Iraq. So, in the summer of 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait.

The Western World, and Bush in particular, were against the invasion, mainly because they thought it would affect oil prices in general but also because Iraq clearly violated international law. But the US only used invasion of Iraq as a veiled threat while forming a coalition that included not only most of Europe and a Soviet Union in transition, but also some key Arab states. Hussein responded by holding the British Embassy hostage and even, in a sinister way, stroke the head of some poor diplomat’s kid that outraged the British and Americans to no end. Invasion seemed inevitable.

And after one last demand for Iraq to withdraw from Kuwait was denied, the Coalition invaded Iraq in what became known as the Gulf War. Bush was able to convince Israel to use restraint if attacked (and Iraq would attack the country with SCUD missiles in a vain hope that Israel would retaliate, and the other Arab countries would join him. Israel didn’t retaliate and the Arab countries didn’t turn towards Saddam). As for the war itself, it was over in a month and Saddam agreed to withdraw the troops from Kuwait. It was the high point of Bush’s Presidency, and he enjoyed record popularity numbers that were even higher than Reagan’s had been.

There was an argument on whether the US should have kept the war going until they had captured Hussein, but Bush and most of his advisors argued against that noting they would then have to win the peace if they actually occupied Iraq. A truly prophetic conclusion in wake of what Bush’s son would do a decade later.

In 1991, Bush’s numbers were at an all-time high, but all good things have to end. If Bush was a master at handling foreign affairs, he was all but a disaster when it came to the economy. He had already reneged on his no new taxes pledge when he signed a tax hike later in 1991. Even worse, the economy was taking such a hit that by 1992, the US was in yet another recession, the biggest since the early eighties. The war hero Bush was now seen as out of touch with the American Public and, despite signing the landmark Americans with Disabilities Act and seeing the reunification of Germany and the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Bush’s election chances were not all that high.

Election of 1992: Bush had no trouble winning renomination but there were rumblings from the right wing of the party, who supported Nixon-era firebrand Pat Buchannan. Buchannan, in fact would prove to be a bit of an annoyance to the Bush family for years.

A bigger problem for Bush though would come from the maverick billionaire, H. Ross Perot, who decided to run as an independent. He formed the Reform Party and was gaining popularity as a tell it like it is centrist.

And, of course, the Democrats had their own candidate in former Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton. Clinton was a charismatic sort who had a knack of feeling empathy with the average voter while Bush came off as a bit unfeeling and even cold. It was something that was obvious in the three way debate between Bush, Clinton, and Perot as the differing personalities were front and center in front of a national audience. While Perot confused people with his down home slogans and Clinton looked like he almost wanted to hug people in pain, Bush stuck to his platform instead of empathizing and kept looking at his watch. It didn’t make for good optics. And Quayle, as usual, wasn’t much help either as we learned he couldn’t spell potato and he condemned a fictional character for being a single mother (guess she should have had an abortion then?).

We’ll never know how big a loss it would have been for Bush or if he would have been able to make the election closer thanks to Perot’s strong third party showing, but in the end, Clinton would score a fairly solid victory. President Bush was a one term President.


Post Presidency: After the Presidency, the Bushes returned to Houston where they lived quietly for the most part. That’s not to say Bush didn’t stay active, however. He stayed involved with various boards while also spending time at their Kennebunkport, Maine home.

Bush also would get involved in politics again as two of his sons were now pursuing political careers. Son Jeb seemed to be the one with the brighter future and the elder Bush aggressively campaigned for him in his quest for Governor of Florida, which he would win. George W., in the meantime, was running for Governor of Texas and Bush campaigned for him as well. Soon, he would have two sons as State Governors.

And in 2001, one of those sons would become President after a controversially close election. And though the younger Bush’s policies were sometimes conflicting with the elder’s, the Elder Bush let his son make his own mistakes.

Bush also teamed up with former President Bill Clinton with a campaign for relief after the Tsunami that hit Indonesia in 2004. Bush also had an organization known as the Thousand Points of Light Foundation that specialized in humanitarian endeavors.

In the end, Bush 41, as he was now called, became about as respected an elder statesman as one could possibly be, even going against the Republican tide when he acknowledged voting for Hillary Clinton instead of Trump in 2016.

George HW Bush died on November 30, 2018, at the age of 94.

Odd Notes: George Bush notoriously threw up on the Japanese Prime Minister.

Bush met Babe Ruth while playing baseball at Yale.

Final Summary: Again, I have to admit my liberal bias here, but socially, Bush would not lead my list of favorite Presidents. I’m also not a warmonger, so Bush doesn’t get many points on that score either.

But even if he acted indifferent in the public arena, he really did have a heart of gold. The Americans With Disabilities Act is enough proof of that plus some of his post presidency endeavors. No, he wasn’t exactly Jimmy Carter, but he didn’t just rest on his laurels either. Even when it came to race, as despicable as the Willie Horton ad was (and it may be partially responsible for the civil divide we have today), Bush himself wanted a diverse administration and he was especially close to his Security Advisor, Colin Powell. And he did raise taxes when he knew he’d take a big political hit. With him, America really did come first.

I just wish he had been a bit more moderate.

Overall rating: C

https://millercenter.org/president/bush

__________________

The Batlord

Wasn't that oil company tied to the CIA?

__________________

rubber soul

Don't know but it wouldn't surprise me.

__________________

The Batlord

And he always refused to say why he was in Dallas when JFK got merced.

__________________

rubber soul

42. BILL CLINTON (Stand by your man)




Born: August 19, 1946, Hope, Arkansas
Died: Still out there trying to promote himself

Term: January 20, 1993- January 20, 2001
Political Party: Democrat

Vice President: Al Gore

First Lady: Hillary Rodham Clinton

Before the Presidency: William Jefferson Blythe was born without a father, who had been killed in an auto accident just months before he was born. He and his mother lived with his stern Grandmother. When Bill was still young, his mother married Roger Clinton, an abusive alcoholic, and they all moved to Hot Springs. Bill was then adopted by Clinton. It was a volatile marriage and Bill often had to play the mediator in their battles.

Clinton excelled in high school and had an interest in politics early on. He also mixed church with sowing some wild oats so to speak and he was an excellent saxophone player as well.

Clinton attended Hot Springs High School where he got the attention of Principal Johnnie Mae Mackey. She saw his passion for politics, and he was one of two students chosen as an Arkansas delegate to Boys’ Nation. He got to go to Washington where he shook hands with President Kennedy. Clinton was a convert and politics would be his calling from then on.

Clinton entered Georgetown University in 1964 as an International Affairs major. Coming from modest means, he took advantage of scholarships and took part time jobs to support his way through college. Not being a Catholic in a Catholic school, he drew the ire of the elite part of the student body, but he had such personal charm that he would be a major player in Student Government, being elected as President of his Freshman and Sophomore classes. His college political career ended when he was crushed in a race for Student Body President. One of Clinton’s flaws, trying to please everybody and thus pleasing no one, was the major factor.

Since Georgetown was in Washington, Clinton found work as a clerk for the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee. It was there where he formed his opposition to the Vietnam War. Later, he won a Rhodes Scholarship and would attend Oxford University in England for two years. Clinton, of course, was eligible for the draft after he lost his college deferment, but the Arkansas Draft Board allowed him to go anyway.

While at Oxford, Clinton was, in fact, drafted, but he managed to get out of it with the help of Senator Fulbright (a very vocal dove) and Arkansas Governor Winthrop Rockefeller. Clinton returned to Oxford but made himself available for the draft when he returned in 1969. Clinton would ultimately be saved when his birthday came up late in the Draft Lottery. Clinton then proceeded to become something of an anti-war activist though hardly in the sense of a radical like Abbie Hoffman for example.

In 1970, Clinton entered Yale Law School. It was there that he met Hillary Rodham, an ambitious young woman with a bright political future ahead of her. In fact, she would find herself working on the Nixon impeachment committee as a clerk just a few years later. Meanwhile, Clinton worked on a pair of political campaigns including the ill-fated George McGovern campaign as Texas Campaign Manager.

After graduation from law school, Clinton returned to Arkansas and entered his first political race in 1974. He ran for the House against a Republican incumbent. He lost, but he did well enough to be considered a rising political star and, two years later, Clinton would be elected as State Attorney General.

In 1978, thirty-two year old Bill Clinton was elected Governor of Arkansas, but he would be way in over his head. He was inexperienced at this point, and it showed as he mishandled a riot by Cuban Refugees at Fort Chaffee and drew the ire of the timber industry while also raising auto license fees to pay for road construction. As a result, it cost him as he lost re-election.

But, if nothing else, Clinton was a savvy politician. He admitted his mistakes in his 1982 run for Governor and the voters gave him another chance. This time, he didn’t fail them, and he would be elected again in 1984, 1986, and 1990.

Governor Clinton ran Arkansas as a Centrist, appointing his wife, Hillary, to an education committee. Education reform was a hot button issue for Clinton, and he even advocated the reforms on National TV (On a personal note, this is how I was introduced to him). Clinton called for teacher competency tests (yes it was controversial to the unions) as well as other reforms. As a result, dropout rates declined, and college entrance exam scores increased dramatically.

Clinton also was an advocate of the death penalty, another divisive issue among Democrats. He was an early advocate to what would later be labelled as Workfare. On the liberal side, he also supported Affirmative Action and he appointed more African Americans to state boards than all the previous Governors combined. Indeed, he would prove to be especially popular among African Americans as both Governor and President.

Governor Clinton also had a penchant for looking at the polls to see which issues were most popular, thus, his penchant for always going with the political wind, sometimes as if he had no political convictions of his own. It was a play his political consultant, Dick Morris, was good at, and it worked.

After five terms as Arkansas Governor, Clinton was able to boost his national Profile. Indeed, he was a rising star on the National Stage, and he was chosen as the Keynote Speaker at the 1988 Democratic Convention. He fumbled with his overlong speech, however. Still, it was just a misstep and Dukakis was doomed anyway.

Meanwhile, Clinton finished out his Gubernatorial era by leading the National Governors Association for a time. He also led the Democratic Leadership Council, a group of moderate Democrats basically that called for Government help when needed but it was ultimately up to the individual to take care of himself. In other words, the government would boost you and help you, but it wouldn’t support you necessarily. Clinton would call this and other Centrist ideas a New Covenant.

So, 1992 was just around the corner, and with a reputation as a “New Democrat”, less New Deal, tough on crime, but very pro-civil rights, Clinton would be a formidable candidate in 1992.

Summary of offices held:

1977-1979: Arkansas Attorney General

1979-1981: Governor of Arkansas

1983-1992: Governor of Arkansas


What was going on: Contract with America, War in Kosovo, Somalia war, war on terrorism

Scandals within his administration: Whitewater, Paula Jones, the Monica Lewinsky affair

Why he was a good President: Like Reagan before him and Obama after, he had a way of communicating with the American public. He was a policy wonk and he managed to accomplish things like the Family Leave Act and the Assault Weapons Ban (though it would only be good for ten years). He also helped negotiate peace between the Irish factions as well as with Israel and Palestine (though he couldn’t do anything about Hamas). And whatever his flaws and his penchant for feeling the political wind, he basically meant well.

Why he was a bad President: Because he did have a penchant for feeling the political wind. He all but betrayed the gay community with his Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy, because the military wasn’t ready to accept gays as of yet. In a way, he betrayed women too, not with his legislation, but with his own actions. The guy really couldn’t keep it in his pants. And, while it would be a mistake to blame him entirely, he did promote and sign the 1994 crime bill which would have a very negative effect on relations between police and the minority communities (To be fair, a lot of heads rolled on that one including one Joseph Biden)

What could have saved his Presidency: All he really needed to do was to keep it in his pants, but he also could have shown more political bravery and stuck with his convictions more instead of worrying about his political career.

What could have destroyed his Presidency: Well, the Monica Lewinsky affair nearly did. Otherwise, maybe staying more on the sidelines. To his credit, Clinton was a very involved President.

Election of 1992: Clinton came in as the front runner as the primaries got underway but his penchant for having affairs proved to be a hinderance in his campaign. First, there was the Gennifer Flowers affair where she insisted she had an affair with Governor Clinton. This is where many Americans got to meet Hillary when she announced on TV that she was no Tammy Wynette by Standing By her Man, this in defense of her husband, mind you, but also a poor choice of words as she probably lost the Tammy Wynette fan club vote.

Clinton also had to deal with rumors that he had smoked marijuana (of course, by 1992, who hadn’t?). Clinton responded that he did try it but didn’t inhale. So much for feeling the political wind.

In the end, people didn’t really care if Clinton was even a serial killer. They wanted someone who could emphasize with them, and Clinton pressed all the right buttons when it came to that. So, despite a worthy challenge by the other major candidate, Paul Tsongas, Clinton won the nomination easily and the Democrats would be stuck with the Clintons for a long time.

The general election, by comparison, looked like a cakewalk. By now, President Bush was about as popular as herpes and people were ready for a change after twelve years of the Reagan Revolution. In fact, Bush was so unpopular, he had to deal with a third party challenge by the eccentric billionaire, Ross Perot, who even looked like he had a shot at making history as the first third party Candidate to win the Presidency.

Clinton had little to worry about, however. Every time Perot withdrew or re-entered the race, it always seemed to hurt Bush more than Clinton in the polls. Besides, he had such a crack team behind him like campaign manager James Carville, whose mantra was, “It’s the economy, stupid!” Clinton never wavered from that assessment, and he pounded hard on the economy throughout the campaign.

The final straw occurred at the debates between the three candidates where Bush seemed out of touch and Perot was acting a bit erratic. Clinton won the debate easily just by gently telling a questioner that, “I feel your pain.”

And, in the end, Clinton won by a two to one margin in the Electoral College.

And the Slick Willie era began.

First term: The first two years of the Clinton administration was a bit rocky to say the least and it didn’t help that the corruption of his own party, in power of the House for well over four decades, became too much for the public to bear. Minority Leader Newt Gingrich would pounce on the scandal and the ineffectiveness of the Clinton administration to build his Contract With America and the Republicans would take over the House in the 1994 elections.

Meanwhile, President Clinton managed to get the Medical Leave Act signed and Hillary started a task force in a drive for National Health Insurance, an initiative that the insurance industry would successfully shoot down by scaring the public with their Harry and Louise commercial spots.

Clinton also had inherited a few foreign policy issues that involved some military intervention. There were still the sanctions against Iraq, of course, but there was also a genocide going on in Kosovo that NATO was dealing with. On top of that, the US was in the middle of a civil war conflict in Somalia. The Somalian campaign, though well meaning, would not end well. The scourge that was Slobodan Milosevic in the former Yugoslavia would eventually have a happy ending, but it would take years.

But it would be two domestic tragedies that would dominate Clinton’s first year, first six months actually, in office. First, there was the World Trade Center bombing that killed six people.

Then there was the siege at WACO. A Branch Davidian sect led by someone who called himself David Koresh was surrounded by a Federal force known as the ATF. There was a standoff for about a month before Attorney General Janet Reno okayed a raid on the complex. The ATF probably got a little zealous and no one really knows what exactly happened, but in any event, the house was torched, possibly from the inside and maybe by Koresh himself, seventy-five people, including Koresh, were killed and Reno took the hit for the disaster.

Clinton, who had won the support of the gay community during the campaign, initially had allowed gays in the military, but there was such blowback by the military as well as America not being quite ready to accept gays as people (it takes time for the inhuman to allow people into the human race), Clinton took out his political barometer again and came up with his Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy, a policy that the military would manipulate quite well until even they became enlightened and Obama would repeal the ridiculous edict.

Clinton also would have to deal with a major political scandal known as Whitewater that would hound him throughout his Presidency. It started with the suicide of his deputy counsel, Vince Foster, and Republicans, who had a personal hatred of both of the Clintons, would doggedly pursue the matter, uncovering a lot more (though not necessarily illegal) than they had bargained for.

During the first two years, Clinton also signed into law the controversial NAFTA trade agreement that was supported by Bush and Perot as well. And, while it did have its flaws, it did improve trade between Canada, the US, and Mexico, and especially was helpful to Mexico (though arguably at the expense of American jobs).

If Clinton’s numbers were abysmal in 1994, they took a turn for the better in 1995 as the Oklahoma City Bombing would be handled much better than the debacle in Waco. 168 people would be killed in this tragedy, but the culprits would be captured, and Clinton proved to be as adept at comforting the public and, more importantly, the surviving victims, just as well as Reagan had a decade before.

The Bosnian war ended under Clinton’s watch and a deal was brokered in Dayton, Ohio. Called the Dayton Peace Accords, this was a document signed by Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Croatia in Paris and President Clinton would send 20,000 American troops (part of a larger NATO deployment) to enforce the cease fire followed by free elections.

The best news for Clinton, however, was domestic as the economy was again booming. Because he had a hostile House, and a particularly hostile Newt Gingrich, he was able to broker deals he couldn’t with his own party. It didn’t help Gingrich that a Government shutdown he engineered backfired on him, his party receiving the blame for that miscalculation.

So, though Clinton’s first term would be a mixed bag overall (He also pushed his workfare program through as well as a controversial crime bill though popular at the time), and despite his personal foibles (The Whitewater investigation was now gaining steam and he had former mistresses coming out of the woodwork), he would be a tough incumbent to defeat in 1996.

__________________

rubber soul

BILL CLINTON (PART 2)





Election of 1996: With the economy recovering, Clinton’s chances at re-election were considerably better than it had been two years earlier when the Republicans took back both the House and Senate. As such, Clinton and Gore won renomination with no real push back.

On the Republican side, Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole had the inside track to the nomination, but he did have some challengers, such as maverick businessman Steve Forbes who introduced his flat tax proposal. For about fifteen minutes Forbes was almost as popular as President Clinton with the young, but he never did indicate whether he wore boxers or briefs. He also had less serious competition from Former Tennessee Governor Lamar Alexander and the always controversial Pat Buchannan. Nevertheless, when the Convention hit the stage in San Diego, Dole had the delegates and he was all but anointed, the highlight being a speech by wife Elizabeth Dole, who came off as a conservative Phil Donahue.

Dole was behind in the general election from the start and another third party bid from Ross Perot didn’t help. Perot didn’t have the same clout that he had in 1992 and ended up with less the half the vote he received in 1992. Still, he would be a factor.

The campaign itself was a bit exaggerated though not especially smear worthy as Clinton warned that Dole would do away with Social Security and Dole jumped on Clinton’s personal flaws, promising the Republicans would make life miserable for him if he were re-elected. Needless to say, that wasn’t a good strategy and while Dole played up his World War Two record (He would be the last candidate to have served in World War II), it didn’t make up for his occasional gaffes and his tendency to be a bit too blunt, even bordering on mean. And, despite the one good idea the ticket came up with (VP Candidate Jack Kemp’s Urban Enterprise Zones, something he came up with after the LA riots in 1992), Clinton had no problem winning re-election.

But Dole kept his promise because, for the next four years, the Republicans would make Clinton’s life a living hell.

Second Term: The Newt Gingrich led Republicans began their war on Clinton as soon as he was inaugurated a second time. The Senate voted unanimously to investigate some fund raising discrepancies from the Clintons primarily but also from some members of Congress. Special Prosecutor Kenneth Starr was investigating the Whitewater scandal. On top of that, Clinton was being sued for sexual harassment by former Arkansas State Employee, Paula Jones, who had the backing of Republicans basically out to get Clinton. They even paid for her nose job to make her look more sympathetic, but she couldn’t prove anything had happened and the judge would summarily dismiss the case. In retrospect, Jones was victimized twice, once by Clinton, who did indeed sexually harass her, (this was exposed during the Lewinsky affair), and by the Republican groups that exploited her in their zeal to destroy Clinton.

So, while Hillary Clinton (who likely had one eye on her own political ambitions by now), was complaining about the right wing conspiracy, a new scandal erupted. This one involved a young aide named Monica Lewinsky. It was alleged that Clinton had an affair with Lewinsky while Hillary was out of town. Kenneth Starr (who couldn’t find enough legitimate dirt evidently) decided to exploit this instead. Lewinsky stayed quiet and one had to feel sorry for the gullible young woman, but Clinton responded rather nastily by stating that he did not have sex with that woman, Monica Lewinsky.

Now despite Clinton’s reputation as a cad, basically, he did have a pretty decent record when it came to women’s issues, most notably, with his Family Leave Act, so women’s groups were quick to defend the guy as hypocritical as it looked (A few years earlier, they sent Liberal Republican Senator Bob Packwood out on a rail for less transgressions after having even done more for women than even Clinton had- but he was a Republican- right?). Anyway, Starr went after Clinton like a pit bull, and it culminated in a deposition where he ultimately admitted the affair. Now it was off to the races and Speaker Gingrich pushed for an impeachment hearing. Not because of some Tenure of Office Act or covering up some political malfeasance, no this was for lying about having an illicit affair. No doubt if Gingrich could have gotten away with it, Clinton would have been impeached for littering.

Anyway, though Clinton had indeed embarrassed the office and I personally would have liked to have seen him resign, it was hardly impeachable. But, hey, that’s me. They did impeach Clinton, but it would cost Gingrich his seat. Yes, he won his re-election but only barely and he realized his effectiveness as Speaker was gone after his party lost six seats in the 1998 midterms. So, he resigned, and Bob Livingston of Louisiana was pegged to replace him.

But wait! It turned out Livingston had an affair as well and he fell on his sword and resigned. They ended up settling on Dennis Hastert of Illinois who later would be nailed for having sex with minors in the 1960s. Boy were those Republicans on a roll.

The impeachment trial took place in January 1999 and in no real surprise, Clinton was acquitted by a 50-50 vote. The last two years of Clinton’s Presidency would be relatively quiet.

Despite the Hijinx that was the impeachment process (and almost every President has been threatened with impeachment by the opposing party since then), Clinton did manage some pretty serious accomplishments in his second term. For one thing, he accomplished what no one had done since the 1920’s; he balanced the budget. He also was able to get an assault weapons ban passed after the Columbine School shooting in 1999. Clinton also was able to broker peace between the warring factions in Ireland in what was known as the Good Friday Peace Accords. He also mediated the Rye River agreements between Israel and the PLO, still led by Yasser Arafat.

But there would be some warning signs on the horizon for the next President, not all of it Clinton’s fault. NATO had to bomb Serbia when Milosevic though he could be Hitler again. Milosevic would finally be toppled and would be at large come the next Administration.

But the bigger issue maybe started with the explosion on the USS Cole. This was initiated by a would be freedom fighter named Osama Bin Laden. Clinton responded by bombing the bejeebers out of his compound, but the fun was just beginning, and it would be President Bush II that would pay the price.

In the meantime, The Clintons made plans to move to New York so Hillary could carpetbag her way to Senator. The Clintons would be out of the White House, but they sure weren’t done yet.

Post Presidency: While Hillary was padding her resume as a Senator from New York, Bill Clinton opened an office in New York City, maintaining an active speaking schedule. He teamed up with Former President Bush on a couple of humanitarian initiatives and they became friends. He also stayed very involved in politics becoming something of a respected elder statesman. Even a heart surgery in 2004 couldn’t slow him down. He could still be controversial as he helped Hillary in her 2008 and 2016 Presidential campaigns but, all in all, he has managed to come out with more integrity than he ever had as President.

Odd Notes: After a morning of jogging, Clinton was known to frequent the local McDonalds.

Hilary Rodham Clinton served on the Watergate Committee

Final Summary: And what have we learned? We learned that there is more than one meaning for the word, is. We also learned what not to do with a cigar.

But basically, when you look at the whole picture, Clinton was a pretty good President. Not that I’d invite him for Sunday dinner, I think his character has a lot to be desired. But he was quite adept at getting legislation passed even with a very hostile Congress hell bent on removing him from office. I think he may have been more effective in his troubled second term than he had been in the first. Maybe having an adverse Congress was good for Clinton.

Pity I wouldn’t be able to say the same for future Presidents.

Overall rating: B-

https://millercenter.org/president/clinton

__________________

rubber soul

43. GEORGE W. BUSH ( When the President talks to God)





Born: July 6, 1946, New Haven, Connecticut
Died: Still kicking it on his ranch in Texas

Term: January 20, 2001- January 20, 2009
Political Party: Republican

Vice President: Dick Cheney

First Lady: Laura Welch Bush

Before the Presidency: George W. Bush was part of the Bush political dynasty. His grandfather, Prescott Bush, had been a Senator from Connecticut and his father, George HW, would follow in those footsteps after the family moved to Texas.

After a family tragedy when he lost his sister to leukemia, the younger George became closer to his mother, and it is said that he got much of his impulsive personality from her.
Bush, coming from an affluent family, attended private school as a teenager. He wasn’t crazy about the rigid structure that goes with a private school, and he struggled a bit academically. He was terrified of disappointing his parents however and would stay up at night studying. He fared better at making friends and would enjoy a full social life for quite a time.

Because of family tradition, Bush would attend Yale University. At the same time, his father made his first run for the Senate and Bush helped out where he could. This was his first real foray into politics.

Like his father and grandfather before him, Bush was a member of the secretive Skull and Bones society. He played athletics, but really wasn’t the baseball player his father had been, thus, he played rugby instead. He majored in European and American studies and was a lover of history in general.

Bush graduated from Yale in 1968. Vietnam was raging at the time and Bush, knowing his father was a pilot in World War II, knew he had to join the military in some capacity. He joined the National Guard where he too would become a pilot. As a result, there were accusations that he was able to get out of Vietnam because of political connections. Whether that was true or not remains to be seen.

Meanwhile, Bush obtained his MBA in Business Administration at Harvard and returned to Texas where he got into the oil business in Midland. Bush, like his father, became a success at the business and developed a reputation of treating his employees well.

Bush was known as a hard partyer in his youth but found religion in the 1980s. He was heavily influenced by Bill Graham and began to read the Bible very seriously. It was through this that he developed his Conservative Christian values tempered with a compassion for those who may have felt left out. He quit drinking on his fortieth birthday.

Bush’s true political career started in 1978 on an unsuccessful run for the House. It was on this campaign where he met the political strategist Karl Rove. He also had help from his father’s circle of friends. He enjoyed campaigning even though he wouldn’t be successful, but he stayed out of politics for a time after that.

So, he concentrated on his business while working for his father’s Presidential campaign, often acting as a sounding board for him. In 1989, he, along with a group of investors, purchased the Texas Rangers baseball team. Bush became nationally known as a result and was considered a fairly popular owner. By the time he sold the team in 1998, he would make a $15 million profit.

After his father lost to Bill Clinton in the 1992 election, the younger Bush decided to get back into the ring again. In 1993, he challenged incumbent Texas Governor Ann Richards. He had hoped to make improvements in education as well as tort reform. Of course, he also touted his conservative Christian values in a state that seemed to be heading in that direction. Bush won the election and Texas hasn’t voted for a Democratic Governor since.

Governor Bush earned a reputation of being able to work with the opposing party and had a positive relationship with Lieutenant Governor Bob Bullock, a Democrat. Bullock even endorsed Bush for re-election and though Bush failed at tort reform, he made great strides in welfare reform and juvenile justice reform. After he was able to accomplish that, Bush went to his most important issue, education. An advocate for school choice, he pushed for legislation that encouraged school choice and competition as well as trying to ensure that every child could read. And, as a typical Republican, he lowered taxes. He also pushed for faith based initiatives, providing social services through churches and other private institutions.

As Governor, he’s also famous for the Karla Faye Tucker episode. Tucker was a convicted murderer who was on death row and was up for execution. While on death row, she became a born again Christian and drew the sympathy of famous evangelists such as Pat Robertson as well as Newt Gingrich. Governor Bush, a born again Christian himself but also a proponent of the death penalty, wrestled with this dilemma himself, but in the end, he refused clemency and Tucker was executed.

By re-election time in 1998, Bush easily won another term as Governor. His brother, Jeb, also won as Governor of Florida; the Bush political dynasty was thriving.

And there was a campaign to get George W to run for President in 2000. Bush wrestled with that idea and, through prayer, came to the conclusion that he should run.

And, like it or not, the rest is history.


Summary of offices held:

1968-1974: Texas Air National Guard, First Lieutenant

1989-1994: Owner, Texas Rangers (Major League Baseball)

1995-2000: Governor of Texas


What was going on: 9/11, War in Afghanistan, War in Iraq, Hurricane Katrina, the Great Recession

Scandals within the Presidency: Scooter Libby perjury scandal, Lawyergate, Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal, the Valerie Plame affair

Why he was a good President: Whatever his flaws, he had a moral compass that his predecessor had lacked. He also managed to make life just a little easier for immigrants that were in the US illegally.

Why he was a bad President: He forgot the edict of Separation of Church and State for starters, but ultimately, it was his handling of the Iraq War that was his downfall. The truth is, he never should have invaded in the first place.

What could have saved his Presidency: Sticking to just Afghanistan and staying out of Iraq. Also, he should have acted like the President of the United States and not the Protestant Pope.

What could have destroyed his Presidency: Well, Iraq and Katrina ultimately did, didn’t it?

Election of 2000: After winning re-election as Texas Governor easily, Bush was pushed to make a run for President and, after a church service that convinced him he was destined, Bush put his hat in the ring.

It wouldn’t be a coronation though. Bush faced stiff competition from Moderate Senator John McCain of Arizona. McCain was known as a maverick not afraid to go against the party line and that proved attractive in the New Hampshire Primary. Bush took responsibility for his loss and regrouped. He already had the evangelical vote in hand as vehemently opposed abortion rights and was against gay rights in general. But it was his reputation as someone who could work across the aisle that proved to be the trait that put him over the top. Bush would win the nomination and McCain would have to wait another eight years.

It was a little more cut and dried in the Democratic Party. Vice President Al Gore was the clear favorite and although he did get some competition by New Jersey Senator Bill Bradley, there was never any doubt Gore would win the nomination.

The general campaign would be a closely matched contest. Gore, like Bush, came from a political pedigree and checked all the requisites, including a stint in Vietnam as an Army reporter. But, as with Clinton in 1992, it was about the economy, stupid and, since that was still going well, it became a contest of philosophical differences instead.

Both candidates stumbled at the debates, and they were considered a push as was the Vice Presidential debate between Dick Cheney and Joe Lieberman. And it would reflect in possibly the most controversial Election Day in American History.

For the election would be the closest in American History, Gore winning the popular vote by the skin of his teeth. Third party maverick Ralph Nader wasn’t much help to Gore either and he may have cost him not only Florida, but New Hampshire as well. Indeed, those four electoral votes in New Hampshire alone would have been enough to give Gore the Presidency, making the circus that was about to unfold in Florida irrelevant.

Because there was no clear cut winner in Florida. It was initially called for Gore but a controversial “chad” style voting system in Dade County sent votes Bush’s way. The election was then called for Bush until Gore’s numbers started to close in yet again. Ultimately, there would be a number of recounts despite interference by Florida Secretary of State Kathryn Harris, who had her own political ambitions. It didn’t make Bush look very good when the infamous Brooks Brothers riot was initiated. In any event, both sides would go to court over the course of nearly two months before the Supreme Court more or less said enough and awarded Florida to Bush. Even that was controversial since the court tended to lean conservative, but liberal justice Stephen Breyer had sided with the majority 5-4 vote, so that could be argued.

So, for perhaps the first time since 1880, the United States had a President that half the country didn’t see as legitimate.

First term: The first eight months of Bush’s term was essentially a domestic agenda. He signed executive orders banning international abortion aid and deregulating religious charities. He also pulled out of the Kyoto Protocol meant to reduce global warming emissions.

Later in the year, President Bush had to deal with what was known as the Hainan incident. There, an American Spy Plane collided with a Chinese aircraft and was forced down on Hainan Island. An international incident was created as the Chinese refused to release the personnel and insisted on keeping the spy plane. The incident continued for ten days before China agreed to release the personnel.

The other big domestic issue was stem cell research. Evangelicals opposed the use of said cells for conditions such as Alzheimer’s Disease because they felt it would encourage abortions. President Bush essentially agreed but he would allow funding of existing research but would ban the extraction of stem cells for future research. This was a controversial decision that earned the wrath of even some Republicans, notably Nancy Reagan, whose own husband was suffering from Alzheimer’s.

Meanwhile, the summer of 2001 seemed to be obsessed with more trivial things such as the Gary Condit scandal and the sudden plague of sharks like in the movie Jaws.

Then September 11 happened.

The Bush administration and, indeed, the United States, changed forever after two planes crashed into the World Trade Center in New York. After another plane crashed into the Pentagon, it was obvious that George W. Bush was about to become a wartime President.

Bush’s popularity soared in the days after 9/11 as he rallied the Firefighters while visiting what was now being called Ground Zero. It was quickly determined that Osama Bin Laden was behind the terrorist act, and he was being backed by the Taliban in Afghanistan. As such, we were now at war in Afghanistan and only recently would we pull out, a decade after Bin Laden had been killed. Bush also started the Department of Homeland Security and signed the controversial Patriot Act which allowed the Government to access confidential information and subvert search warrants.

People didn’t care about losing a few civil liberties as long as they could feel safe though. Bush remained popular in 2002 as he pushed through the No Child Left Behind Act requiring standardized math and reading tests but also giving states flexibility when using federal funds for education.

The Emperor’s clothes would come off in 2003, however. Allegedly because of bad intelligence it was assumed that Saddam Hussein held weapons of mass destruction. For months, the US tried to build a coalition to topple Hussein, who Bush saw as a terrorist (and in Iraq, at least, he was). But weapons of mass destruction were never found.

Still, on March 19, 2003, the Iraq war began. The US bombed Baghdad with the same fervor it had in 1991, this time the press calling it, “Shock and Awe.”. Within weeks, Hussein had been toppled and a US backed interim government was put in place. President Bush even landed by parachute on an aircraft carrier to declare mission accomplished.

But the mission wasn’t accomplished. Bush missed the lesson of his father, who was smart enough to withdraw so the US wouldn’t have to try to win the peace. The younger Bush didn’t see that far ahead, and Iraq would be a headache for him for the rest of his administration and his poll numbers would suffer as a result.

And it only got worse. By the end of 2003, Chief US Weapons Inspector David Kay, a proponent of the war, announced that no weapons of mass destruction had been found. And in 2004, the biggest scandal of the Iraq War was exposed as a few wayward soldiers were photographing Iraqi prisoners in various stages of abuse at Abu Ghraib Prison. This shocked even the most fervent supporters of the war and Bush took quite the black eye over it.

Indeed, as the 2004 election came around, it seemed obvious that the Democrats would really have to screw it up to lose this one.

And guess what? The Democrats screwed it up.




Election of 2004: Despite the lowest numbers of his Presidency so far, Bush renomination was all but certain, the only question being who he would face in the general election.

The Democrats had an interesting slate of candidates starting with the experienced Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts. He faced stiff competition from the likes of General Wesley Clark and Populist Senator John Edwards of North Carolina among others.

But it was the maverick Governor of Vermont, Howard Dean, that piqued the nation’s interest. He was the initial front runner but seemed to have a nervous breakdown after losing in Iowa as he celebrated with the infamous Dean Scream. Dean never recovered from the incident and Kerry would get the nomination, picking Edwards as his running mate.

Kerry was easy to paint as a waffler as Bush exploited his initial support of the Iraq War until he was against it (He said that almost literally). If that wasn’t bad enough, Kerry had been touting his success as a Vietnam War veteran and a Conservative Group called Swift Vets and POWs for Truth more or less called Kerry out as something less than honorable. It was all politically motivated, of course, and people knew it.

But Kerry really did waffle on the Iraq War spectacularly and that definitely hurt him. In the end, Bush won another close election and, despite a desperate attempt by the Democrats to challenge the controversial Ohio vote (A controversy with the voting machines more so than the vote itself which clearly went to Bush), there was no doubt Bush won re-election.

So, Bush got the distinction of being the least popular President to win re-election.


Second Term: And if you think Bush was unpopular in 2004, get a load of what happened in 2005. For that was the year of Hurricane Katrina. New Orleans was devastated, and people suffered in flooded houses for days on end. FEMA was unprepared for this disaster and Bush’s response in support of the beleaguered director was to say, “Way to go, Brownie.” Bush never really recovered from this disaster and how it was handled.

It wasn’t all bad for Bush, however. Bush was a lot of things but being a racist wasn’t one of them. Indeed, he even developed a rapport with the Muslim community after 9/11. He also enjoyed, arguably, the most diverse administration in American History, a pretty neat feat for a Republican. This all played into his one truly great accomplishment, the Path to Immigration. The idea was that it would strengthen the border between the US and Mexico while giving illegal immigrants a way to earn citizenship in the United States. This proved unpopular with his own party, but the Democrats, now in control of Congress, responded positively to the most humane response to the immigration problem yet.

In the end, though, as the economy finally collapsed into what became known as the Great Recession in 2008, Bush essentially governed a failed administration and while he was still liked personally, he would go down as one of the least successful Presidents in history.

Post Presidency: Bush, one of the least popular Presidents in history, happily retired to his ranch in Texas only making public appearances for his brother Jeb when he would run for President in 2016. Bush made it a point not to criticize his successor, Barack Obama, knowing that he would have enough pressures to worry about. He tried to do the same with Donald Trump, but it eventually got to the point that he could be silent no longer. Like others, including a few brave Republicans, he saw Trump as a threat to Democracy. Still, Bush is mostly content with an occasional public appearance. And he has since admitted his mistakes in handling the Iraq War.

Odd notes: Bush stopped drinking after he turned 40.

President Bush famously survived after choking on a pretzel

Final Summary: Bush may very well have had the best of intentions but his policies, especially on the foreign front, were mitigating disasters. Indeed, for a long time, there were people that were rating him as the worst President ever. Of course, that’s pretty unfair in retrospect.

But he was certainly a below average President, especially for someone who served two terms. He let his religion get in the way of what was best for all and not just some. He was clearly ill prepared for Hurricane Katrina. And, by the end of his two terms, we were mired in two wars with seemingly no way out. He couldn’t even capture Bin Laden.

But, despite the ill-advised Patriot Act, and the support of the controversial practice of waterboarding (basically a torture method to get prisoners to talk). He still believed in a Democratic Nation, something a future President obviously wouldn’t.

And when compared to that future President, George W. Bush frankly looks like George Washington.

Overall rating: D

https://millercenter.org/president/gwbush

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rubber soul

44.BARACK OBAMA (Yes we can,can)




Born: August 4, 1961, Honolulu, Hawaii
Died: He’s still with us on a TV screen near you

Term: January 20, 2009- January 20, 2017
Political Party: Democrat

Vice President: Joseph Biden

First Lady: Michelle Robinson Obama

Before the Presidency: Barack Obama was the first President to be born outside the Continental United States. He would also be the first person of African American heritage to become President as his father was born in Kenya. His mother, who was white, more or less raised Barack after his parents broke up when he was young. She would remarry another foreign student at the University of Hawaii and Barack would spend time in Indonesia where he attended Catholic and Muslim schools. Obama learned about different cultures at a very early age.

When Obama was ten, his mother, concerned about his education, sent him to live with her parents where he could attend regular school. His grandparents raised him from fifth grade until he graduated high school. He was a typical teenager of the late seventies, dabbling in drugs and alcohol, but he also played basketball and was an above average student.

Obama left Hawaii to attend Occidental College in Los Angeles. Two years later, he transferred to Columbia in New York City where he majored in political science. He soon found work as a researcher with a global business firm before accepting an offer from Chicago to become a community organizer for Chicago’s poor and black South Side. Barack Obama found his calling.

Obama excelled as a community organizer, launching the church funded Developing Communities Project and organized residents to demand improvements to a poorly maintained public housing project. Obama, however, would be frustrated with the city bureaucracy and felt he needed a law degree to give him some ammunition to play with.

So, Obama entered Harvard Law School in 1988, this time excelling as a student, and graduating Magna *** Laude. While at Harvard, he was elected President of the Harvard Law Review for the 1990-1991 academic year. This despite being a liberal among a group of conservatives. Obama learned the values of being a good politician as he was able to persuade the conservative voting bloc he’d treat them fairly, and indeed, that’s what he did. He drew some media attention as the first African American to head the law review and he would ultimately write a highly acclaimed book about his struggles as a black man trying to find his identity titled. “Dreams From My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance.”

After Harvard, he returned to Chicago with his wife, Michelle, where he organized a voter registration drive. He worked with a civil rights law firm while lecturing at the University of Chicago.

And in 1996, Obama made his first forays into public office. He ran to replace Alice Palmer as Illinois State Senator (she was running for the US House and had endorsed Obama as her replacement). Palmer, however, changed her mind and tried to run for her own seat. Obama wouldn’t yield and, because Palmer was too late to get her name on the ballot, Obama won the seat.

The State Senate wasn’t a pleasant time for Obama. It was a Republican controlled body for starters, and he was all but shunned by the black caucus over his harsh treatment of Palmer. But he managed to form friendships anyway, working well with both sides of the aisle, and even found a mentor in Democratic Leader Emil Jones, Jr., also a black from Chicago.

In 2002, the Democrats retook the Illinois Senate and Obama was able to thrive as a leading legislator, helping to pass 300 bills aimed at assisting children, the elderly, labor unions, and the poor.

Obama had tried to win a seat in the US House in 2000 with an unsuccessful run against the popular ex-Black Panther Bobby Rush. Fortunately, he was still able to keep his seat in the State Senate and that would be a springboard for his 2004 campaign for the US Senate. It was a controversial race from the Republican end as the favored Jack Ryan was caught up in a scandalous divorce with a famous TV actress. Ryan was forced to withdraw from the race and Obama would be pitted against a carpetbagger from (guess where? Maryland) named Alan Keyes, a controversial black conservative, who had made two unsuccessful runs at the Presidency.

And as if Obama needed any help, he was pegged as the keynote speaker at the 2004 Democratic Convention, If John Kerry made people cringe with his own Mike Dukakis moment (he announced he was ready for service), Obama wowed the crowd with an electrifying speech as he concluded there was not a liberal America or a conservative America, there’s the United States of America. Obama’s call for a united country rang positively and from that point on, he was on peoples’ minds as a possible candidate in 2008.

Summary of offices held:

1997-2004: Illinois State Senator

2005-2008: US Senator, Illinois


What was going on: The Great Recession, mass shootings, The Affordable Care Act (Obamacare)

Scandals within the administration: Veterans Administration scandal, IRS targeting controversy, David Petraeus sex scandal

Why he was a good President: Let’s start with the Affordable Care act. Maybe not quite the healthcare version of Social Security but it does ensure that all Americans will be insured, regardless of health issues. Bin Laden was captured on his watch, and he found ways to enact progressive policies without the help of Congress. Plus, he was without a doubt one of the most persuasive Presidents in history.

Why he was a bad President: Well, he was black, wasn’t he? I’m sure that’s what some of the Trumpsters were thinking at least. Okay, to be serious though, he was a little skittish when it came to enforcing edicts overseas such as with Syria (on the other hand, he did deal with an incident involving Libya and stood up to Putin as best he could). He also was unable to work with the opposition though, frankly, I lay that more on the opposition.

What could have saved his Presidency: A quicker handle on the Russian election meddling might have helped. I also think he should have distanced himself from Hillary Clinton and encouraged Biden to run for President instead. It might not have saved the country but at least it would have saved us from Trump.

What could have destroyed his Presidency: A war with Russia which seems inevitable anyway, more realistically, if the economy had withered into a depression, Obama would have been the black Herbert Hoover.

Election of 2008: Already the highest African American office holder in the country, Obama formally announced his candidacy in February 2007. He tapped David Axelrod as his campaign manager, and they started an effective internet campaign.

Of course, 2008 was not supposed to be Obama’s year for this was the year Hillary Clinton expected to be coronated Queen of the United States and she began her campaign as if she was entitled to be the first woman President in history. She had a large contingent of mostly women, some who even threatened to vote Republican if Hillary was not nominated. Obama also had to contend with former VP Candidate John Edwards as well as another quixotic run by Joe Biden, a well-respected Senator, but never popular as a Presidential Candidate.

But it would be Mrs. Clinton that would give Obama the most headaches. She led early in the polls, and it looked like her coronation was inevitable. But Obama had developed a strong fundraising campaign and the fruits of his labor began to show as 2008 began. Obama won the Iowa caucus while Clinton took New Hampshire, and it was obvious that it would be a two way race.

Obama gained momentum in the South Carolina primary as he more or less took the African American vote away from the Clintons, who didn’t take the supposed betrayal very well. Mrs. Clinton ran a fairly mean spirited campaign for the most part, seeming more desperate every time Obama inched closer to the nomination to the point that she brought up the possibility that Obama could be assassinated much like RFK in 1968. The shocking suggestion was likely the final nail in her coffin.

Not that Obama himself didn’t have his slip ups. The same man who chastised Hillary Clinton by suggesting that silly season is over, proverbially shot himself in the foot when he suggested that when there is no hope, people cling to guns and religion. It likely lost him Pennsylvania in the primary.

But he won the big state of California, giving him enough delegates for nomination. Even then, Mrs. Clinton wouldn’t concede until California Senator Dianne Feinstein arranged a meeting where a deal may have been made. Obama would later appoint Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State.

There was considerably less drama on the Republican Side. The Maverick Senator from Arizona, John McCain, came in as the front runner and easily beat back competition from moderate Mitt Romney and evangelist Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee.

But McCain had a lot of work to do. By now, President Bush was about as popular as raw sewage and he had to balance a line between not losing favor within the party (There were some who didn’t think he was conservative enough on social issues) and losing independent voters who were especially sour on Bush. McCain also didn’t necessarily have the best campaign team as they seemed more focused on attacking Obama’s character and not his positions, something McCain himself found disgusting.

Perhaps McCain’s most cynical move was to nominate Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate. Palin was certainly a likeable young woman with lots of energy, but her inexperience in national politics showed when people got beneath the folksy exterior to find she wasn’t very knowledgeable when it came to international affairs.

McCain’s nail in the coffin though would come when the economy crashed in mid-September. Obama was able to address the crisis that would become the Great Recession while McCain, much better at international affairs than domestic, could only say that the fundamentals of the economy are sound.

And it didn’t help (though maybe it should have) that McCain, possibly one of the most honorable candidates ever to run for President, found himself defending Obama when a McCain supporter accused Obama of being an Arab. McCain tried to assure the woman that Obama was simply a man he disagreed with; he was just as American as he was.

In the end, Obama with his message of hope won the day and the election while McCain returned to the Senate but at least could hold his head high.

First term: The first Obama term began the way Bush’s second term had ended, with a financial crisis to deal with. Bush, against his own philosophy and with the help of both Obama and McCain, signed a bill to bail out the banks. President Obama would later direct TARP funds to bail out the struggling auto industry with the promise that the government would be paid back. The loans were successful though people were left thinking it was a bailout for the wealthy, especially in the case of the banks.

Obama also inherited two of Bush’s wars, the one in Afghanistan which kept plodding along, and the one in Iraq where Obama pledged to finally get out of (He had always opposed the Iraq war). He kept his promise though it would be a slow withdrawal. By 2012, the troops were finally out of Iraq.

Afghanistan would be another matter. Instead of withdrawing, Obama stepped up the military presence there hoping it would ultimately speed up the withdrawal much like Bush’s troop surge in Iraq ultimately helped the withdrawal there. Unfortunately, it didn’t, and the US would be mired in the conflict until Biden controversially sent the last troops home in 2021.

Obama’s pet project though was finally adapting a national health care plan for all. But, as usual, Americans don’t want to hear about health care costs until it is too late. He got absolutely no support from the Republicans and realized he would need all the Democrats to get what would become the Affordable Care Act in place. And there were a few Democrats, beholden to the insurance industry, who weren’t willing to go for what essentially would be universal health care. So, Obama negotiated with the insurance industry because, frankly, he had no choice, and they got a very comprehensive bill that would make health care much more affordable to most Americans. Obama enjoyed a Democratic House and Senate his first two years in office and despite the right wing alarm bells warning of death panels, Obama was able to make affordable health care, or Obamacare as the Republicans derisively called it, become the law of the land, with the conservative Supreme Court twice upholding it.

Though Obama had some accomplishments in the bank already, there were suspicions about how the ACA would affect Americans in the future. Meanwhile, there was a right wing movement that called themselves the Tea Party which basically was a faction of Obama haters and angry whites in general. The liberals laughed at them, referring to them as tea baggers, but they wouldn’t be laughing when they swept into the House in the 2010 midterms. These “tea baggers” would make life miserable for Obama, and at times, the whole country, for the next six years.

The second half of Obama’s term would be dominated by the use of executive orders since the Republican House more or less refused to work with him. He also had to deal with something called the birther movement which falsely claimed that Obama was actually born in Kenya.

Despite the obstacles though, Obama still added some accomplishments such as rescinding the controversial Don’t Ask Don’t Tell provision for gays in the Armed Forces. By now, the top brass was willing to accept gays in the military and, with a little prodding from Vice President Biden, Obama agreed.

He also scored the major military victory that George Bush was unable to achieve. In May 2011, a special ops mission ended in the killing of Osama Bin Laden. He was also President during the Arab Spring uprisings, meant to make the Arab countries a little more democratic but ultimately with mixed results. President Obama supported the concept, however.

It would be nice to say Obama’s first term ended with more of a bang than a whimper (though he scored points with his quick assistance after Hurricane Sandy blasted New Jersey, even earning praise from Republican Governor Chris Christie), but again, he wasn’t getting much help from the opposing party. The country was divided, and it was only going to get worse, tragically worse after Obama.

But all in all, Obama had maybe a 50-50 chance at re-election and did have better numbers than George Bush at the same time. The only question then being, would the Republicans be smart enough to go with another John McCain or would they go back into the Bush playbook again.

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