Published Feb. 25, 2007 in the Hibbing Daily Tribune
By Aaron J. Brown
2007 is young. I’m still writing 2006 on some of my checks. Even so, the 2008 political season has already arrived.
It’s no secret that elections begin and are often decided long before Election Day, but this is absolutely insane. For one thing, 2008 is a historical rarity – a year when both major political parties have wide open races for the presidential nomination. Usually there’s either an incumbent or a quasi-incumbent Vice President. And, since we’ve crafted a system where the only real way to win elections is to raise a lot of money, getting out early is essential to a candidate’s fundraising credibility.
So now we have two dozen big name candidates for
president
and even the U.S. Senate race here in
George Washington: He had many sets of false teeth made from anything from wood, to whale bone, to household objects. That’s not something that plays well on HDTV, noble statesman or not.
Thomas Jefferson: Had slaves and had babies with slaves. Add with him all the other presidents who had slaves. Also, was reported to have a falsetto voice that would have been mocked on SNL.
Abraham Lincoln: He had lost a Senate race and had
only
served in
Theodore Roosevelt: His rough and ready persona makes for great history, but his over the top gestures and boastful speeches would have put him in the same category as Howard “The Scream” Dean in this modern age.
Franklin Roosevelt: When he was president, he didn’t have to explain that the disability that kept in a wheelchair wouldn’t keep him from doing his job. He didn’t have nightly news anchors saying things like, “Will America accept a disabled president?” He likely would have struggled in today’s political climate and might never have been president.
Harry Truman: One of the underestimated figures in American history, Truman became president because of a convention selection process that made him Vice President, a process that no longer exists. Later, he was expected to lose the 1948 election so badly that not a single well-known political pundit in the country predicted he could win. He worked in a day when the speeches actually mattered, though, and Truman won because of a coast-to-coast railroad campaign that blindsided his opponent. Today’s voter: “What’s a whistle-stop?”
Dwight Eisenhower: He rode the fence too long before deciding to jump in the ’52 contest. In today’s political world, the nomination would have been locked up by the time he announced his campaign.
John Kennedy: He was the last president elected
under the
old “boss” system. He would have struggled in the
Richard Nixon: He never would have been president
because he
lost in 1960 and couldn’t even win a governor’s race in
Jimmy Carter: An unknown
Even Bill Clinton was able to come from behind to win the
Democratic nomination in 1992. Today, candidates with his then-level of
funding
and experience are considered “second tier” and would be ignored.
Reagan and
Bush 41 might have still made it, but their campaigns started much
later and
cost much less, so we may never know. In truth, George W. Bush is the
first
president in a modern era of non-stop campaigning.
So if all these historical figures would be unable to lead in modern times, what kinds of leaders are we getting now? We get reasonably good looking leaders who find new ways to appease 51 percent of the people. We get people who try to be spontaneous and bold only when focus groups tell them to.
One easy thing to do amid the early 2008 skirmishing would be to check out of the debate. But that would also be the wrong thing to do. Get involved, if only to educate yourself on the candidates. Consider what you want from your leaders and encourage candidates who represent your ideals. The trouble with this never ending cycle is that it causes people to stop paying attention. That’s exactly what powerful people want you to do.
Aaron J. Brown is a columnist for the Hibbing Daily Tribune.