# Counterpoint: Pick a FICTIONAL character to be President. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 14, 2010, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/counterpoint-pick-a-fictional-character-to-be-president/543121 "2010-06-14T11:20:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2010, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/counterpoint-pick-a-fictional-character-to-be-president/543121/1 "2010-06-14T11:20:18Z")
[Here is where you get to pick are Real Live Human.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=566862) Here is where you get to pick someone from the fictional world to be the President. My rules are there are no rules: They can be from other countries or galaxies! First that comes to mind would be **Harry Flashman**. ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2010, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/counterpoint-pick-a-fictional-character-to-be-president/543121/2 "2010-06-14T11:23:07Z")
Easy: Atticus Finch. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2010, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/counterpoint-pick-a-fictional-character-to-be-president/543121/3 "2010-06-14T11:30:05Z")
Jed Bartlett ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2010, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/counterpoint-pick-a-fictional-character-to-be-president/543121/4 "2010-06-14T11:55:42Z")
Get rid of term limits and just make Bartlett a dictator. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2010, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/counterpoint-pick-a-fictional-character-to-be-president/543121/5 "2010-06-14T11:59:14Z")
Lt Barney Greenwald, Maryk’s defense counsel in _The Caine Mutiny_. ---
**Author:** ![Athena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/35a633/32.png) [@Athena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athena)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2010, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/counterpoint-pick-a-fictional-character-to-be-president/543121/6 "2010-06-14T12:09:52Z")
I’m going for either Aslan or Aragorn. And by Aslan I mean the really cool Lion guy that I understood him to be when I read the books as a kid, not the metaphor for God that all the adults think he is. ---
**Author:** ![MTCicero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a4c791/32.png) [@MTCicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MTCicero)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2010, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/counterpoint-pick-a-fictional-character-to-be-president/543121/7 "2010-06-14T12:44:07Z")
Glen Bateman Jon Osterman Tony Stark Lucius Vorenus Al Swearingen Oh, yeah, almost forgot: Michael Corleone ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2010, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/counterpoint-pick-a-fictional-character-to-be-president/543121/8 "2010-06-14T13:33:29Z")
Aragorn’s good, but he’s King material, not Presidential; I think Faramir might be better. But I’ll plump for Dixon of Dock Green. Humility, gentle warmth, and an air of command. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2010, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/counterpoint-pick-a-fictional-character-to-be-president/543121/9 "2010-06-14T13:41:36Z")
Edmund Blackadder. I always saw him as a potential senator (from a Southern state, possibly Virginia) during the Jefferson, Lincoln, Kennedy and Clinton administrations. He’s presidential timber! Rotted, syphilitic presidential timber, but presidential timber nonetheless! ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2010, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/counterpoint-pick-a-fictional-character-to-be-president/543121/10 "2010-06-14T15:31:45Z")
[Andrew Shepherd](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_American_President). ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2010, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/counterpoint-pick-a-fictional-character-to-be-president/543121/11 "2010-06-14T16:40:34Z")
Doctor Doom! With him in charge, we can rest assured our budgetary woes are over with. Nobody’s gonna screw with him and hope to live, and I’m sure our space program will positive boom. On the downside, we may have the odd radioactive terror raoming the streets, but as the holder of power armor superior to Iron Man’s, plus a master of dark magic, it’s nothng he can’t mhandle. Doom for President! He’s clearly superior to his opponent, Cobra Commander, who little mroe than redneck ex-car dealing piece of Teabagging white trash. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2010, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/counterpoint-pick-a-fictional-character-to-be-president/543121/12 "2010-06-14T16:50:55Z")
President Cobra Commander! Sure, Doom would like you think that he’d help the little guy, but what executive experience does he actually have? He runs Latveria like his personal fief - because it is - while the inhabitants are terrorized under his iron fist. Balance budgets? What does he know about that? He’s a pretty (or ugly) face in a powered battle suit, running off his charisma and knwoledge, not his actual ability. No, Cobra Commander is where its at. Look at his advantages. First, pick of Vice President is less critical because Cobra Commander never dies. Even after being exploded multiple times, he always comes back ready for more. Second, while Doom’s inventions are nice, nobody else gets to use them. Cobra is all about mass-creation of cool shit. Third, Doom can’t be everywhere. He has to run to country. Cobra Commander is used to delegation, and comes with a high-powered team of elite leaders, all of whom follow him. Furthermore, Cobra can now share its high-tech weapons fo war with the United States, ensuring our place as the worldwide leader with man-portable jetpecks, infantry laserguns, hover-battle-tanks, small but powerful orbital spaceplanes. In terms of speaking, nobody matches Cobra Commander. He routinely sacrifices massive combat-ready base facilities to protect the lives of his troops and yet always has a dozen more ready to go! Cobra Commander! Yes We Shall! ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2010, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/counterpoint-pick-a-fictional-character-to-be-president/543121/13 "2010-06-14T17:21:43Z")
Lord Vetinari. Or maybe he would be VP or Chief of Staff with Carrot Ironfoundersson as President. ---
**Author:** ![misling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3ab097/32.png) [@misling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/misling)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2010, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/counterpoint-pick-a-fictional-character-to-be-president/543121/14 "2010-06-14T17:33:53Z")
Whatever position he holds in the government, Lord Vetinari would be the _actual_ power. Whoever is president would just be a figurehead. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2010, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/counterpoint-pick-a-fictional-character-to-be-president/543121/15 "2010-06-14T18:09:20Z")
> [@yojimbo](#): > > Get rid of term limits and just make Bartlett a dictator. I like Bartlett too much to force him to do that job for life. By the end of The WEst Wing, he couldn’t get out of the Oval Office fast enough. Hell, if Leo McGarry had lived and, somehow, been his successor, he’d have quit the day after the election. [QUOTE=Athena] I’m going for either Aslan or Aragorn. And by Aslan I mean the really cool Lion guy that I understood him to be when I read the books as a kid, not the metaphor for God that all the adults think he is. [/QUOTE] As Aslan is High King Over All Kings in Narnia, I’m sure that, as president, he’d just fob the job off on somebody else anyway. I, of course, want Pallas Athena. ---
**Author:** ![Drain\_Bead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47774/32.png) [@Drain\_Bead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drain_Bead)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2010, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/counterpoint-pick-a-fictional-character-to-be-president/543121/16 "2010-06-14T18:12:46Z")
Albus Dumbledore, natch. That oil leak wouldn’t stand a chance. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2010, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/counterpoint-pick-a-fictional-character-to-be-president/543121/17 "2010-06-14T19:04:43Z")
> [@Hal\_Briston](#): > > [Andrew Shepherd](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_American_President). Beat me to it. Hell I would probably even vote for Michael Douglas in real life just because of Andrew Shepard. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2010, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/counterpoint-pick-a-fictional-character-to-be-president/543121/18 "2010-06-14T19:23:36Z")
> [@](#): > > I, of course, want Pallas Athena. The goddess or the computer? And Vetinari would be great for a city, of course, or even a decent-sized state with modern communications and transportation technology, but a continent-spanning country might be a little too vast for him to give it the personal touch he’s so good at. I think I’ll just sign up with the Fitch campaign. There’s a reason he’s always named first when this topic comes up. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2010, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/counterpoint-pick-a-fictional-character-to-be-president/543121/19 "2010-06-14T20:19:02Z")
Captain America ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2010, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/counterpoint-pick-a-fictional-character-to-be-president/543121/20 "2010-06-14T20:25:38Z")
Maybe Lazarus Long or Jubal Harshaw? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/counterpoint-pick-a-fictional-character-to-be-president/543121.md?page=2)