# Petraeus 2016! **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [July 7, 2011, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/petraeus-2016/588185 "2011-07-07T14:30:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2011, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/petraeus-2016/588185/21 "2011-07-08T14:04:29Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > Nobody said there wasn’t. I said it hasn’t happened in 50-odd years and **Exapno Mapcase** said it’s happened once in the last 120 years, and the one time it did happen, circumstances were so different they were hardly comparable. I think the days of people asking retired war heroes to govern are long over. And yet it was considered a virtual fait accompli that Colin Powell would have taken the nomination of any party he chose to run with. Well, at least pre-Bush. ---
**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:** [July 8, 2011, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/petraeus-2016/588185/22 "2011-07-08T19:56:40Z")
And, of course, Colin Powell had no interest whatsoever in running, either. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2011, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/petraeus-2016/588185/23 "2011-07-08T20:52:19Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > And yet it was considered a virtual fait accompli that Colin Powell would have taken the nomination of any party he chose to run with. Well, at least pre-Bush. There’s no surer bet for the presidency than someone who isn’t running. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2011, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/petraeus-2016/588185/24 "2011-07-28T02:18:15Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > I don’t think military men are particularly suited for politics. A guy like Petraeus is used to giving an order and seeing it carried out. Put him in the White House and he’d quickly learn that it doesn’t work that way. We might need a “dictatorial” President (NOT a dictator) who can unite the country and through sheer popular will shove things through Congress (much as Lincoln and FDR did). ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2011, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/petraeus-2016/588185/25 "2011-07-28T02:48:21Z")
> [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#): > > We might need a “dictatorial” President (NOT a dictator) who can unite the country and through sheer popular will shove things through Congress (much as Lincoln and FDR did). I almost put my head right through the computer screen at that. In my history books, Lincoln and FDR got as much work done with Congress - emphasis on with - because the opposition party had essentially collapsed. The only obstacles were opposing factions within the Republican and Democratic Party respectively. That helps a bill’s passage remarkably. That may happen again in some future, but without it there will never be a “dictatorial” president like the one you are falsely imagining. ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2011, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/petraeus-2016/588185/26 "2011-07-28T02:48:58Z")
Clark didn’t exactly set the world on fire. Neither did McCain. Bush Sr at least was a combat vet and so the most recent one. Not sure if anyone could classify Junior as a veteran with a straight face. ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2011, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/petraeus-2016/588185/27 "2011-07-28T02:54:52Z")
All the US presidents who were generals except maybe Jackson were not radicals of any sort: Washington, Taylor, Grant, Hayes (yes he was a general), Eisenhower. ---
**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:** [July 28, 2011, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/petraeus-2016/588185/28 "2011-07-28T03:32:28Z")
> [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#): > > We might need a “dictatorial” President (NOT a dictator) who can unite the country and through sheer popular will shove things through Congress (much as Lincoln and FDR did). And yet you hate Lyndon Johnson who was the last President who was able to shove things through Congress. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2011, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/petraeus-2016/588185/29 "2011-07-28T14:40:14Z")
> [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#): > > All the US presidents who were generals except maybe Jackson were not radicals of any sort: Washington, Taylor, Grant, Hayes (yes he was a general), Eisenhower. Washington led an armed insurrection against his government. That’s about as radical as you can get. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2011, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/petraeus-2016/588185/30 "2011-07-28T20:25:11Z")
> [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#): > > We might need a “dictatorial” President (NOT a dictator) who can unite the country and through sheer popular will shove things through Congress (much as Lincoln and FDR did). You are still succumbing to the notion that a popular war hero can unite the whole country. Even at the height of Petraeus’ popularity, this simply wasn’t true. It is easy for a candidate to be popular when he’s only known for one thing and doesn’t have to take positions on any issues. _And Lincoln united the country?_ That would be news to Lincoln. He wasn’t on the ballot in most of the Southern states during either election, the country was at war with itself for almost all of his presidency, and just after the war ended, he was shot to death. What he accomplished was not done through sheer popular will. I would say a large part of it was done because the people who were the most opposed to him _started a war against the United States_ and had no political power during the war or immediately after it ended. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2011, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/petraeus-2016/588185/31 "2011-07-28T20:54:20Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > There’s no surer bet for the presidency than someone who isn’t running. 🙂 This is the politics version of the old football chestnut “The fans don’t like anyone more than the back up quarterback.” ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2011, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/petraeus-2016/588185/32 "2011-07-29T21:23:26Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Before Eisenhower, the last president who was a general was Harrison. I admit, I couldn’t resist double-checking this and was surprised to learn that _both_ presidents named Harrison had been army generals: William Henry Harrison in the war of 1812, his grandson Benjamin Harrison in the Civil War. I thought you were referring to the older Harrison and was preparing to point out Grant. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/petraeus-2016/588185.md?page=1)