# Pick a president, any president! **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [April 8, 2011, 11:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pick-a-president-any-president/577645 "2011-04-08T11:05:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![voltaire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voltaire/32/313_2.png) [@voltaire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voltaire)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2011, 11:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pick-a-president-any-president/577645/1 "2011-04-08T11:05:19Z")
If you theoretically had complete autonomy to personally hand pick the next POTUS, who would it be? No need to worry about electability or anything else, it’s completely up to you who will be the next president. If your pick is Obama, then please state that and then specify who you would choose to succeed him. (ETA: Your selection need not have shown any actual interest in being POTUS, or even being involved in politics. You can make your choice as if they would not turn down the position.) ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2011, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pick-a-president-any-president/577645/2 "2011-04-08T11:28:56Z")
I’d take Howard Dean. Unlike Obama, he realizes that the Democrats have an opponent that will stop at nothing in their thirst for power and doesn’t have vertebrae made of Silly Putty. To succeed him, I’d take Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, for much the same reasoning. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2011, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pick-a-president-any-president/577645/3 "2011-04-08T22:18:05Z")
FDR. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2011, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pick-a-president-any-president/577645/4 "2011-04-08T22:26:38Z")
Me. And I might nominate \*\*Bricker \*\*for VP. ---
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2011, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pick-a-president-any-president/577645/5 "2011-04-08T22:27:48Z")
Elizabeth Windsor ---
**Author:** ![Sully](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/48db29/32.png) [@Sully](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sully)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2011, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pick-a-president-any-president/577645/6 "2011-04-08T22:30:49Z")
Jon Stewart ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2011, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pick-a-president-any-president/577645/7 "2011-04-08T22:41:03Z")
Let’s bring Bill Clinton back. ---
**Author:** ![Farmer\_Jane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Farmer\_Jane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Farmer_Jane)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2011, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pick-a-president-any-president/577645/8 "2011-04-08T23:06:12Z")
Howard Dean. Hands down. I’d move across country and join his campaign if he’d run again. And Joe Trippi needs to be his Chief of Staff. I’d like to say Jon Stewart as VP, but that doesn’t sound very serious. So I’m going to go with Tom Harkin or resurrect Paul Wellstone from the dead. ---
**Author:** ![Farmer\_Jane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Farmer\_Jane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Farmer_Jane)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2011, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pick-a-president-any-president/577645/9 "2011-04-08T23:07:46Z")
Wait - does Josiah Bartlet count? I met Martin Sheen once and I kept thinking, _I am standing in front of the greatest President of my generation. Too bad he was fictional._ ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2011, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pick-a-president-any-president/577645/10 "2011-04-08T23:42:45Z")
> [@Superdude](#): > > Let’s bring Bill Clinton back. That’s not a half bad idea. I’ve always been 100% against term limits, even for the president. But it’s only half good, he’s too much like retired now. [Jared Polis.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jared_Polis) ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2011, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pick-a-president-any-president/577645/11 "2011-04-08T23:50:45Z")
> [@Frank](#): > > That’s not a half bad idea. I’ve always been 100% against term limits, even for the president. But it’s only half good, he’s too much like retired now. > > [Jared Polis.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jared_Polis) Bill Maher once proclaimed that, if the Constitution were changed to allow non-US born people to run (this was before the whole “birther” controversy), then we should relax the term limit rule. I agree. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2011, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pick-a-president-any-president/577645/12 "2011-04-08T23:51:06Z")
David Rice Atchison But only until Monday. ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2011, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pick-a-president-any-president/577645/13 "2011-04-08T23:51:39Z")
I always thought that former Baltimore mayor [Kurt Schmoke](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurt_Schmoke) would be the first black president. He has a very similar background to Obama (Harvard Law School) and I liked him for some of the same reasons I liked Obama, so I’m not sure how well he would work out, but I’d like to see what he would do with the job. He would probably appeal to many Dopers (not to mention dopers) for his strong stand in favor of drug decriminalization. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2011, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pick-a-president-any-president/577645/14 "2011-04-08T23:57:22Z")
George Hayduke (POTUS) Nelson Chunder (VP). ---
**Author:** ![Farmer\_Jane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Farmer\_Jane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Farmer_Jane)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2011, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pick-a-president-any-president/577645/15 "2011-04-09T00:05:22Z")
> [@Frank](#): > > That’s not a half bad idea. I’ve always been 100% against term limits, even for the president. But it’s only half good, he’s too much like retired now. > > [Jared Polis.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jared_Polis) I love Jared Polis and I voted for him in the primary and general…but he can be a jerk. It’s not just some of his positions on public education. Anyway, I’m not sure I trust him with the Presidency yet. 😛 ---
**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:** [April 9, 2011, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pick-a-president-any-president/577645/16 "2011-04-09T00:32:20Z")
George Will probably. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2011, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pick-a-president-any-president/577645/17 "2011-04-09T01:19:48Z")
Vladimir Putin. (Uh, hopefully as a defector) ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2011, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pick-a-president-any-president/577645/18 "2011-04-09T01:54:56Z")
My choice is a proven winner with the ability to get the most out of difficult people with huge egos: Phil Jackson. ---
**Author:** ![CheeseDonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecae2f/32.png) [@CheeseDonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CheeseDonkey)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2011, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pick-a-president-any-president/577645/19 "2011-04-09T02:13:07Z")
George W. Bush. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2011, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pick-a-president-any-president/577645/20 "2011-04-09T02:28:45Z")
Theodore Roosevelt of course. He could handle these wars and drive through universal healthcare that would stick while taking care of the Climate change issues. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pick-a-president-any-president/577645.md?page=2)