# POTUS - your non favored candidate is elected. How damaging to the country? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 11, 2012, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/potus-your-non-favored-candidate-is-elected-how-damaging-to-the-country/631156 "2012-08-11T03:38:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2012, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/potus-your-non-favored-candidate-is-elected-how-damaging-to-the-country/631156/1 "2012-08-11T03:38:15Z")
Some comments in [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=661677) made me wonder how each of you might feel about the prospect of your non-favored presidential candidate being elected and what it means for the country. Possibly irreparable damage to the republic, damaging but it all can be reversed four years later, or not really all that damaging. Wish this could be posted in “Elections,” but I don’t think it allows for polling. Which is a bit ironic, don’t you think? ---
**Author:** ![IceQube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@IceQube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IceQube)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2012, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/potus-your-non-favored-candidate-is-elected-how-damaging-to-the-country/631156/2 "2012-08-11T03:44:36Z")
> [@Koxinga](#): > > Wish this could be posted in “Elections,” but I don’t think it allows for polling. Which is a bit ironic, don’t you think? :dubious::dubious::dubious: :dubious::dubious: :dubious: > **[Polling now enabled in Elections](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=656678)** > > You asked and we did it. Polling is now enabled in this forum. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2012, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/potus-your-non-favored-candidate-is-elected-how-damaging-to-the-country/631156/3 "2012-08-11T03:44:55Z")
It isn’t all that damaging. There is a reason we have three branches of government with a segregation of powers. We don’t elect a dictator in chief. A given presidential election has some degree of importance but a lot of it is indirect like nominations to the Supreme Court. The candidates we get these days are all center to center-right so it isn’t like there is a huge choice there. Romney and Obama aren’t all that different in their viewpoints even by American standards let alone the spectrum that the rest of the world has. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2012, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/potus-your-non-favored-candidate-is-elected-how-damaging-to-the-country/631156/4 "2012-08-11T03:46:19Z")
> [@IceQube](#): > > :dubious: > :dubious: > :dubious: > > [Polling now enabled in Elections - Politics & Elections - Straight Dope Message Board](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=656678) > > :dubious: See, I was being meta ironic. _cough_ Would a kind mod . . . ---
**Author:** ![Lanzy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/74df32/32.png) [@Lanzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lanzy)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2012, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/potus-your-non-favored-candidate-is-elected-how-damaging-to-the-country/631156/5 "2012-08-11T03:51:45Z")
Bush brought us to the brink of ruin, Romney will push us into the abyss of destruction. ---
**Author:** ![Mosier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ea924/32.png) [@Mosier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mosier)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2012, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/potus-your-non-favored-candidate-is-elected-how-damaging-to-the-country/631156/6 "2012-08-11T04:26:21Z")
I don’t like Romney, but he won’t cause irreparable damage to the country if he’s elected. Other than Bush jr, it’s been a very long time since someone actually fucked the country up in a long-term way. Like, Buchanan long. A decent case can be made for Johnson fucking the country up royally with the whole mess in Vietnam, but other than those 2 exceptions (Bush jr, and Johnson) we’ve had more than a hundred years of decent leadership in the White House. ETA: Yes, I’m including Nixon in the “didn’t fuck the country up” category. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2012, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/potus-your-non-favored-candidate-is-elected-how-damaging-to-the-country/631156/7 "2012-08-11T04:53:27Z")
> [@Lanzy](#): > > Bush brought us to the brink of ruin, Romney will push us into the abyss of destruction. To put some meat on this bone, the GOP Congress (they’ll take the Senate if Romney wins) would push us into the abyss, and Romney would sign whatever they passed. Watch Medicare get turned into a voucher program, and Medicaid turned into state block grants, gutting both programs (forget about Obamacare), and watch Social Security get cut way back for those under 55. No, that can’t necessarily be fixed four years later. The odds are pretty heavily against it, really. No, it won’t be filibusterable. They’ll stretch reconciliation to fit. The ‘liberal’ Washington Post will say: politics ain’t beanbag, no big deal. This is a _very_ radical GOP Congress. They’ll call the tune, and Romney will dance to it. Speculation about whether Mitt’s a closet moderate is totally irrelevant. ETA: Hell, I’d even include Bush in the “didn’t fuck the country up” category. Maybe if he’d succeeded in privatizing Social Security… ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2012, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/potus-your-non-favored-candidate-is-elected-how-damaging-to-the-country/631156/8 "2012-08-11T04:55:54Z")
> [@Lanzy](#): > > Bush brought us to the brink of ruin, Romney will push us into the abyss of destruction. :rolleyes: Neither candidate will cause irreparable harm to the country. I prefer Romney, but if Obama gets re-elected, so be it. There will be another election in 2016, and the Dems aren’t likely to three-peat. ---
**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:** [August 11, 2012, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/potus-your-non-favored-candidate-is-elected-how-damaging-to-the-country/631156/9 "2012-08-11T05:11:52Z")
The thing that would most concern me about a Romney presidency would be the Supreme Court. ---
**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:** [August 11, 2012, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/potus-your-non-favored-candidate-is-elected-how-damaging-to-the-country/631156/10 "2012-08-11T06:10:51Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > The thing that would most concern me about a Romney presidency would be the Supreme Court. Well if John Roberts is any indication it might not be so bad for liberals. ---
**Author:** ![Merneith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2012, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/potus-your-non-favored-candidate-is-elected-how-damaging-to-the-country/631156/11 "2012-08-11T07:24:04Z")
It’s taking longer than four years to repair the damage from the last Republican administration - thanks, in no small part, to the ongoing Republican shitheadedness. Now Romney’s got Tea Party darling and bad-at-math shithead Paul Ryan for a running mate - we might as well just as well kiss our status as a first world nation goodbye if they win. ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2012, 10:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/potus-your-non-favored-candidate-is-elected-how-damaging-to-the-country/631156/12 "2012-08-11T10:46:13Z")
> [@Oakminster](#): > > :rolleyes: > > Neither candidate will cause irreparable harm to the country. I prefer Romney, but if Obama gets re-elected, so be it. There will be another election in 2016, and the Dems aren’t likely to three-peat. Exactly. This board can be a bit dramatic. As I always say to my son, “The Republic will endure.” Irreparable damage from either of these guys? As if. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2012, 10:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/potus-your-non-favored-candidate-is-elected-how-damaging-to-the-country/631156/13 "2012-08-11T10:47:15Z")
> [@Merneith](#): > > Now Romney’s got Tea Party darling and bad-at-math shithead Paul Ryan for a running mate - we might as well just as well kiss our status as a first world nation goodbye if they win. Yipes! Apparently that’s what everybody expects to happen this morning. Lately, I thought for sure he was going to go with bland (Portman or Pawlenty), but I guess after the wingnut furor over his spokesperson’s endorsement of Romneycare a week ago, he had to prove his right-wing bona fides yet again. The Ryan budget, which the House has passed a few times already IIRC, is as wicked as it seems. This is why the ideology of Romney himself is not significant. He is a pawn, a figurehead. He is an empty suit that will sign whatever the wingnuts in Congress send him. ---
**Author:** ![Merneith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2012, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/potus-your-non-favored-candidate-is-elected-how-damaging-to-the-country/631156/14 "2012-08-11T11:21:39Z")
> [@Stratocaster](#): > > Exactly. This board can be a bit dramatic. As I always say to my son, “The Republic will endure.” Irreparable damage from either of these guys? As if. Having heard that same line about George Bush, I’m not inclined to give Romney the benefit of the doubt here. ETA: Incidentally, I reported this thread for a forum change, since the OP wanted it in the Elections room. ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2012, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/potus-your-non-favored-candidate-is-elected-how-damaging-to-the-country/631156/15 "2012-08-11T11:25:58Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > He is a pawn, a figurehead. He is an empty suit that will sign whatever the wingnuts in Congress send him. Romney only pawn in game of life? Slate is reporting that the AP says Romney will announce Ryan as his pick at 9 AM today. [Their link to AP doesn’t work though.](http://slatest.slate.com/posts/2012/08/11/mitt_romney_vice_president_candidate_announces_running_mate_paul_ryan_leads_speculation.html) ---
**Author:** ![Iggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iggy/32/3364_2.png) [@Iggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iggy)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2012, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/potus-your-non-favored-candidate-is-elected-how-damaging-to-the-country/631156/16 "2012-08-11T11:36:48Z")
This reminds me of George Carlin’s riff on pollution, the gist of which is we aren’t going to destroy the planet… destroy ourselves, maybe. But the planet? Who do we think we are that we can destroy a planet that has long endured? Certainly the republic has not been around for geologic time scales but it endures. It will endure regardless of who is elected in November. Congress and the President may pass legislation that screw up our economy and cause all sorts of social disruption, but they aren’t going to destroy the country. If the pendulum swings too far with the winner this fall, it will be corrected by the voters in 2016. ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2012, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/potus-your-non-favored-candidate-is-elected-how-damaging-to-the-country/631156/17 "2012-08-11T14:01:45Z")
> [@Merneith](#): > > Having heard that same line about George Bush, I’m not inclined to give Romney the benefit of the doubt here. Right, because Bush damaged the country irreparably. He alone among presidents had such a power, and unfortunately he used it for evil, like the Bond villain that he was and is. And now the country will never be the same, it is beyond repair. You’re right, I forgot about him. This board is funny sometimes. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2012, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/potus-your-non-favored-candidate-is-elected-how-damaging-to-the-country/631156/18 "2012-08-11T14:07:56Z")
Romney is the least destructive Republican candidate, by far, among the posse of clowns that ran in the primaries. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2012, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/potus-your-non-favored-candidate-is-elected-how-damaging-to-the-country/631156/19 "2012-08-11T15:20:29Z")
The fucking Civil War wasn’t irreparable. Neither of these candidates will destroy the country. In other news, the sky is not falling. ---
**Author:** ![Acid\_Lamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Acid\_Lamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acid_Lamp)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2012, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/potus-your-non-favored-candidate-is-elected-how-damaging-to-the-country/631156/20 "2012-08-11T15:49:38Z")
We need an option for “MIGHT cause irreparable damage” Rather than will or won’t. I"m not terribly worried about Romney himself, but the idea of him in office _with_ the current psychotic and disfunctional house terrifies me. Nothing he’s shown me gives me any indication that he’s willing to stand up to his own party firmly and resolutely to do what’s right, rather than that what is politically convenient. Since social issues are of a greater concern to me than economics, I have little faith that Romney would work tirelessly to protect and extend civil rights when placed against his congress. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/potus-your-non-favored-candidate-is-elected-how-damaging-to-the-country/631156.md?page=2)