# Which President would you have a beer with? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 9, 2010, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-president-would-you-have-a-beer-with/553225 "2010-09-09T21:05:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2010, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-president-would-you-have-a-beer-with/553225/1 "2010-09-09T21:05:34Z")
It’s often said that Americans judge their president on whether they would want to have a beer with. So, of the presidents currently alive, who would you most like to have a beer with? ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2010, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-president-would-you-have-a-beer-with/553225/2 "2010-09-09T21:06:30Z")
Would the Secret Service be hanging around? What kind of beer do they drink? ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2010, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-president-would-you-have-a-beer-with/553225/3 "2010-09-09T21:08:24Z")
Millard Fillmore ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2010, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-president-would-you-have-a-beer-with/553225/4 "2010-09-09T21:09:43Z")
He wasn’t a president, but I’d choose Benjamin Franklin. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2010, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-president-would-you-have-a-beer-with/553225/5 "2010-09-09T21:10:19Z")
I’ve had one with Clinton, and he was pretty interesting to just shoot the shit with. I would probably pick Obama. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2010, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-president-would-you-have-a-beer-with/553225/6 "2010-09-09T21:11:05Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > Would the Secret Service be hanging around? What kind of beer do they drink? I think you can assume that they will be quietly in the background, but won’t take part in the chat. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2010, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-president-would-you-have-a-beer-with/553225/7 "2010-09-09T21:11:24Z")
> [@Giles](#): > > So, of the presidents currently **alive** , > [@NoClueBoy](#): > > Millard Fillmore > [@ShibbOleth](#): > > He wasn’t a president, but I’d choose Benjamin Franklin. ??? ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2010, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-president-would-you-have-a-beer-with/553225/8 "2010-09-09T21:11:29Z")
This is presidents currently alive? Clinton, I guess. I bet he has some awesome stories. In a more formal setting than a bar, I’d say Carter, whom I admire greatly, but can’t picture in a bar. ETA: I would like to meet Obama, but right now I don’t want to waste his time with my blathering. ---
**Author:** ![Bearflag70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Bearflag70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bearflag70)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2010, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-president-would-you-have-a-beer-with/553225/9 "2010-09-09T21:14:24Z")
W So I can bash the bottle over his head. ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2010, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-president-would-you-have-a-beer-with/553225/10 "2010-09-09T21:17:28Z")
Probably Clinton. Bush I and Carter are decrepitly old, which I’d imagine wouldn’t make them much fun to hang out with, and I don’t think I’d want to chat with W or O. Hmm, maybe I’d have a beer with Bush I. Is he buying? ---
**Author:** ![Rafe\_Hollister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/fbc32d/32.png) [@Rafe\_Hollister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rafe_Hollister)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2010, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-president-would-you-have-a-beer-with/553225/11 "2010-09-09T21:24:52Z")
I’m a hard right-winger, but when it comes to sitting down for a beer, it’s gotta be Clinton. I’d even take up golf just to be his golf buddy. I bet he’s a trip. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2010, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-president-would-you-have-a-beer-with/553225/12 "2010-09-09T21:29:30Z")
Clinton, of course. If I could pick any one, dead or alive, Lincoln. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2010, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-president-would-you-have-a-beer-with/553225/13 "2010-09-09T21:30:30Z")
I have dreams about hanging out with the Obamas. It’s kind of unnerving. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2010, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-president-would-you-have-a-beer-with/553225/14 "2010-09-09T21:31:57Z")
> [@ShibbOleth](#): > > He wasn’t a president, but I’d choose Benjamin Franklin. I picked Clinton, and Shrub would be my next choice. I didn’t think much of Shrub as a president, but he’d probably be great to have a beer with. If I could have my druthers, though…I’d like to have Ben Franklin as my drinking buddy. He was an amazing person, and he’s also the one who said “Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.” I’m an atheist, but I can see the point of that argument. ---
**Author:** ![BigBertha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d78d45/32.png) [@BigBertha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigBertha)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2010, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-president-would-you-have-a-beer-with/553225/15 "2010-09-09T21:34:36Z")
Why is it a quiet beer? We can’t be rowdy? ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2010, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-president-would-you-have-a-beer-with/553225/16 "2010-09-09T21:38:08Z")
Carter, then. I still have some Billy Beer somewhere around here … maybe in the garage fridge … the boat’s cooler? … well, I’m sure I’ll find it by then. ---
**Author:** ![Trepa\_Mayfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/edb3f5/32.png) [@Trepa\_Mayfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trepa_Mayfield)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2010, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-president-would-you-have-a-beer-with/553225/17 "2010-09-09T21:39:59Z")
N/A, famous people are scary. ---
**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:** [September 9, 2010, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-president-would-you-have-a-beer-with/553225/18 "2010-09-09T21:52:48Z")
Why is this a single-choice poll? My first choice would be Clinton, but really, I’d share a pint or three with all of them apart from Carter. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2010, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-president-would-you-have-a-beer-with/553225/19 "2010-09-09T21:55:49Z")
It’s a close call between Clinton and Obama for me – Barack is after all my contemporary, but Clinton’s surely very interesting to listen to. Bush I, though quite older, probably could be a quite enjoyable person to socialize with at the lounge over fine cognac and to hear what he has to say – Pacific War pilot, longtime public official, throwback to the NE old school. Similarly Carter as one of the Navy’s original nukes, and someone who’s been everywhere, but I dunno, can’t place him at the bar either. Shrub Jr. , heck, the entire conversation would be: “What the hell were you thinking?” ---
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2010, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-president-would-you-have-a-beer-with/553225/20 "2010-09-09T22:11:51Z")
Obama, no question. I think he’s a profoundly interesting person, and I’d love to have a chance to shoot the breeze with him. Second would be Carter, because I think he’d have a lot of interesting things to say about the way politics have changed. Ditto Bush I. Clinton would be interesting to talk you, I’m sure, if you could get through his celebrity status and narcissism. Bush II is a either a total moron or living in complete denial of reality. Either way, he’s a Yale pretty-boy preppy with a very inauthentic Southern good-ol’-boy affection that is just repulsive to me. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-president-would-you-have-a-beer-with/553225.md?page=2)