# 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:** 2
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2010, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-president-would-you-have-a-beer-with/553225/21 "2010-09-09T22:13:51Z")
I can’t believe you left out Abe Lincoln, you… _modernist_. Anyway, from the choices you gave I went with Jimmy. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2010, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-president-would-you-have-a-beer-with/553225/22 "2010-09-09T22:13:58Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#): > > 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? Carter is currently on a book tour, so he’s sufficiently robust to sit upright on a chair for long enough to down a lager. ---
**Author:** ![HawksPath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/f07891/32.png) [@HawksPath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HawksPath)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2010, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-president-would-you-have-a-beer-with/553225/23 "2010-09-09T22:16:08Z")
I would assume they all have powerful personalities and would to some extent control the conversation. I can’t help but thinking Bush the Lesser would spend the whole time trying to justify his presidency and using very shallow logic and lots of inconsistencies. I think any of the others would be interesting, but Clinton probably the most so. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2010, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-president-would-you-have-a-beer-with/553225/24 "2010-09-09T22:21:04Z")
I’ll be Clinton’s wingman - and he can teach me a thing or two. ---
**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, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-president-would-you-have-a-beer-with/553225/25 "2010-09-09T22:21:18Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > I can’t believe you left out Abe Lincoln, you… _modernist_. The last I heard, Abe hadn’t recovered from his visit to the theatre. If anyone wants to start a poll with dead presidents, please go ahead: I’d probably vote for Tom Jefferson in that one. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2010, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-president-would-you-have-a-beer-with/553225/26 "2010-09-09T22:30:04Z")
Sorry, I missed the part about them being living, at first. To me, the very idea is fantasy. So if it’s fantasy, why not time travel as well? Anyway. Jimmy is still up and kicking. He just went to North Korea and negotiated the release of an American who was held captive there. I wouldn’t count him out just yet. ---
**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, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-president-would-you-have-a-beer-with/553225/27 "2010-09-09T22:33:36Z")
> [@Sigmagirl](#): > > Carter is currently on a book tour, so he’s sufficiently robust to sit upright on a chair for long enough to down a lager. I’m sure. I’ve never worked with him personality with Habitat for Humanity, but the rumor is when he’s on a job site, he gets straight to work, so the old guy isn’t in the grave just yet. Still, given the choices, my first would not be the one who’s 85 years old. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2010, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-president-would-you-have-a-beer-with/553225/28 "2010-09-09T22:59:41Z")
Well, I’d be willing to have a beer with _any_ of them, so I didn’t vote in the poll. I guess for the purposes of the poll, I’d choose Barry because he’s the current president, but I suspect I’d have a lot more fun with either Bill or W. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2010, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-president-would-you-have-a-beer-with/553225/29 "2010-09-09T23:29:57Z")
Clinton might be more fun, but I liked the idea of Obama hosting a “Beer Summit” in the garden of the White House. So I chose Obama–a couple of cold ones in the White House garden, and what would be certain to be an interesting conversation about current affairs, sounds good to me. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2010, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-president-would-you-have-a-beer-with/553225/30 "2010-09-09T23:37:34Z")
Teddy Roosevelt. ---
**Author:** ![Southern\_Yankee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/southern_yankee/32/2800_2.png) [@Southern\_Yankee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Southern_Yankee)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2010, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-president-would-you-have-a-beer-with/553225/31 "2010-09-10T00:16:11Z")
I hate everything his administration stood for and did, but I voted for W in this poll. Come on, you know he was a fun guy to party with before his life got serious. I blame Cheney and Rumsfeld for all the shit that went on anyway. ---
**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 10, 2010, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-president-would-you-have-a-beer-with/553225/32 "2010-09-10T00:36:50Z")
> [@Southern\_Yankee](#): > > I hate everything his administration stood for and did, but I voted for W in this poll. Come on, you know he was a fun guy to party with before his life got serious. 1. You’re talking about _before_ his life got serious, and 2) more fun than Clinton? If we were talking about how you’d drink with in their party dies, I think I’d say W, but if you ask me about who I would like to, right now, in 2010, have a martini with, Billy C all the way. Then Bush I, Carter, Obama, W. In that order. ---
**Author:** ![fusoya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecccb3/32.png) [@fusoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fusoya)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2010, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-president-would-you-have-a-beer-with/553225/33 "2010-09-10T02:02:56Z")
Everybody talked about how they’re rather have a beer with W than Kerry. Nobody seemed to remember it would have to be a non-alcoholic beer though. ---
**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:** [September 10, 2010, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-president-would-you-have-a-beer-with/553225/34 "2010-09-10T02:09:52Z")
Not beer but some more cultured drink with George HW Bush a classic Boston Brahmin-a type of person I always wanted to talk to. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2010, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-president-would-you-have-a-beer-with/553225/35 "2010-09-10T02:10:58Z")
This was a little tough for me between Clinton and Obama,but from everything I’ve read, Obama has a rather reticent personality. Not a jerk, by any means. Very cordial and respectful, but also very guarded. From what I’ve read, he doesn’t really open up to anyone but his wife and kids. Clinton, on the other hand, is reportedly very warm and amiable, very open, the kind of guy who’ll tell great stories about being President – not political stories, necessarily, but just little anecdotes and details about what it’s like to _be_ the President. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2010, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-president-would-you-have-a-beer-with/553225/36 "2010-09-10T02:21:06Z")
I voted for four of them, and against four of them. But I’d have a beer with any of them. ---
**Author:** ![Waffle\_Decider](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/77aa72/32.png) [@Waffle\_Decider](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waffle_Decider)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2010, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-president-would-you-have-a-beer-with/553225/37 "2010-09-10T03:29:47Z")
I would pick Bill if I could only choose one. However, except for W, I think they are all pretty interesting, and it would be pretty cool to have a beer with any one of them. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2010, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-president-would-you-have-a-beer-with/553225/38 "2010-09-10T04:02:38Z")
I think Carter is a Baptist, and Bush the Younger is a recovering alcoholic, so they aren’t really eligible. Bush the Elder doesn’t strike me as being much fun. That leaves Clinton or Obama. Hmmmm. Clinton’s more of a party guy, but he might have to bring his wife, so I’ll go with Obama. If we open it up to historical figures, I think I’d like to do bong hits with Jefferson. ---
**Author:** ![ataraxy22](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ataraxy22/32/307_2.png) [@ataraxy22](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ataraxy22)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2010, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-president-would-you-have-a-beer-with/553225/39 "2010-09-10T04:10:06Z")
Hmmm…the next time I visit a presidential grave site, I’ll have to have a beer at the dead president’s grave. Is it proper to pour a little on the grave stone or marker itself? People like Kennedy get millions of visitors, but I’ve had some “alone time” with many of them already, from Teddy Roosevelt to James Madison. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2010, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-president-would-you-have-a-beer-with/553225/40 "2010-09-10T04:14:19Z")
> [@Curtis LeMay](#): > > Not beer but some more cultured drink with George HW Bush a classic Boston Brahmin-a type of person I always wanted to talk to. He’s not at all like he is on TV - extremely personable, very approachable, VERY tall. ETA - I’m not kidding, the man is a giant. Huge! ETAA - And I was expecting to hate him, came away his biggest fan. Any man who makes it to the Oval Office, I suspect, must be possessed of a certain magnetism. With some of them it’s completely absent on TV. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-president-would-you-have-a-beer-with/553225.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-president-would-you-have-a-beer-with/553225.md?page=3)