# Who is the President America needs right now? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [June 2, 2016, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-president-america-needs-right-now/756307 "2016-06-02T13:32:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2016, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-president-america-needs-right-now/756307/21 "2016-06-02T21:38:56Z")
Oh shit, did we lose him again? ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2016, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-president-america-needs-right-now/756307/22 "2016-06-02T21:54:38Z")
> [@Totenfeier](#): > > My thread, so my two cents, to muddy the waters: > > Where the hell is our Lincoln? Or Washington. Or Jefferson. Or Madison. And if Trump wins . . . Where the hell is our Booth? ---
**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:** [June 2, 2016, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-president-america-needs-right-now/756307/23 "2016-06-02T22:09:46Z")
FDR. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2016, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-president-america-needs-right-now/756307/24 "2016-06-02T22:50:55Z")
> [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#): > > Huey Long. I would accept Huey Long. \*Who built the highway to Baton Rouge? Who put up the hospital and built your schools? Who looks after the shit-kickers like you? The Kingfish do Who took on the Standard Oil men And kicked their ass just like he said he’d do? Ain’t no Standard Oil men gonna run this state Gonna be run by little folks like me and you Here comes the Kingfish The Kingfish Everybody sing Here’s the Kingfish The Kingfish Every man a king\* ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2016, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-president-america-needs-right-now/756307/25 "2016-06-02T23:04:20Z")
> [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > FDR. Even better. A new National Recovery Act, Works Progress Administration, and Civilian Conservation Corps would be just the ticket for creating thousands of jobs and restoring our shitty infrastructure. And every Post Office in the country could have a dandy new mural! ---
**Author:** ![DerekMichaels00](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f14d63/32.png) [@DerekMichaels00](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DerekMichaels00)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2016, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-president-america-needs-right-now/756307/26 "2016-06-02T23:18:42Z")
Bill Clinton, Scoop Jackson, or the 2008 version of Hillary Clinton (she was more centrist then). ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2016, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-president-america-needs-right-now/756307/27 "2016-06-02T23:31:22Z")
> [@Totenfeier](#): > > Where the hell is our Lincoln? We need the return of Lincoln like we need the return of slavery and civil war. Trust me, we’re better off without them. More broadly, the Great Presidents have been those who won wars. Not needing war is better even at the cost of some reputation, hmm? ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2016, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-president-america-needs-right-now/756307/28 "2016-06-03T00:08:13Z")
If we can vote for fictional people, then I vote Lazarus Long. ---
**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:** [June 3, 2016, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-president-america-needs-right-now/756307/29 "2016-06-03T00:16:09Z")
Batman. But he’s not the president we deserve. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Ace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/6bbea6/32.png) [@Johnny\_Ace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Ace)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2016, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-president-america-needs-right-now/756307/30 "2016-06-03T00:26:15Z")
Louis Wu, with Teela Brown as his running mate. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2016, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-president-america-needs-right-now/756307/31 "2016-06-03T00:38:29Z")
If you’re going to have a two-party system, you have to have two viable & competent parties. Right now, the GOP is _very_ good at winning elections (so, “viable”) and very bad at governing (so, “incompetent”). The Democrats are _very_ bad at winning elections (possibly less than viable) and…well, if they can’t win legislative majorities, does it matter if they’re competent? (When they do, they’re not that competent either). [Fans of the two parties can take a moment here to turn bright red in anger.] If the GOP is to continue to be an acceptable big-tent party, it has to regain competence. [ul] [li]This means no longer _only_ taking contrarian positions for cynical reasons.[/li](Examples of such: insisting that ectopic pregnancies are viable to win Vatican support; endorsing political corruption as “free speech,” unregulated mass media as “a free press,” and then insisting that you need the right to _buy_ advertising from that wicked, wicked, media because otherwise they have too much power; Creationism; and AGW denial.) [li]It has to be dragged by its ears away from the fake “religious” and “corporate” pseudo-academy built to teach bullshit.[/li][li]Learning when to make a list and when to just let it go. (Sorry, Opal.)[/li][/ul] OK. So, the best candidate would be a Republican, but one not a movement conservative nor beholden to the oil companies. Because, as leader of the party he could drag the party away from doctrinaire Reaganist-Gingrichism, and back toward realism. So he has to be charismatic, and his own man. _And he has to be a realist on global warming._ The president we need now? **Arnold Schwarzenegger.** Call your Congresscritter, call your state legislative whip, and get that constitutional amendment going. You have a month or two. Failing that, I dunno, man. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2016, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-president-america-needs-right-now/756307/32 "2016-06-03T00:44:50Z")
> [@leftfield6](#): > > Right on both accounts. > > If we want to bring fictional characters into the discussion, I would put forth President Bartlett from the West Wing. Recently began re-watching the series on NetFlix, and am reminded what an inspirational leader the character is. Jed Bartlett was too much a self-important ass! A nightmare! Full of himself, an inveterate liar, lacking humility, honor, or a sense of proportion! I say _nay_ to Bartlett! I liked Matt Santos, though. Arnold Vinick was kind of all right. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2016, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-president-america-needs-right-now/756307/33 "2016-06-03T00:47:08Z")
President Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Herbert Camacho. I mean, we’re pretty much headed that direction anyway. Might as well get it over with. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2016, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-president-america-needs-right-now/756307/34 "2016-06-03T00:52:30Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Batman. But he’s not the president we deserve. Steve Rogers, because President America is the President America needs. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2016, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-president-america-needs-right-now/756307/35 "2016-06-03T00:53:26Z")
You know, Al Gore wouldn’t be so bad. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2016, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-president-america-needs-right-now/756307/36 "2016-06-03T00:53:50Z")
Elon Musk. Sadly he is ineligible. Can we pick dead people? LBJ. We need LBJ as president and need(ed) LBJ as senate majority leader back when the dems controlled congress. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2016, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-president-america-needs-right-now/756307/37 "2016-06-03T00:54:32Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Hey! I resemble this remark! Most of California’s problems were/are self-inflicted. I stand on my high place, look down, and whisper, “No.” Seriously, I’ve been awed watching Brown wrestle entrenched and endemic problems for the last five years and been very, very impressed… when I never expected to be impressed by a California gubernator again. ---
**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2016, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-president-america-needs-right-now/756307/38 "2016-06-03T00:55:26Z")
I’d vote for Jon Stewart in a heartbeat. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2016, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-president-america-needs-right-now/756307/39 "2016-06-03T00:57:50Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > Steve Rogers, because President America is the President America needs. Hmmm. The last few years of “old, cranky Steve” have made that less attractive, but maybe. Maybe this thread should have a Café Society spin-off. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2016, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-president-america-needs-right-now/756307/40 "2016-06-03T01:09:41Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > We need LBJ as president and need(ed) LBJ as senate majority leader back when the dems controlled congress. So long as there aren’t any regional wars for him to expand, I will agree. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-president-america-needs-right-now/756307.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-president-america-needs-right-now/756307.md?page=3)