# 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:** 3
**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 3, 2016, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-president-america-needs-right-now/756307/41 "2016-06-03T01:13:33Z")
How about the Honorable Venustiano Carranza, President of Mexico? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_stainless_steel_rat/32/5727_2.png) [@The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Stainless_Steel_Rat)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2016, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-president-america-needs-right-now/756307/42 "2016-06-03T02:23:18Z")
I really can’t think of anyone these days who I’d put in there. If we’re allowed to go back in history, I Like Ike…he would have the calming effect of a man highly regarded by even his opponents, but much a much stronger President than he is given credit for (see Little Rock). We could use a grownup at the helm for a bit (not taking anything away from Obama, whom I voted for twice, but he was a young’n). ---
**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 3, 2016, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-president-america-needs-right-now/756307/43 "2016-06-03T03:43:01Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > Steve Rogers, because President America is the President America needs. [I’m in.](http://s33.postimg.org/un9cu36u7/rogers.jpg) ---
**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, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-president-america-needs-right-now/756307/44 "2016-06-03T03:55:20Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > [I’m in.](http://s33.postimg.org/un9cu36u7/rogers.jpg) Heh. You know, I actually own [this](http://siskoid.blogspot.com/2010/04/what-if-captain-america-had-been.html?m=1) issue, where he’s referred to as “President America”. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2016, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-president-america-needs-right-now/756307/45 "2016-06-03T04:44:03Z")
Trudeau, but you can’t have either of them. Why? They get things done that need to get done, and would pull the USA back into the first world despite its kicking and screaming. ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Gay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3ab097/32.png) [@Enola\_Gay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Gay)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2016, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-president-america-needs-right-now/756307/46 "2016-06-03T04:44:59Z")
I’d like to mix it up and go with Michelle Obama for Pres with Hilary Clinton as her running mate (or the reverse-as each has her own merits) . It would be a 4 for 2 deal-- with the first men being all bored, yet relatively young and capable, so they could pitch in to help. Bonus points for Record Breaking Election: First white woman POTUS/VP, First black woman POTUS/VP, first 'First Gentlemen" (or whatever they’d be called) back at work solving problems and not baking cookies… ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2016, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-president-america-needs-right-now/756307/47 "2016-06-03T11:52:18Z")
I would have said Ben Carson, because I like the way that he talks with a lot more wisdom and less pandering-to-the-peanut-gallery rhetoric than other politicians. But he doesn’t seem to have much of a grasp on world affairs. So…a more hawkish version of Carson, I guess? He seems like he would be easily swayed by lobbyists. I would have said Robert Gates but he was terribly shortsighted the way he tried to shift the entire military into essentially one big counter-insurgency force. Or maybe Ben Sasse, the senator from Nebraska. Love his “Never Trump” stance at a time when others are rushing headlong to support Trump. ---
**Author:** ![Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/budget_player_cadet/32/205_2.png) [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2016, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-president-america-needs-right-now/756307/48 "2016-06-03T12:40:14Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > I would have said Ben Carson, because I like the way that he talks with a lot more wisdom That word has absolutely no place in a 10-mile radius surrounding Pyramid Head over there. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2016, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-president-america-needs-right-now/756307/49 "2016-06-03T14:04:02Z")
The only wisdom Carson ever had was in his teeth. ---
**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:** [June 3, 2016, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-president-america-needs-right-now/756307/50 "2016-06-03T14:11:07Z")
If you’re casting for the second half of Flowers For Algernon, Carson’s your guy. President, not so much. ---
**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:** [June 3, 2016, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-president-america-needs-right-now/756307/51 "2016-06-03T14:33:44Z")
How about Colin Powell? Yes, his UN speech was wrong but Powell has admitted this. ---
**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:** [June 3, 2016, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-president-america-needs-right-now/756307/52 "2016-06-03T14:36:28Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > If you’re casting for the second half of Flowers For Algernon, Carson’s your guy. President, not so much. To be fair, by all accounts Carson is a brilliant surgeon. But he’s no more qualified to be President than Dr Oz is. ---
**Author:** ![quiltguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e47774/32.png) [@quiltguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/quiltguy)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2016, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-president-america-needs-right-now/756307/53 "2016-06-03T16:00:14Z")
> [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](#): > > I’d vote for Jon Stewart in a heartbeat. A Stewart, but Jimmy is his first name. :roll eyes: Barring that, Henry Fonda. A little “Fail Safe” combined with a touch of “12 Angry Men” would make a fine President. Third choice? Biden. Uncle Joe, come help us. ---
**Author:** ![Chihuahua](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dec6dc/32.png) [@Chihuahua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chihuahua)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2016, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-president-america-needs-right-now/756307/54 "2016-06-03T16:04:29Z")
Ender Wiggins. ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2016, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-president-america-needs-right-now/756307/55 "2016-06-03T17:03:46Z")
Barack Obama is certainly the President the US needs. However since the current Republicans automatically block anything Obama proposes (and have also chosen Trump as their nominee), **the US also needs better Republicans**. ---
**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, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-president-america-needs-right-now/756307/56 "2016-06-03T17:25:22Z")
> [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](#): > > I’d vote for Jon Stewart in a heartbeat. Sitting in front of a camera snarking does not equate to useful experience. It’s different only in degree from standing in front of a roaring crowd boasting how great you are. Or, honestly, theatrically throwing up your hands at how fucked up everything is and proposing sweeping, disconnected changes that don’t address the real problems. ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2016, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-president-america-needs-right-now/756307/57 "2016-06-03T17:29:24Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > And if Trump wins . . . Where the hell is our Booth? I love this place. “Murder everyone who I disagree with!” But I think we need another Obama term. Hell just get rid of the whole stupid President thing and just make him King for life. ---
**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 3, 2016, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-president-america-needs-right-now/756307/58 "2016-06-03T17:40:49Z")
> [@quiltguy](#): > > …Henry Fonda. A little “Fail Safe” combined with a touch of “12 Angry Men” would make a fine President… **Maude** tried that back in the early '70s. Didn’t work out. “Hey, Soviet Union! Go ahead and annihilate New York City!” still doesn’t work for me, either. ---
**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:** [June 3, 2016, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-president-america-needs-right-now/756307/59 "2016-06-03T18:00:56Z")
> [@quiltguy](#): > > A Stewart, but Jimmy is his first name. :roll eyes: Barring that, Henry Fonda. A little “Fail Safe” combined with a touch of “12 Angry Men” would make a fine President. I think this is an example of a major problem with American politics; too many people only look at the image and ignore the substance. Jimmy Stewart and Henry Fonda are actors. If you voted for them, you’d get the real individuals not the characters they played on screen. In real life, Fonda was a liberal Democrat and Stewart was a conservative Republican. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2016, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-president-america-needs-right-now/756307/60 "2016-06-03T18:16:39Z")
What the country needs is someone like a modern-day Teddy Roosevelt. We need someone who can project the image of strength publicly but who operates shrewdly in private. We need someone who makes it clear that we’re not going to take shit from people abroad, but we also need someone that other world leaders can reason with and trust to build coalitions and use American power where it is wanted and needed. Domestically, we need someone who’s basically a practical capitalist, someone who basically promotes American entrepreneurship but doesn’t worship big business and also has a very strong sense of social justice. We’ve had a lot of candidates who’ve had some of those qualities, but we’ve yet to really have one who possesses all of them. Eisenhower was probably the last who did. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-president-america-needs-right-now/756307.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-president-america-needs-right-now/756307.md?page=4)