Today thousands of Iraqi citizens participated in a free and democratic election. Women voted as well as men. Sunnis voted as well as Shi’ites and Kurds. This would not have been possible without our nation’s 43rd President. And although many have the right to criticize him and celebrate the coming of our 44th, I would assert that few mitigate the perceived failures of Bush’s presidency with some of his great successes.
He’ll never admit it, but I’m sure George W. Bush is smiling today.
Although I have been a longtime supporter of former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, I do not think that he is the right choice for John McCain to choose as his running mate. To compete with the dynamic Barack Obama, John McCain needs to choose someone with charisma that will appeal to working class. He will also need a running mate that can shore up his support in the South and Midwest. Choosing Huckabee instead of Romney will probably eliminate the chances that Obama has in states like Georgia and Virginia. The guitar-playing, populist former minister from Hope, Arkansas has the charisma that McCain needs to showcase. He also appears young and sincere.
Huckabee was a surprise in the primaries, never given much of a shot. Indeed, he was rarely given questions to answer at early debates when McCain, Guiliani and Romney were in the spotlight. Huckabee was given about as much as time as Senator Brownback, Representative Paul and Representative Tancredo. When Fred Thompson entered the race, the media believed that Thompson would cut off a lot of the appeal that Huckabee had early on. The media has often been proved dreadfully wrong in this election. Huckabee performed well in Iowa and in the South. It is my belief that he will do well campaigning out West also, where people share his values. The only pitfall to choosing Huckabee over Romney, Jindal and others seems to be that Huckabee is not the strongest in Michigan. It is my belief, however, that Republicans must do all they can to first shore up support in red states before attempting to take away blue states. The map in the past few elections has favored Republicans.
So, John McCain, my advice to you is to select someone that can hold the base. If you can maintain the Bush ‘04 states you will win. McCain and Huckabee are both great Americans. Indeed, they are both admirable leaders. They are friends and there are few soundbites in the primary where they have argued like McCain and Romney have. Huckabee is young enough to put Americans at ease about McCain’s age. He is also capable enough to be President of the United States.
In this political season I have decided to rank all of the Presidents. Recently I ranked the top ten on Helium. If you are impatient and don’t want to wait the 43 days it will take to get there, here is the link to my top ten. This blog will feature more in-depth articles on these Presidents. Today, however, I am going to focus on the WORST PRESIDENT OF ALL TIME: Lyndon Baines Johnson.
I have chosen Johnson as the worst President ever because I think enough time has passed that we can understand his presidency. On most lists, Nixon would be #43 because of his spying on Democrats during the 1972 election. What historians have come to find out, however, is that this was a practice started by Johnson in 1968. This can be found in No Peace, No Honor by Larry Berman, a noted and credible author. Alongside Johnson’s spying on Republicans in ‘68, I believe his actual entire administration was inept.
Johnson created “The Great Society” in a time when Americans could not afford the entitlements it promised. Although admirable for the 1964 Civil Rights Act, little else has amounted to anything. Johnson was a President that spent a lot of money and expanded military operations in Vietnam. It was his administration that made Vietnam a conflict that American could not exit from with its honor intact. The spending of the Johnson administration plagued the nation later as the dollar’s value became inconsistent because of the heavy debts accumulated throughout the Vietnam war.
Johnson also was a man who could not take criticism and frankly was overwhelmed by the office of President. He was brash and angry. When he was challenged in the 1968 primaries by his own party, he ran away from the office out of fear of losing a Presidential election. Some claim that Johnson was doomed by the situation in Vietnam and that he would have been an excellent President. Johnson, however, had complete control of the conflict in Vietnam. He had the option to exit before combat troops were deployed.
These are the reasons why I believe Lyndon Baines Johnson is the WORST PRESIDENT EVER!
