Today in POTUStory - "CRISIS OF CONFIDENCE"

The speech was ahead of its time. The speech is remembered as the "malaise" even though the word never appeared or used by President Jimmy Carter.

Today in POTUStory - AHEAD OF THE TIMES

The audio sucks!

Pointless Presidential Pfacts #44 - "THE FIRST DEMOCRAT SINCE... PART 2: THE 50 PERCENT"

In 1996, President William Jefferson Clinton, the 42nd POTUS, was the first Democratic president of the United States to be reelected to a second term since Franklin D. Roosevelt, the 32nd POTUS. Harry Truman, the 33rd, and Lyndon Johnson, the 36th, were reelected to the office after finishing the term of the late president they succeeded. This pfact is focusing on full presidential terms. The difference between Clinton's reelection and FDR's, is that Roosevelt 32 received more than 50% of the popular vote in all four of his presidential runs. Clinton's plurality wins in both 1992 and 1996 is the first for a Democratic president since Woodrow Wilson's two-term wins in 1912 and 1916.

President William Jefferson Clinton the night he won reelection as the 42nd POTUS with the First Lady, Hillary, and their Daughter Chelsea on Election Night 1996.

When Clinton won the White House in 1992, he only won 43% of the popular vote, the same amount won by Richard Nixon in 1968. Unlike President Nixon's reelection in 1972, Clinton did not win in a landslide but just short of getting 50% with just 49%. So the last double plurality popular vote wins was President Wilson. Whereas Clinton faced a three-way race in 1992 between the incumbent Republican President George Bush and independent businessman Ross Perot, eighty years prior Wilson faced a four-way race against the incumbent Republican President William Howard Taft, the Progressive Party, or Bull-Moose Party ran former president Theodore Roosevelt, and Socialist Party candidate Eugene Debs. Wilson won 41% of the popular vote and in his reelection bid four years later he came just as close to 50% as Clinton would 80 years later in 1996.

Campaigning for Woodrow Wilson in 1916.

After Roosevelt 32, of the rest of the 20th Century Democratic presidents Johnson 36 and Jimmy Carter are the only other ones to receive more than 50% of the popular vote. In 1964, Johnson 36 won reelection in a landslide to the office he inherited through assassination. Then-former-Governor Carter got 50% of the popular vote in the super close 1976 election, not a mandate like Johnson 36's but 50%.

The first Democratic president elected in the 21st Century would be the first Democrat to win the presidency with more than 50% of the vote since Carter's win in 1976, and that would be Barack Obama in 2008. It would be with President Obama's reelection in 2012 that he would achieve what only two other Democratic presidents have achieved, winning over 50% of the popular vote in back-to-back elections. Andrew Jackson's two wins in 1828 and 1832 (there was also his plurality win, but of no matter to the House of Representatives in 1824) and FDR's 1932 and 1936 wins, as well as his 1940 and 1944 reelections to a third and fourth term, respectively.

President Barack Obama on the night he won reelection to a second term as the 44th POTUS.

Pointless Presidential Pfacts #42 - "THE FIRST DEMOCRAT SINCE..."

In presidential history there's always a presidential first. George Washington had a bunch from 1789 to 1797. Until there are more elections of non-white males, then the "firsts" are pretty low key stuff.

President William Jefferson Clinton gives his Second Inaugural Address, the first Democratic president to do so since FDR sixty years prior at the first January 20th inauguration of a president in 1937.

President William Jefferson Clinton's reelection in 1996, the first time I was eligible to vote, was the first time a Democratic president to be reelected since Franklin Roosevelt in 1936, and again in 1940, and again in 1944. Before Roosevelt 32, the last Democratic president to win reelection was Woodrow Wilson, but Wilson never achieved over 50% of the popular vote unlike FDR. Clinton's 1992 and 1996 elections are similar to Wilson's 1912 and 1916 elections in that they both were Democrats to win election and reelection with just a plurality of the popular vote. At that point in 1916, Wilson was the first Democrat reelected, consecutively, since Andrew Jackson's reelection in 1832. Grover Cleveland won the popular vote three elections in a row in 1884, 1888, and 1892, but only the Electoral College in '84 and '92, so in 1912 Wilson was the first Democrat reelected since Cleveland. When FDR passed away just months into his fourth term in 1945, his third vice president, Harry S. Truman became the president. In 1948 Truman won reelection to the presidency in a contest everyone thought his opponent had won. While President Truman is a Democratic president that won reelection, it was also his first and only election at the top of the ticket. President Truman could've ran again at the top of the ticket in 1952 since he was unaffected by the 22nd Amendment, which limited presidents to two terms, but chose against running.

The next Democrat would be John F. Kennedy and he never had the chance to face the voters a second time. His Vice President Lyndon Johnson would succeed Kennedy and follow in Truman's (and Coolidge and Roosevelt 26) footsteps. LBJ would win his own election in 1964, a landslide, but all that would be lost four years later. Johnson 36 would realize he'd face challenges from within his own party when he lost the New Hampshire Primary to Eugene McCarthy in 1968.

Eugene McCarthy's challenge to President Lyndon B. Johnson helped prevent Johnson 36 from being the first Democrat since FDR to win reelection to a second term in 1968.

Hubert Humphrey in 1968 came pretty close to being the next POTUS and in 1972 George McGovern had the opposite experience on his failed attempt at being the next Democratic president. In 1976, in another close election but with 50% of the popular vote, Jimmy Carter won the presidency. In 1980 he had the chance to be the first Democrat to be reelected since FDR. But it wasn't to be Carter. He'd be defeated by former California Governor Ronald Reagan. Carter would be the first incumbent Democratic president to lose reelection since Cleveland's first reelection bid in 1888, however as mentioned above, Cleveland won the popular vote just lost the necessary Electoral College majority AND Cleveland came back four years later and won reelection, non-consecutively. Before Cleveland 22's loss (and win) in 1888, the last incumbent Democratic president to lose reelection was Martin Van Buren. Franklin Pierce, James Buchanan, and Andrew Johnson were never given a chance by the party to face the voters at the top of the ticket. James K. Polk limited himself to one term. In 1848, MVB would try another run at the top of a ticket but lose his non-consecutive run as the Free Soil Party's candidate.

Former President Martin Van Buren's failed third party bid for a non-consecutive second term in 1848 with Charles F. Adams of Massachusetts, grandson of John Adams and son of John Quincy Adams.

Clinton would hold the title as the first Democrat since FDR to win reelection and the first since Wilson since a Democrat won the presidency twice but with a plurality both times. Interestingly, so did Cleveland. President Clinton's eventual Democratic successor 8 years later will hold a new first for a Democrat since...well that's for another time.

Pointless Presidential Pfacts #40 - "Mugwumps 2: The Reagan Democrats"

In both 1980 and 1984, Republican President Ronald Reagan won the presidency by reaching out to independents and disappointed Democrats. Those Democrats that chose not to support their party's candidates in '80 (President Jimmy Carter) and '84 (former Vice President Walter Mondale) and instead voted for Reagan became known by political analysts as Reagan Democrats.

This label would stick. The Reagan Democrats were fiscal conservatives, but believers in liberal programs like the New Deal and the Great Society. Analysts would talk of future Republican presidential candidates trying to appeal to Reagan Democrats. Overtime, the Reagan Democrats either became independent or Republican or even returned to the Democratic Party, retaining that label.

Political ad in support of Ronald Reagan from Democratic Party voters.

Obviously, Reagan's first election relied heavily on dissatisfied Democrats but it was his huge reelection landslide in 1984 that electorally had 49 of 50 States supporting him. Former Vice President Mondale won his home State of Minnesota and the District of Columbia. While not the same electorally, the 1984 Reagan Democrats have a hundred year counterpart from the 19th Century.

James G. Blaine. 28th Secretary of State. 1884 GOP Presidential Nominee.

The Mugwumps, were dissatisfied Republicans in 1884. The term mugwumps is an Algonquian word which means "important person, kingpen." The difference with their 100 year counterparts was that this was more about not liking the candidate than voting their "pocket books." The Mugwumps felt James G. Blaine of Maine, Presidents James A. Garfield and Chester A. Arthur's Secretary of State in 1881, was a corrupt politician and should not be the Republican's nominee for POTUS in the November 1884 Presidential Election. The Mugwumps bolt the party and support the Democratic candidate, New York Governor Grover Cleveland. In a close election, like 1884's, the Mugwumps' votes went on to help Governor Cleveland win the presidency. But in a political era where loyalty to one's political party reigned supreme, corrupt buster Theodore Roosevelt remained loyal to the GOP and their presidential nominee in that election. Instead of publicly opposing his party's nominee, TR endorsed Blaine and ensured his rise to power within the party will not be hindered since he did not bolt. Whereas Reagan Democrats went on after 1984 in future elections to be a label for traditional Democratic voters that end up voting for the GOP ticket, the Mugwumps didn't last much except to refer to someone, in a negative way, as a party bolter.

By 1912, this term wouldn't be used, but ironically, Roosevelt 26 would be a mugwump, as would his progressive brethren when they bolt from the GOP to challenge the business and conservative half which supported President William Howard Taft, Roosevelt 26's hand-picked successor, in the 1912 election as the Progressive Party's, or Bull Moose Party's, presidential nominee.

A political cartoon from 1912.

Pointless Presidential Pfacts #39 - "Single Democratic President"

Jimmy Carter was a lone Democrat for some time, in terms of having ever met a POTUS from his political party. President Carter served from January 20, 1977 until January 20, 1981. By the time he runs for national office, former Vice President Hubert Humphrey is the only living Democrat elected to national office, although that office is the vice presidency.

The 39th POTUS. Georgia. Democratic. 1977-1981.

Born in 1924 the year of Calvin Coolidge's reelection to the office he'd held since Warren Harding's death in 1923. but the first Democratic president in young Carter's life was Franklin Roosevelt in 1933. By the time he entered State politics in the early 1960s first with the Georgia Senate from 1963-1967, presidents John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson.

Former President Jimmy Carter as seen on the AMERICAN DAD! episode "Black Mystery Month".

By the time he was elected the 76th Governor of Georgia and served from 1971-1975, a Republican had returned to the White House, Richard Nixon. Two of the three living former presidents to Nixon died in his first term, Dwight D. Eisenhower and Harry Truman. The third died two days into Nixon's second term and three weeks after Truman's death. So, Governor Carter never met former Democratic presidents Truman and Johnson 37. So when former governor Carter ran for the Democratic nomination there was no former president on the Democratic side in 1976, just presidential losers like Vice President Humphrey, serving with Johnson 37 from 1965-1969, in the 1968 election and George McGovern in 1972. Carter would win the '76 election against the incumbent and first appointed POTUS Gerald Ford, the 38th president, in a super-close election.

Governor Bill Clinton of Arkansas and President Jimmy Carter at a 1980 campaign stop in Texarkana, Texas. What President Carter doesn't know is that he's just shook hands with the Democrat to be elected president of the United States.

President Carter served just one term. His vice president, Walter Mondale, would run four years later against President Ronald Reagan, the man who defeated Carter's reelection bid. Eight years after leaving the White House because the voters said so, Carter saw another Democratic candidate, Governor Michael Dukakis of Massachusetts, defeated by the incumbent VPOTUS, George Bush. Once William Jefferson Clinton defeated Bush 41 in 1992 and he was sworn-in at noon on January 20, 1993, Carter, in attendance of the first Clinton Inauguration, finally met another Democratic president.

William Jefferson Clinton being sworn-in on January 20, 1993, the day President Carter met another Democratic POTUS.

Pointless Presidential Pfacts #28 - "From The East Front to the West Front"

Andrew Jackson's first term and the 11th inaugural ceremony on March 4, 1829, was the first to take place outside on the East Front of the U.S. Capitol building. This tradition of taking the oath on the East Front would last until President Jimmy Carter's swearing-in on January 20, 1977.

President John F. Kennedy's inauguration in 1961 on the East Front of the U.S. Capitol.

A new precedent began with a new president, with Ronald Reagan's swearing-in on January 20, 1981, presidents have taken the oath of office on the West Front. The West Front of the Capitol allowed for more space both on the make-shift stage and the crowds of people. It also gave the television audience sweeping scenes of the Mall.

President Barack Obama's first term inauguration in 2009 on the West Front.

Perspective President

Ronald Reagan was the first president I remember and associating with what a president should look like. Jimmy Carter was the President of the United States when I was born in 1978, so the 1980s was my childhood and Reagan defined the United States from 1981-1989, from a political-cultural level. Carter will always be a favorite president of mine because of the association but also because he only had the best interests at heart. He would be maligned, from within his own party in 1980 and of course the Republican Party. The GOP successfully lowered Carter's patriotism and increased Reagan's stature. But Reagan had the best interests of the nation at heart as well. He always showed the good of the United States while Carter told us the truth which was bad news. Either way, the idea of perspective shapes one's own view of a political figure and Reagan is a great example of a perspective president...as is Carter.

As for me, I only knew Reagan as a president. As I learned his history, governor of California was next on the list and so I still only saw him as a politician. Reagan was a lifeguard at one point in his life. Those kids that grew up around him as swimmers under his watch, they would always see Reagan as a lifeguard. Probably whenever those former recreational swimmers saw a Reagan film, or as they might call it a picture, they saw him as that lifeguard guy in pictures. So when an actor-Reagan started showing a prospective political future, the movie going audiences as voters questioned "can a movie actor be a politician?" The swimmers were probably thinking "can a lifeguard be a politician?"

I'm sure those that only knew their State governor was Ronald Reagan and not some actor, would think "yeah, he can be president...he's the governor." So says a young Californian from between 1967-1975.

This of course goes without those above people not looking at the individuals political ideology, what they believe and have they put that into practice.

The Appointed Vice President

Gerald Ford is not the first appointed vice president.

Okay technically, or constitutionally, he is. The 25th Amendment fixed the ever vacant vice presidency problem which had been going on every now and then since 1841. That's what section 2 of the amendment did: president nominates and a majority of both chambers of Congress confirms.

We know politicians seek the office of vice president even if they won't admit it. James Polk was trying for the vp nomination before he stumbled on to the bigger nomination back in 1844. Those that don't seek the office usually accept the nomination, kind of taking one for the team. Theodore Roosevelt was that way. The extremely popular New York Governor, recent war hero from the Spanish-American War, was banished to the vp slot to keep in check by party leaders. Who would think the vice presidency could put TR in some kind of position of power? Oh, right Mark Hanna.

Presidential candidates eventually took on what party bosses were doing and selected their own vice presidential candidates. John Kennedy offered the vice presidency to Lyndon Johnson after their rivalry for the top nomination in 1960. The Kennedy brothers didn't think LBJ would accept, but he did.

Sure the national conventions have been confirming the vice presidential candidates via delegate votes. In the days of uncertain convention outcomes, it took more than one ballot to find a party's nominee for the bottom of the ticket. And yes when the people go to the ballot boxes in November they are electing a slate of electors to vote for their ticket of choice, each ticket containing a top (president) and a bottom (vice president). Thank you 12th Amendment. The vice president is the only other national office elected by the entire country. But we're usually just thinking of the person running for that other national office when we vote.

The vice presidential candidate historically was someone who balanced the ticket geographically or ideologically. The candidate usually filled out something that was missing on the other end of the ticket. In 1976 Jimmy Carter was the true Washington outsider and Walter Mondale was the exact opposite, perfect match. William Jefferson Clinton of Arkansas broke the mold on balancing geography in 1992 by selecting his home state's neighbor state's son, Al Gore of Tennessee.

We the voter accept the presidential candidate's choice pick as his or her's first real presidential decision pre-election. The presidential candidate believes that the person he or she selects will be able to do the job of president. The presidential candidate fought long and hard for the nomination, to get the people's vote, and the vp candidate is chosen not by the people but by the person who survived a test by the people.

We've accepted this way of selecting the nation's second highest office. And yet nine times in our history has the vice president ascended to the presidency. In 1841 when John Tyler became the first vp to become president upon the death of William Henry Harrion just 30 days into the new administration, the Constitution did not specify the ascendancy. The 25th Amendment's section one clarified all that by saying "In case of the removal of the President from office or of his death or resignation, the Vice President shall become President." It took so long to realize the importance of the office and transition of power.

Perhaps we have accepted the practice of selecting vice presidential candidates for too long. We may have had some good picks like Robert Dole, Walter Mondale, George Bush, Al Gore, and Jack Kemp. We've also had some which we question and did not turn out so good.

In 2008 the tradition of an undemocratically chosen vice presidential candidate continues with the selection of Senator Joe Biden of Delware for the Democrats and Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska for the Republicans.

Barack Obama makes his first presidential decision by selecting a running mate. An African-American male on a presidential ticket is a new thing. The country can handle change but not such a dramatic change as not having a white male somewhere on the ticket. So Obama chooses Biden, over the person who in the Democratic nominating contest received the second most number of votes to the nominee. Almost half of those that voted in the Democratic primary/caucus elections. Very undemocratic.

John McCain makes his first presidential decision after Obama. Ah, it's all politics. Well McCain can't pick another white male for his ticket when he's going up against the history making ticket of Obama/Biden. Breaking one hundred fifty-two years of an all white male ticket, the Republican vice presidential pick is recently elected governor Palin. McCain's attempts at politics (i.e. women's vote, he's a maverick, etc.) instead of selecting someone who is qualified for the presidency shows the seriousness of why the vice presidency needs to be in the hands of the people.

The qualifications of the vice presidency are exactly those of the presidency. The people should have a say in who that potential leader is. Some say the president needs to be able to work with his or her vice president and so the candidate must make the pick. No. The vice president needs to be selected because they are the second best qualified to be president after the presidential candidate.

In 1988, Dan Quayle was not the second best qualified person to be president after George Bush. Quayle was a senator farther right than Bush ideologically and youthful when compared to Bush and the oldest president Ronald Reagan, then the incumbent. Sarah Palin is not the second most qualified within the Republican Party to be president. She's not from Washington. She represents change as a female. That's what mattered to McCain.

The vice presidential candidate should be selected by the voter just as the presidential candidate is. The general election would remain the same, but it's how those people end up on the ticket which should be changed. One way would be for the primary voter to have a ballot labeled "president" and one labeled "vice president," all candidates in the running would be on both ballots and could only be voted for once. The person with the most number of votes for president becomes the candidate for president and the person with the most number of votes for vice president becomes vice president.

Another way can be similar to the process of electing the president and vice president pre-12th Amendment. Before the passage of the 12th Amendment in 1804, the man with a majority of votes became the president and the man with the second most number of votes became vice president. This is why our first two vice presidents are highly qualified men and both went on to be elected president in their own right. After the amendment passed and changed how we voted, the office of the vice president was no longer filled by men of similar caliber to that of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson.

So in a primary, the person who comes in second to the person with the most votes becomes the vice presidential running mate. In 2004 after John Kerry toyed with the idea of a bipartisan ticket with McCain, Kerry selected John Edwards, the man who received the second most number of primary votes. Yes, in 2008 this did not happen. Hillary Clinton was not considered even though she had the second most number of votes to Obama. Worrying about the role of a former president in a new administration was too much to worry about. Yes why would Obama not want one of the smartest men to occupy the White House as the spouse of the vice president? Avoiding that question and the person who received the next most number of votes, Obama went in another direction with his selection in Biden.

We must prevent this undemocratic process from continuing. We need to make sure that the people's voices are heard. We need to prevent daring political moves at the expense of potentially dangerous and inexperienced possible-presidents from coming to power. We need to return the appointed presidency back to men like Gerald Ford.