Posted on 09/05/2008 5:34:45 PM PDT by Dr. Eckleburg
You won't be hearing the Democratic chattering class mention that Woodrow Wilson had only 2 years of executive experience as a governor. No! You won't be hearing that he was nominated and elected President (and Sarah Palin is nominated for vice-president!) with zero foreign policy experience. So, next time the talking heads take off after Sarah Palin, somebody should merely say two words: Woodrow Wilson. The central point is obvious: John McCain is the GOP nominee for President, but even if you succumb to their scare tactic that Sarah Palin is only "a heartbeat away"....simply counter-argue with two words: Woodrow Wilson. Can everybody please say: WOODROW WILSON !
I didn’t know that.
In any case, I can’t help laughing whenever they bring up experience. Its clear that Obama thinks he wants to run against Palin, rather than that crusty old pirate McCain.
But its too late. Palin owned him on Wednesday night.
NO other executive experience before that.
Senator John Kennedy has no executive experience (first term Senator) before running for President. HIS mistakes included the Berlin Wall fiasco, loss of missile in Turkey, loss of Cuba at the Bay of Pigs "invasion", teh Cuban Missile Crisis. And Vietnam.
Any more bad presidents we can compare her to?
Wars gave stature to Wilson and FDR. Assassination gave it to Kennedy.
Nobody has much to say about Coolidge. :(
Wasn’t it under the Woodrow Wilson Adminstration that the United League of Nations was born (now the UN), and the Federal Income Tax was implemented and the Federal Reserve Bank?
Wilson’s experience proved to be a bug, not a feature.
He was one of the worst two-term Presidents — worse than Billy-Jeff Clinton. Only reason Wilson is rated highly is that he was a history professor. History professors draw up those lists. Call it professional courtesy.
Hawaii? Hawaii? Hawaii? Hawaii. Hawa— Come on, man. I don’t even know if there’s any black people in Hawaii. What in the [beep]? HAWAII? You’re bugging the [beep] out. Barack Obama, you ain’t ready to be president. Hawaii Mother[beep]er? What is the reality in Hawa—? There’s not even no crackheads in Hawaii! There’s not even no black people. There’s not even no like — crime or, uh, uh like — Foreign policies, you all may be versed on foreign — foreign policies. You all need to get versed on black policies and youth policies. We the future. Barack, you’re bugging the [beep] out, man.
So. That was a long time ago. /s
I’m all for attacking the coverage of the experience issue as well, but this doesn’t seem like a very logical way to do it for two reasons: 1) Notions of what was considered appropriate political experience were very different a hundred years ago, and Wilson had been a prominent part of the national political landscape for over a decade when he was elected, and 2) He only won the election as part of a historical anomaly- Roosevelt forming his own party after failing to be nominated by the Republicans and siphoning off more than half the Republican vote- Wilson only received less than 42% of the popular vote, but it was enough to beat both separated halves of the Republican party. He was more handed the election through his opponents political infighting than he actually won it. Unless Hillary breaks away from the Dems and takes half their votes, I don’t really see a parallel here.
He was also a disgrace as a president, so perhaps not the best example.
I might want to give Kennedy credit for his military experience...
Wilson and his socialist ideas were a DISASTER for the country. Do you realize that under him the 16th Amendment (income tax), the 17th Amendment (senators elected by popular vote), the 18th Amendment (Prohibition) were passe, AND the Federal Reserve was created?
Abraham Lincoln’s federal experience was a single term in the House in 1846. Never elected governor. He seems to have done OK
Theddy Roosevelt was also a two year governor.
Franklin Roosevelt was only in his THIRD year as governor of NY before running for President in 1932. (Elected 1928, re-elected in 1930.)
NO other executive experience before that.
Franklin Roosevelt served as Assistant Secretary of the Navy from 1913-1920. Those years included US involvement in World War I.
Abraham Lincoln, the first Republican president, had limited government experience too - four terms (8 years) in the Illinois house and one term in the US House of Representatives. Outside of that he had no government experience and no management experience before his election as president.
"Wilson took personal control of negotiations with Germany, including the armistice. He issued his Fourteen Points, his view of a post-war world that could avoid another terrible conflict. He was the first President to leave the United States while still in office, going to Paris in 1919 to create the League of Nations and shape the Treaty of Versailles, with special attention on creating new nations out of defunct empires. Largely for his efforts to form the League, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1919. Wilson collapsed with a debilitating stroke in 1919, as the home front saw massive strikes and race riots, and wartime prosperity turn into postwar depression.
Mrs Wilson would be at his bedside in the White House and she would inform him of the work at hand and he would whisper his response. The Vice President should have taken charge but Mrs Wilson, the de facto president would have none of that "constitutional stuff".
Which is exactly who Gov. Palin starts reminding me of.
If A. Lincoln was truly great he would have presided over one nation ,not the war between two.
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