Dead Presidents

I really had to stop and think about this one.  At first, I was going to either skip this question or give a smart-ass answer, but once I started thinking about it, I decided that I could give you a serious answer because I really have deep-seated feelings about the Presidency.

Yes, I would take a bullet for President Obama.  What’s might be more surprising — especially for those who know my political background and beliefs — is that I would have taken a bullet for George W. Bush.

This isn’t because I’m a hero or think I am a Superman.  I wouldn’t take a bullet for a Presidential candidate, but for the President of the United States, I would risk my life to protect the office.  The office is bigger than any man (or woman), especially this man.  The stability of the nation, our place in the world, the importance of the Presidency — all of these things are worth sacrificing my well-being for.  If soldiers can risk their lives in the service of their country, I would risk mine for the safety of my President.  I wouldn’t do it gladly.  I wouldn’t want to do it.  But I would do it because I have that much respect for the office.

So, in reality, I don’t think it’s so much that I would take a bullet for Barack Obama.  I would take a bullet for the President of the United States of America.  Whether I voted for him or not, once he raises his right hand and takes the oath of office, the President is my President.  I may not support all of his policies, but I damn well support his well-being and I sure as hell root for him, no matter what party he belongs to.  The life of the man who holds the office is no more important than yours or mine.  But, in my opinion and in my heart, the office itself is worth whatever risks it might require to protect and support it.

I don’t mean to say that if Nixon had won his bid for Governor of California in 1962 (and, presumably, won a second term in 1966) it would have prevented him from running for President in 1968.  However, it would have been a very different situation than what actually did happen.  Instead of coming out of exile to seemingly salvage a GOP that had been battered throughout the 1960s and uniting a party that had been so divided, especially after the disastrous 1964 Presidential campaign, Nixon would have remained a visible part of the establishment throughout the 1960s and I think that would have hurt him in 1968.

Nixon, of course, was not anti-establishment.  Far from it.  But he had actually freshened himself up to voters after losing the 1962 gubernatorial race to Pat Brown by stepping away, moving to New York, writing/practicing law, and only campaigning for others rather than himself.  By 1968, there were people who missed Dick Nixon!  And that’s a big reason why he was able to step into that race, in one of the craziest years in American history, push himself as a new man, the voice of the Silent Majority, and put over his focus on law and order.  Had he been Governor of California throughout the decade, none of that could have happened.  Sure, nothing would have stopped Nixon from running for President in 1968 if he were Governor of California.  Like you said, Reagan (who actually was Governor of California in 1968) was maneuvering to take a shot at the GOP nomination that year.  But Governor Reagan wasn’t successful at it in 1968 and I don’t think a Governor Nixon would have been either.  

I respect everybody unless or until they give me a reason not to respect them.  I especially have great respect for all of our Presidents, regardless of party affiliation — Republican, Democrat, Whig, Federalist, it doesn’t matter.  I don’t agree with everything every President ever did, but I respect their service and their sacrifices on behalf of our country.  As I’ve said many times, no American President ever ran for office because he wanted to destroy the nation.

No, I think that’s a ridiculous argument.  Gay marriage and polygamy are two completely different things.  Gay marriage isn’t the progression or evolution of the institution of marriage — it’s equality, plain and simple.  It’s equal rights.  

Linking gay marriage with polygamy is like linking voting rights for African-Americans in the 1960s with giving driver’s licenses to dolphins.  They don’t belong in the same conversation. 

At the heart of the matter, it is a civil rights issue.  That’s how it should be framed, that’s how the battle should be fought, and that’s what people will look back on it as in a few years.

I think Nixon needed to lose that race.  Deep down, he didn’t want to be Governor of California and went back-and-forth about jumping into the race in 1962.  But Nixon needed to get his ass kicked by Pat Brown in that race so that he could step away, focus himself, and wait for the opportune time to jump back into politics.  During that first exile from politics — after his gubernatorial defeat — Nixon did some writing, made quite a bit of money by practicing law, and built a remarkable political machine by campaigning for GOP candidates across the country that he was able to turn to in 1968 to call in favors of his own.  

Had Nixon been elected Governor of California in 1962, it would have changed not only Nixon’s political career, but the entire political landscape for the rest of the 20th century.  Ronald Reagan was elected Governor of California in 1966, so if Nixon had won in 1962, that wouldn’t have happened.  Two terms as Governor for Nixon would have taken him to 1970, and he wouldn’t have a chance to seek the Presidency again until 1972.  The timing would have been difficult for both Nixon and Reagan.  The balance of power in the Republican Party in the last three decades of the 20th Century would have been far different than what actually happened.

I don’t think that he knew of it and certainly don’t think that he would have approved of it.  It’s petty politics way below the level of the President.  With that said, he’s absolutely responsible for what happens in his Administration.  Even if it was far below his level and even if it never got to the White House until the investigations began, Harry Truman’s “the buck stops here” is still the case with every President.