The next President.

[icarus]

I could go on and on about the faults of Bush, but instead, let me tell you about our next President.

Our next president is going to be one of us. He will not be part of the fat-cat elite, but someone who knows what it's like to work at MacDonald's, who's had student loans, who's worked his way up.

He will talk about saving the economy, not just in numbers and the New York Stock Exchange but in jobs.

He will get us out of Iraq, because he knows the longer we're there, the worse it'll get. Because he knows that we're worried about our friends and family there, and that looms larger than abstract politics.

He'll promise to shut off all the outrageous tax-breaks and raids on our future such as drilling in the Alaska Wildlife Refuge sucking away our stockpiles of oil.

Our next president is going to be one of us.

How do I know this? Because of our history.

Why did we elect Carter?

Because after Nixon's corruption, Carter's sweet honest nature was a relief. He was so clean, he squeaked.

Why did we elect Reagan?

Because after the humiliation of the hostage crisis and the weakness of Carter then, Reagan's tough talk and dignity was a breath of fresh air.

Why did we elect Bush?

Because after the bluster and embarrassment of the Iran-Contra and Reagan "not knowing" what was going on, Bush's low-key manner and apparent competence was a relief.

Why did we elect Clinton?

Because after Bush's lack-luster personality and inability to communicate, someone approachable and charming was a relief.

Why did we elect G. W. Bush?

Because after years of skirt-chasing scandals, a clean-cut preppie with religious backing was the opposite.

Why will we elect our next president?

Because after years of Bush robbing the poor to give to the rich, sending the regular folks to die in Iraq for the wealthy's oil, sending our jobs to China so the rich can get richer, an ordinary working guy will be a relief.

Comments

[cydah.livejournal.com]

brillant! and hopefully we will. instead of another ultra-conservative

[ishie]

From your lips to God's ears! Or, fingers > eyes.

Aaaand you've given me a wonderful idea for historical research. Grazie!

[lerah99.livejournal.com]

I hope you are right. Otherwise, Canada is looking nicer and nicer.

[wistful-fever.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm crossing all my fingers and all my toes, certainly.

It's a logical pattern. Then again, we elected GB2 twice. Bah?

[purpleshrub.livejournal.com]

I sure hope so. Lately I've had an unreasoning fear that Jeb Bush will run and I'll need to see another smirking Bush face for 4 more years (shudders).

[lherelenfeline.livejournal.com]

I hope to God youre right, or I'm taking my hamster and leaving for New Zealand.

[aliciajd]

Please, God, let Icarus be right!

[jaig.livejournal.com]

Reasonable, but what will happen next?

*flail*

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

I know. Your post just made me wonder "how's Ordinary Joe going to screw up so that we get another horror show of a president after HIM?"

Okay, I'm cynical.

[jaig.livejournal.com]

It's always like that, meh. Probably Ordinary Joe will be too ordinary, and completely fail to see the global picture.

Which doesn't sound good.

[mad_maudlin]

Plus, historically, the candidate from the party of a two-term president usually loses the next election. Obviously Bush I is a counterexample, but then again, Reagen was insanely popular...and no matter how much he'd like to claim it, Dubya isn't Reagen. Not by a long shot.

[channonyarrow.livejournal.com]

It's always nice to realise that American politics is a case of "Well, THAT one didn't work...vote for the other party! It's really different!"

But yes. You're quite correct about who our next president will be, methinks.

[selkielass.livejournal.com]

I do hope you're correct.
More conservatisim like Bush's will just break my heart.

[brightsun301.livejournal.com]

I hope to god you're right. We need someone like that. I might actually bother with registering to vote if there was someone worth voting for like that.

*votes Icarus for president? ;)*

[salixbabylon.livejournal.com]

I so very much hope that you're right. We almost won the last election - I try to remind myself that "barely losing" twice is still a good sign. :)

[nostrademons.livejournal.com]

I'm gonna be cynical and say I don't think so. The problem is, class has not been the salient feature of Bush's presidency. Bush's upper-class backers do their best to keep it from being so. Much of Bush's political base comprises people that are hurt the most by his policies - the same working-class and rural people who Bush's tax cuts didn't go to, who have to send their sons to fight in Bush's war, who suffer from underfunded and overcommitted schools, who can't get loans because Bush's deficit spending raises interest rates. They vote for him because the elites have steered the political discourse towards social issues, gay marriage and abortion and public religion, that these people care deeply about.

As one of my Amherst friends said (and probably repeated from somewhere), "You can have a culture war, or you can have a war on poverty, but you can't have both."

I'm betting that the next president is someone who pulls us back from our aggressive foreign policy and advocates a more isolationist America. Because for many people, Bush is a wartime president. He's not a rich president, he's not even a Christian president, he's a president that gets us into wars. That's far more likely to provoke a backlash than his pro-wealthy policies.

That, and his continuous saber-rattling is far more damaging to business than his pro-business policies.

[harveywallbang.livejournal.com]

*raises a glass*
here, here!

i'll keep my fingers crossed.. at least, thank heavens, he didn't have sons who would have wanted to follow in daddy's footsteps just like he followed in his daddy's footsteps. i hope his brother stays where he is..

[harveywallbang.livejournal.com]

not that i'm knocking the possibility of a female president, but i just don't think his daughters, either of them, would wanna run..