General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsHow do you think you'd be doing as President?
I think I'd be considered too far left, and people would be questioning my propriety given how much I'd be swearing during press conferences.
How about you?
NRaleighLiberal
(60,014 posts)my wife suggests I don't even go near our Home Owners Association board. I wouldn't last the first 10 minutes of the first meeting!
lovemydog
(11,833 posts)NRaleighLiberal
(60,014 posts)in the neighborhood emails - like the 50 email string trading barbs at someone who didn't want their dues to go to purchase of the candles that get lit on the curbs at Christmas! That was a stellar exchange.
lovemydog
(11,833 posts)at Christmastime too.
I read just enough to how to set the damn things up without them blowing out or burning down the neighborhood.
bhikkhu
(10,715 posts)The mental and physical stress would have worn me to a nub within a year. I'd have delegated as much responsibility as I could to people I probably couldn't really trust or keep track of, and I'd have announced my decision not to run again shortly into my second year. If I survived the full term, I'd change my name, retire to a monastery somewhere in Asia, and never read the news again for the rest of my life.
Needless to say, I'm not running for office.
My old boss, on the other hand, who listened to limbaugh and hannity all the time, drank way too much, was addicted to racist ans sexist jokes, and couldn't write a letter or run a business worth beans, announced once with great confidence that he could run the country better than Obama.
lovemydog
(11,833 posts)they'd do soooo much better.
The monastery in Asia sounds pretty good. Especially if it had good high speed internet. Just kidding.
deutsey
(20,166 posts)I'm way too introverted for a boiling fishbowl job like that.
Although when I was in college I took a poli-sci class in which the instructor had us play a game called SimSoc (Simulated Society). From Wikipedia:
Simulated Society (or SimSoc, pronounced sim-sock) is a "game" used by universities and other groups to teach various aspects of sociology, political science, and communications skills. Originally created by William A. Gamson in 1966, it is currently in its fifth edition. It provides a way for participants to better understand the problems of governing a 20th-century-style nation state society. The participants grapple with issues like economic inequality, justice, diversity, trust, power dynamics, and leadership as they negotiate their way through labor-management relations, political turmoil, and natural disasters. To be successful players must utilize basic social processes from cooperation and reward to threat and punishment. The goal of SIMSOC is to bring a deeper understanding to everyday experiences as well as social and organizational theory.
He assigned members of the class to particular social classes (poor --> wealthy) where we had break up into groups according to our assinged social status. He also gave us all roles within the Sim-soc: media, judiciary, political party leadership, etc.
He assigned me, of all people, as the leader of one of the political parties. I don't know if it was just happenstance or if he was interested in seeing whether I'd come out of my cocoon and rise to the occasion.
I successfully staved off the other political party leader's attempts to impose a dictatorship, was inadvertantly embroiled in a political scandal in which the poor group nearly rebelled, but was ultimately the first one in my instructor's experience to lead the SimSoc into creating a representative congress.
It was an interesting experience, although I remember having a chronic headache during the week or two that we played the game.
lovemydog
(11,833 posts)despite the headache.
KMOD
(7,906 posts)lovemydog
(11,833 posts)'The President is away meditating on world affairs.'
i.e., the president is playing video games, lol.
BlueJazz
(25,348 posts)1. Senator, you don't know what you're talking about.
2. That's just more Republican lies.
..and so forth, maybe up to 15-20 sound bits.
That way, I could just press #12 and play "That's the most stupidest words I've ever heard come out of a Republicans mouth"
Etc....
lovemydog
(11,833 posts)Maybe you'd get really popular. You would be popular with me at least!
BlueJazz
(25,348 posts)lovemydog
(11,833 posts)'Shove it back up your corporate lobbyists' butthole!'
and
'Wrong. Again.'
and
'Read Naomi Klein and get back to me Señor Dumbass!'
LeftInTX
(25,258 posts)I would totally totally suck
lovemydog
(11,833 posts)LeftInTX
(25,258 posts)lovemydog
(11,833 posts)I'm not sure though how they'd be able to spin my spending so much time in bed or posting on DU though. I guess I'd need a secure username here. Like 'Not The President'.
freshwest
(53,661 posts)lovemydog
(11,833 posts)any more than anyone else.'
freshwest
(53,661 posts)arely staircase
(12,482 posts)I would probably be better at it than a lot of them. I mean seriously, George W. Bush, Warren G. Harding, and several others sucked at it worse than I ever could.
lovemydog
(11,833 posts)I'd make sure when I was at Camp David they'd say I was in serious discussions with top-level economists or some such bs. Then maybe run for reelection as 'the guy who didn't take bribes' or something.
KeepItReal
(7,769 posts)I would have blue dogs and 3rd way and no-labels crying for mommy. In other words, they get with our mandate in '08, or I'd lead the charge in primarying those suckas with real Democrats in '10.
We'd have a Medicare buy-in if you wanted it (public option), expanded Medicare for the less fortunate, and raise the cap on income to help out the Social Security trust fund.
Bin Laden would still be dead and I'd be bombing the hell outta ISIL.
And I sure wouldn't have a ton of nominations just blowing in the wind. I'd drag Harry Reid's ass to the WH every day to find out how many confirmations has he completed.
America voted for Democrats in '08...I'd give them just that.
lovemydog
(11,833 posts)please consider running for office!
treestar
(82,383 posts)Where would you get the power? Senators and Reps don't have to bow down to you. They don't have to "cry for Mommy." Generalized schoolyard bully language that does not apply. It's not middle school.
KeepItReal
(7,769 posts)I'm not like President Obama, who appears to be the most non-confrontational, non-partisan politician I've experienced.
Confrontation is perfectly fine when you are pushing for positions a majority of the American public support. Make the minority have to stand to account for their obstruction.
nilesobek
(1,423 posts)am prone to human error and occasional outbursts. I have biases and frequently am wrong on some issues. I'd be doing terrible at that job. Glad we have such a good President and I'm not in charge of anything.
lovemydog
(11,833 posts)Like I'd have started out wanting the ACA then pushed for single payer then tried for free national health care - all before even getting the ACA passed!
MrScorpio
(73,630 posts)But I am smart enough to know my own limitations, in that I know that I'm not qualified for it.
lovemydog
(11,833 posts)Or that I'd want to hang around so many serious minded people all the time. Eventually they'd catch me making cynical jokes, and it would get public and I'd be embarrassed.
Tom_Foolery
(4,691 posts)I don't know how he does it.
lovemydog
(11,833 posts)until even my advisers publicly question why I'm staring at the trees without answering their questions.
Tom_Foolery
(4,691 posts)zappaman
(20,606 posts)Probably some Kung fu too!
lovemydog
(11,833 posts)and start a nationwide craze.
zappaman
(20,606 posts)I'd just Kung fu some motherfuckers and then have some macaroni salad.
lovemydog
(11,833 posts)I love it.
KMOD
(7,906 posts)hoo-uh!
lovemydog
(11,833 posts)Now somebody go & get me some more a that macaroni salad!
yeoman6987
(14,449 posts)lovemydog
(11,833 posts)LeftInTX
(25,258 posts)hrmjustin
(71,265 posts)I would be calling them every name in the book.
lovemydog
(11,833 posts)I like the sound of that!
hrmjustin
(71,265 posts)lovemydog
(11,833 posts)It'd be fun to go all out 'We're mad as hell and we're not gonna take it any more!'
Have Twisted Sister perform 'We're Not Gonna Take It' before every appearance.
WhiteAndNerdy
(365 posts)I'm not enough of a people person for it. Every time we elect a new president, I watch to see how long it takes their hair to turn gray. It's usually less than two years before they start showing signs that the job is prematurely aging them.
lovemydog
(11,833 posts)and a few of them have become more dependent on alcohol and probably other drugs too.
Yeah, I just can't stand being around people that much.
And the opposition - yikes. I'd rather be in nature or daydreaming.
GReedDiamond
(5,311 posts)lovemydog
(11,833 posts)From Idiocracy, right?
GReedDiamond
(5,311 posts)Yavin4
(35,437 posts)Every day. All day. 24/7. My press conferences would be one long beep.
lovemydog
(11,833 posts)My fellow ______________. Recent developments have shown ___________ and a big _____________ and also a lot of ___________ and how about the _________________ so therefore _______________ we must ___________. God bless the __________________. __________________.
dilby
(2,273 posts)But it would be after I had all the bankers crucified and burned on crosses along with most of Congress and the Senate.
lovemydog
(11,833 posts)let us honor dilby by electing someone most like dilby!
bravenak
(34,648 posts)I don't think I'd get to serve one day. My VP Angelina Jolie would have to take over.
lovemydog
(11,833 posts)when I told them all my plans as well.
bravenak
(34,648 posts)I think if I told them before inaguration I would be asassinated. Or they would at least try to find my black ass in my hidey hole. Cause I would do a press release from an undisclosed bunker.
lovemydog
(11,833 posts)when I announced my plans to nationalize the health care and banking industries. So I'd have to look for you in that bunker.
bravenak
(34,648 posts)Imagine how they would take it when they found that their nukes were all disposed of?
lovemydog
(11,833 posts)Hell, we'd need to find asylum in another country.
bravenak
(34,648 posts)Maybe we could get a space-boat and just live near the space station. Only way we could survive it.
Liberal Lolita
(82 posts)Someone would look into my past, and find out:
that I experimented with drugs when I was young
haven't attended church since I was a child
am not a christian
had premarital sex
said things some people wouldn't like
Once those things came to light that would be my whole story. Nothing I tried to get done would have a chance to get accomplished.
lovemydog
(11,833 posts)I'd be publicly executed.
Liberal Lolita
(82 posts)just your character.
I had considered running for state representative in my former district, because the Republican candidate was usually unopposed. I wouldn't have had a chance in such a red area. I decided, it wasn't worth having my character assassinated.
Hoyt
(54,770 posts)lovemydog
(11,833 posts)I'd probably invite Beyonce and the Pixies and other folks to run things and the corporate media would say 'He's lost his mind.'
Hoyt
(54,770 posts)Even Republicans would have my respect for showing up, if not much else.
pa28
(6,145 posts)After hiring an army of DOJ staffers and twisting every screw possible on that front I'd begin canceling trade agreements and closing access to US markets for corporations who offshore profits to avoid tax.
So basically they'd have a grassy knoll party for me after the second week or so.
lovemydog
(11,833 posts)enforced anti-trust law? And with all the republican appointees now serving in the Justice Department I wonder if they'd even comply with your orders.
shenmue
(38,506 posts)I'd have four cats and a pony.
lovemydog
(11,833 posts)I want a damn pony.
lovemydog
(11,833 posts)shenmue
(38,506 posts)BlindTiresias
(1,563 posts)I'd adopt the Diamond Joe personality and start browbeating right wingers in full view of the public eye, probably start my own television program that airs every Friday at 8pm.
lovemydog
(11,833 posts)ecstatic
(32,685 posts)But not before telling everyone to kiss my ass!
lovemydog
(11,833 posts)Hissyspit
(45,788 posts)George W. Bush.
lovemydog
(11,833 posts)and spending money we didn't have on a stupid war against the wrong people.
cherokeeprogressive
(24,853 posts)To make me President for Life.
lovemydog
(11,833 posts)I like it!
grahamhgreen
(15,741 posts)did not spend.
And we'd have medicare for all!
lovemydog
(11,833 posts)Yay!
Half-Century Man
(5,279 posts)The Federal takeovers of health care and education greatly lowered cost and raised quality, but the backlash from Cruz, Gohmert, King, and Ernst was so garbled by rage I had to have them sedated and put into protective custody for the decade being.
The wealth cap of 100 million dollars was wildly popular with 99% of the population so....good
Having Fox News bronzed and placed in the Smithsonian spiked attendance, It's more popular that the Aerospace museum this year.
We got a "Glad your getting well" card from the UN, it's nice.
Our new sprite of cooperation has resulted in Konye West and Trace Adkins doing an album of Bread and Carpenter cover songs.
The break up of the Media monopolies has resulted in programs more entertaining then the commercials.
Too Big to Fail has become pocket sized. Interest rate cap at 12%; Lifetime total cap on returns from loans set at 160% (including all fees, penalties, and surcharges) took a little getting used to, nearly a month.
Judging from the way his volume is winding down and getting fairly hoarse, I'd say David Koch's long drawn out scream of NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO is about to come to an end.
lovemydog
(11,833 posts)to liiiiiiive.
Oh man I love all your new policies Half-Century Man. We've gotta get more democratic candidates who make these populist policies a reality!
Prophet 451
(9,796 posts)I would have imprisoned most of Congress, appointed myself Benevolent Dictator For Life, imposed single-payer healthcare; ordered all corporations to turn themselves into partnerships; established a register of animal abusers; imposed universal background checks, firearms safety tests and a ban on magazines above 15 rounds; created a massive new WPA to fix the infrastructure and employ the unemployed and am currently working out the details of how to give all Americans free education through college.
The people often hate me and occasionally fear me but will sometimes admit that things are better for them.
lovemydog
(11,833 posts)A kinder, more productive country with good work for all who want it. That's what I'm talking about. Damn. There are so many great ideas on this thread. We need more candidates who actually listen to us and follow the will of the people. Jobs jobs jobs! Single payer health care!
Vinca
(50,261 posts)You can only call Turtle Man and Boehner "mother*cker" so many times.
lovemydog
(11,833 posts)Heck I probably already have it considering how many times I swear at those mofos in my own home.
Zorra
(27,670 posts)what Denmark has achieved. I may not have been successful, but I would have moved heaven and earth to get there, and the entire world would know it. Everyone would know THAT AT LEAST I TRIED.
lovemydog
(11,833 posts)Free health care, $20 minimum wage, free university, 33 hour work week.
It can't be said enough!
Javaman
(62,517 posts)lovemydog
(11,833 posts)all Americans. I really don't. I think a lot of them are selfish stupid ignoramuses. But I'd probably bite my tongue on that one. I'd have to spout platitudes about how they are all hard-working people who just need some incentives to keep on doing great things!
LWolf
(46,179 posts)lovemydog
(11,833 posts)considering most of us want to heavily curtail the military-industrial complex.
Orsino
(37,428 posts)My talk of the Citizen's Wage, public financing of elections and the outlawing of stock trading would have pissed them off.
lovemydog
(11,833 posts)have been floated around for years. We really need to resurrect those policies again. Regarding outlawing of stock trading - yes, that would piss them off big-time. Democratically elected leaders in other countries have been assassinated for going against unfettered capitalism.
KingCharlemagne
(7,908 posts)from being President? You'll have to show me where it says that in the Constitution!
Seriously, I'd have been like "F* You, MotherF*ckers" the first time Boner or McChinless tried to pull any shit. Now I'm making myself giggle!
lovemydog
(11,833 posts)unanimous approval!
workinclasszero
(28,270 posts)Right after I announced 50% taxes on anyone making more than one million dollars a year, no more wars without a Congressional vote and also a tax to pay for it or NO DEAL, immediate raising of the federal minimum wage to 15 bucks an hour, some form of national health insurance for every citizen, strengthen all labor rights, total legalization of marijuana for any and all reasons, no arrests for simple possession of any drug, immediate action on climate change, strengthen the EPA, no more suicidal "free trade" agreements that have devastated workers in America and cut our insane military budget by half at least and then we would have an ocean of money to pay for anything.
You think the wall street pirates that run this country would let me do all those things?
I kinda doubt it.
lovemydog
(11,833 posts)We really need democrats in Congress who fight for these principles and actually implement all or most of them!
TheKentuckian
(25,023 posts)scheduling that keeps us separate at all time (nothing beats a good insurance policy) but the 5th year of civil war ain't so pretty.
lovemydog
(11,833 posts)nolabear
(41,959 posts)It would go downhill from there.
Actually, I've been chairing a faculty for three years now and I've actually developed a taste for it. When you have good people to work with, who have your back and you have theirs, the inevitable craziness (and crazies) get to be interesting, even when I want to slap the crap out of the lot of them.
lovemydog
(11,833 posts)Now that's adhering strictly to the Constitution. I'm all for it.
nolabear
(41,959 posts)"And if I don't you can lock me in a room full of palmetto bugs" would work fine for me.
lovemydog
(11,833 posts)with liberty and justice for all.' I haven't changed much since then.
nolabear
(41,959 posts)tridim
(45,358 posts)Obama's restraint has been pretty epic.
I hope he goes off on them after 2016.
lovemydog
(11,833 posts)and I don't think he'll use that word even once.
JustAnotherGen
(31,811 posts)I would have come off of that podium a long time ago with both fists flying directly at some of the members of the so called 'press'.
lovemydog
(11,833 posts)'Liberal media' my ass.
JustAnotherGen
(31,811 posts)Obama is just better than me. He's just a better person. The first nasty bullshit about my mother I would have bloodied someone's nose.
And my VP Biden would have been standing right beside me with the ghost of his mother and the ghost of my father cheering me on!
etherealtruth
(22,165 posts)... to adequately describe just how much I would "suck"
...but, It is highly unlikely that I would declare war or attack "anyone"
lovemydog
(11,833 posts)my words & actions would actually be given enough time to help most people, before I'd be called crazy and booted out of office.
adirondacker
(2,921 posts)lovemydog
(11,833 posts)act like it's some kind of national crisis. About par for the course. Great movie.
Tuesday Afternoon
(56,912 posts)lovemydog
(11,833 posts)Because I for one would like to see what you and your staff would dream up to improve the country Tuesday Afternoon!
I think I'd get the hang of it eventually. Get out for lots of nice walks, and get support from a lot of pretty good people like those who care about improving the lives of working people everywhere.
lumberjack_jeff
(33,224 posts)lovemydog
(11,833 posts)post-mortem, just as sympathy. At least a few schools and bridges would be named after you!
Douglas Carpenter
(20,226 posts)I can do most things reasonably well with lots of practice. But being President of the United States would require a kind of steadiness along with communication and social skills that I admittedly lack. I still think my ideas are right though -. I'm sure at the right time and place someone else with similar views could do a decent job though. I'm not so delusional so as to imagine that someone could be me.
Now Ambassador to . Andorra, Liechtenstein or Monaco - That sounds like a great gig that I could probably handle and I bet the food is great.
lovemydog
(11,833 posts)would be much better than me as well.
By the way I read yesterday that Jerry Seinfeld has some mildly autistic symptoms too - so you're in good company.
Spazito
(50,290 posts)both controlled by my party. If I were President and both houses are controlled by the opposition then I would be limited to vetos and Executive Orders if I didn't want to make deals with the opposition.
As President, I don't even have a vote, lol.
lovemydog
(11,833 posts)Thank you for acknowledging basic civics. You're the first one on this thread to mention this. Gold star for you. Have a great day.
Spazito
(50,290 posts)LondonReign2
(5,213 posts)from Bush the Slightly Smarter and Shrub's presidencies.
Once those documents were open to the public, no amount of Secret Service protection could forestall the pitchforks and torches brigade from giving the Bushes what they deserve. And Darth, too.
lovemydog
(11,833 posts)but I think a lot of it would be spun and spun and spun by the corporate media and paid shills for the right wing, to the point where it would make much of a positive impact, imho London Reign2.
treestar
(82,383 posts)Du would like my politics, but I'm not extraverted enough. I'd be sick of the constant attention. I'd want to hide in the Oval Office with no photographers and try to solve the problems.
OTOH, I think I would like having so many people to do things for me, look things up, give advice, and not have to worry about the little things like cooking and dry cleaning. The travel and meeting different people would be fun, but I'd need some down time that does not fit into the schedule.
The constant criticism I would likely ignore as it being simply too much, or being irrelevant because of what I know that the critic doesn't know. I would have a temper control problem too, when stupid reporters asked stupid questions.
Since my SATs were the same as Duyba's, it gives me another hint. I would feel overwhelmed at times and so the advisors would get their way a lot.
lovemydog
(11,833 posts)And go on some nice trips.
RadicalGeek
(344 posts)By folks like Amy Goodman and Rick Smith, but stubborn by AM-Radio and it's cable news(?) affiliate.
Alas, my "Living Minimum Wage" initiative would be stymied by the "%1" in the Senate and House.
lovemydog
(11,833 posts)Many have considered it at various times in our nation's history. I think it would help stimulate the economy. I agree the 1% in the Senate and House would oppose it.
I think we should pressure Democratic candidates to get behind it or lose their friggin' jobs.
La Lioness Priyanka
(53,866 posts)lovemydog
(11,833 posts)Always have & always will La Lioness Priyanka. That made me laugh too. Have a wonderful day.
Bluenorthwest
(45,319 posts)wearing a tee shirt that said 'I'm on Acid'.
lovemydog
(11,833 posts)probably wouldn't help me much either. Not to mention the one of me smoking a bong.