4 ms·

IMHO (after all this HN), Yang is great but not president material, he would be great if future president would include him as VP or some other leading role.

wdn 7y ago
You telling me Biden, warren and Sanders are president material? 2 of them never held a real job. One of them lie to the top. I am so happy that Trump is president. He is making correct business decisions not political correct decision.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- scient 7y ago
  Got any examples for these "great" decision? So far much everything he has done is a complete disaster or just flat out idiotic.
  - jakeogh 7y ago
    Economey Supereme court Changes to tax policy Breaking the CIA's toys in the middle east Throwing the TPP in the garbage Right to Try I could go on. What specific outcome are you unhappy about?
- PenguinCoder 7y ago
  If you're basing your opinion of president material on ' never held a real job' and 'lies to the top'; why are you happy that Trump is president? He clearly fits those criteria as well, if not more than the others you listed.
imesh 7y ago
Who is prepared to be a great president and have we ever had a great president? I honestly don't know. I'm only 30, and I haven't seen one in my lifetime.
- magduf 7y ago
  By most accounts, and historians generally agree, George Washington really was a great President.
- existencebox 7y ago
  You have no idea how much you nerd-sniped me with that question. (I spend far too much of my free time playing at historian, and am far too fond of Ken Burns to not give my thoughts, but take this as a caveat that I am no true expert.) Unfortunately, I think, no one who would be able to be elected president nowadays. Consider some of the "Greatest" presidents of our history, Jefferson, Lincoln, FDR, all were very human/flawed individuals with powerful detractors, (Lincoln less in his personal life and more in the role he had to play, and I omit Washington because he's effectively immortalized beyond personhood as our 'Cincinnatus') and I have my doubts as to whether any could receive sufficient support in an era where any possible slight or discontinuity (or attachment to principle over pragmatism) is a critical weakness. I realize I may have slightly dodged your real question, I'll admit I don't have a great answer to that even in the absence of the pathology I describe above. There's been no one in politics (perhaps due to the above) who even seems to have the cult-of-personality of e.g. Obama, let alone with the principles and power to carry out something positive with it. Not too many years ago I would have said McCain, but we all know how that went. (That said I've been _rather impressed_ with how Pelosi has wrangled the herd of cats that is the democratic party , but that's only one small piece of the picture and may show how far my bar has dropped.) To be precise since I answered the second half of your question implicitly, I certainly think we've had great presidents, see my list above for an incomplete summary. There have certainly been individuals who managed immense feats of good in the presidency despite such adversity that we have not seen in our lifetimes. However, as I was lamenting to my wife the other day, I've seen far less of this as time has gone on, (in local government _as much as_ in federal govt.) and as I suggest above, I'm not sure how we come back from that without systemic change.
  - hadtodoit 7y ago
    Do people consider FDR to be a great president? He ranks pretty high on my list of the worst given the internment of Japanese-Americans among other things.

wdn 7y ago

You telling me Biden, warren and Sanders are president material? 2 of them never held a real job. One of them lie to the top. I am so happy that Trump is president. He is making correct business decisions not political correct decision.

deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
scient 7y ago
Got any examples for these "great" decision? So far much everything he has done is a complete disaster or just flat out idiotic.
- jakeogh 7y ago
  Economey Supereme court Changes to tax policy Breaking the CIA's toys in the middle east Throwing the TPP in the garbage Right to Try I could go on. What specific outcome are you unhappy about?
PenguinCoder 7y ago
If you're basing your opinion of president material on ' never held a real job' and 'lies to the top'; why are you happy that Trump is president? He clearly fits those criteria as well, if not more than the others you listed.

imesh 7y ago

Who is prepared to be a great president and have we ever had a great president? I honestly don't know. I'm only 30, and I haven't seen one in my lifetime.

magduf 7y ago
By most accounts, and historians generally agree, George Washington really was a great President.
existencebox 7y ago
You have no idea how much you nerd-sniped me with that question. (I spend far too much of my free time playing at historian, and am far too fond of Ken Burns to not give my thoughts, but take this as a caveat that I am no true expert.) Unfortunately, I think, no one who would be able to be elected president nowadays. Consider some of the "Greatest" presidents of our history, Jefferson, Lincoln, FDR, all were very human/flawed individuals with powerful detractors, (Lincoln less in his personal life and more in the role he had to play, and I omit Washington because he's effectively immortalized beyond personhood as our 'Cincinnatus') and I have my doubts as to whether any could receive sufficient support in an era where any possible slight or discontinuity (or attachment to principle over pragmatism) is a critical weakness. I realize I may have slightly dodged your real question, I'll admit I don't have a great answer to that even in the absence of the pathology I describe above. There's been no one in politics (perhaps due to the above) who even seems to have the cult-of-personality of e.g. Obama, let alone with the principles and power to carry out something positive with it. Not too many years ago I would have said McCain, but we all know how that went. (That said I've been _rather impressed_ with how Pelosi has wrangled the herd of cats that is the democratic party , but that's only one small piece of the picture and may show how far my bar has dropped.) To be precise since I answered the second half of your question implicitly, I certainly think we've had great presidents, see my list above for an incomplete summary. There have certainly been individuals who managed immense feats of good in the presidency despite such adversity that we have not seen in our lifetimes. However, as I was lamenting to my wife the other day, I've seen far less of this as time has gone on, (in local government _as much as_ in federal govt.) and as I suggest above, I'm not sure how we come back from that without systemic change.
- hadtodoit 7y ago
  Do people consider FDR to be a great president? He ranks pretty high on my list of the worst given the internment of Japanese-Americans among other things.