A Winning Pledge Presidential Candidates Should Make
by Pamela LeaveyAfter the failed presidency of George W. Bush, years of being stuck in a war based on lies, here’s a pledge, a winning pledge that all candidates should be making in the ‘08 election:
“I will never go on vacation during a war. The president is the U.S. soldiers’ commander in chief, and as long as our soldiers fight and die, get back-door drafted into tours they never expected and get redeployed into unwinnable conflicts, I just wouldn’t feel right riding my bike or clearing brush on my ranch. No, I’ll stay in the war with my troops.”
“Inaugurations, I suppose, are necessary, but inaugural balls are silly. I will never attend one, let alone several in one night. Party all you want, but on your own. This will be my first night on the job, and I’ll have other stuff to do.”
“If I don’t like a bill, I won’t sign it. I will veto it. I will never sign a bill and then issue a ‘signing statement’ allowing me to ignore what I just signed. Never.”
“I will accept no gifts. None. Ever. If you give me one, you’ll just get it back.
“Don’t expect me to pardon anyone. A pardon might help you, but it hurts my legacy, and when it comes to my legacy, I tend to be a little self-centered.”
Sadly, I don’t see any of the current crop of candidates making anything close to this sort of pledge. Instead we have Democratic candidates who all seem to get compared to or compare themselves to JFK. None come close in my opinion.
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There is a lot more that can be added to that pledge. I for one will not hold my breath till one of them grows up and acts like an adult.
Hillary is comparing herself to JFK? OK Hil, where were you in 1964? That’s right you were a Goldwater girl!
If Hillary is John Kennedy, then I’m the king of the zulus.
I’m not so concerned about the vacation thing. As far as I’m concerned the President can go anywhere, as long as she takes the job with her. In fact, even King George doesn’t have to work any harder, because with him the problem is quality, not quantity.
For a pledge, I would like to see a promise of a face-to-face Whitehouse meeting with every national leader on the planet in the first hundred days. (Can you imagine the negative worldwide buzz about any tin horn dictator who was too afraid to show up?) That should be followed up with a visit to every country (even the ones like Eastonia that are so small they don’t have an excuse for trying to be a country)before the end of the first term.
Our president will be a true world leader as soon as we get one who acts like that.
Damn good post – I like every one of them.