https://xkcd.com/2875/

Alt text:

It wasn’t originally constitutionally required, but presidents who served two terms have traditionally followed George Washington’s example and gotten false teeth.

  • Maggoty@lemmy.worldEnglish
    251·
    10 months ago

    Well the presidents in my lifetime were Reagan, Bush 1, Clinton, Bush 2(illegally), Obama, Trump, and Biden.

    Yeah he’s the best of the lot. I would prefer FDR in some kind of undead emperor setup but sadly that’s not available.

    • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.worldEnglish
      137·
      10 months ago

      Yeah he’s the best of the lot.

      I mean, “best” by what standard? He’s a continuation of the Reagan tradition.

      I would prefer FDR in some kind of undead emperor setup but sadly that’s not available.

      FDR got where he was thanks to a large popular movement that his administration ultimately undermined and dismantled. The guy that delivered Harry Truman, J. Edgar Hoover, and Allen Dulles onto the American system was a compromise at best.

      Fixating on Presidents as modern day messiah figures has been uniformly bad for American politics and social progress. And its illustrated by this latent desire for a Lich-King President, a shambling corpse propped up by hagiography and revisionist history, who we’re taught to venerate as the fountain of progress rather than merely the man at the helm during a hurricane who didn’t sink the ship.

      These guys aren’t prime movers, they’re consequences of much larger and more sweeping social movements. I would love to be in a country that elects a guy like FDR, but I do not believe that magically making FDR president again would result in anything remotely like the policies we got under his original administration.

      • Maggoty@lemmy.worldEnglish
        9·
        10 months ago

        I agree with that. I was being somewhat flippant talking about a “Lich King president” (I was going for Warhammer 40k if that helps set the picture better)

        Without movements we don’t get shit. The rich have access by default. Everyone else has to make their access, typically with movements.

      • postmateDumbass@lemmy.worldEnglish
        6·
        10 months ago

        Younger, more energenic, possibly idealistic presidents might lead to a change of status quo.

        So that’s pretty much why not.

      • joenforcer@midwest.socialEnglish
        2·
        10 months ago

        Fixating on Presidents as modern day messiah figures has been uniformly bad for American politics and social progress. And its illustrated by this latent desire for a Lich-King President, a shambling corpse propped up by hagiography and revisionist history, who we’re taught to venerate as the fountain of progress rather than merely the man at the helm during a hurricane who didn’t sink the ship.

        Sir, this is a Wendy’s.