President Coolidge and President Bush

[don grahamleone]

This is just my opinion and I realize that Bush has been handed a difficult set of circumstances, but the lack of his administration to handle crisis has made me think of none other than our worst President ever, Mr. Calvin Coolidge. After a slow reaction to 9/11 and now to hurricane Katrina, I don't know what other President to compare him to then to the roaring 20's man himself.

For those of you that don't know who Coolidge is, he lead the administration that lead our country into the Great Depression. Here are some excerpts that I read from a website on Coolidge. There are some subtle and some obvious similarities:


Coolidge was "distinguished for character more than for heroic achievement," wrote a Democratic admirer, Alfred E. Smith. "His great task was to restore the dignity and prestige of the Presidency when it had reached the lowest ebb in our history ... in a time of extravagance and waste...."
---Clinton's actions in office ring a bell anyone?----

Slowly, methodically, he went up the political ladder from councilman in Northampton to Governor of Massachusetts, as a Republican. En route he became thoroughly conservative.

As President, Coolidge demonstrated his determination to preserve the old moral and economic precepts amid the material prosperity which many Americans were enjoying. He refused to use Federal economic power to check the growing boom or to ameliorate the depressed condition of agriculture and certain industries. His first message to Congress in December 1923 called for isolation in foreign policy, and for tax cuts, economy, and limited aid to farmers.
---Bush doesn't seem to care for world politics either---

But no President was kinder in permitting himself to be photographed in Indian war bonnets or cowboy dress, and in greeting a variety of delegations to the White House.
---This one is the kicker. Has Bush been photographed chopping wood lately?---

Can we learn from history or is it too late?

[giddyup]

After a slow reaction to 9/11 and now to hurricane Katrina, I don't know what other President to compare him to then to the roaring 20's man himself.
Are you talking about the 7 minutes that he finished reading the book to those school children?

[robbie380]

This is just my opinion and I realize that Bush has been handed a difficult set of circumstances, but the lack of his administration to handle crisis has made me think of none other than our worst President ever, Mr. Calvin Coolidge. After a slow reaction to 9/11 and now to hurricane Katrina, I don't know what other President to compare him to then to the roaring 20's man himself. [/[quote]

i didn't think there was a slow reaction to 9/11. not really sure what you are talking about with respect to that, but i won't let it derail your point. i think katrina's poor reaction is just another example of this administration's lack of organization. maybe i am just restating what you are saying....anyhow...


[quote]---Bush doesn't seem to care for world politics either---

i think you are comparing apples and oranges here (i think oranges is too close of a comparison though). remember we were not too far removed from the most traumatizing war in the history of war where millions were killed with all of the great new technology. coolidge was an isolationist because that's what the country wanted. bush is far from an isolationist and this is very evident by his policies.

---This one is the kicker. Has Bush been photographed chopping wood lately?---

Can we learn from history or is it too late?

i don't know what you are looking to learn but any modern president/politician will take any great looking photo op they can get. i'm not really sure what your major criticism is here.

i can't really see any comparison between coolidge and bush. bush's administration could have been great even with the policies he has pursued, but his problem has been a total lack of unorganization from the top down. i don't know what president you can compare that to.

[Major]

[QUOTE=don grahamleone]i think you are comparing apples and oranges here (i think oranges is too close of a comparison though). remember we were not too far removed from the most traumatizing war in the history of war where millions were killed with all of the great new technology. coolidge was an isolationist because that's what the country wanted. bush is far from an isolationist and this is very evident by his policies.

Bush is no longer an isolationist, but when he ran for office and his initial period in office, he was one (as much as one can be in modern America). He did not want any involvement in the Israel/Palestinian issue; he did not believe in nation building; he wanted to move troops out of foreign countries; etc.

9/11 changed all that, but up until then, he was generally more towards the isolationist viewpoint.

[thacabbage]

Calvin Coolidge the worst president in history? Can't be. Without him we wouldn't have the "Coolidge Effect":

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coolidge_effect

In biology, the term Coolidge effect describes the re-arousal of a male animal by the introduction of a new female.

Some researchers think that exposure to the pheromones of a new female is a significant factor in this phenomenon.

The term comes from an old joke according to which President Calvin Coolidge and his wife visited a government farm one day and were taken around on separate tours. Mrs. Coolidge, passing the chicken pens, inquired of a supervisor whether the roosters copulated more than once a day.

"Yes," the man said. "Dozens of times." "Tell that," Mrs. Coolidge replied, "to the President!"

Some time later the President, passing the same pens, was told about the roosters - and about his wife's remark. "Same hen every time?" he asked. "Oh, no, a different one each time," the supervisor replied. "Tell that," Coolidge said with a sly nod, "to Mrs. Coolidge."

The Coolidge effect has sometimes been mentioned as an explanation of why pornographic images (of the female) are exciting to the male.

[Manny Ramirez]

Coolidge wasn't a stellar President by any means but I don't think he was the worst one we ever had. Andrew Johnson, US Grant, and James Buchanan all come to my mind before Coolidge.

[Dreamshake]

Coolidge wasn't a stellar President by any means but I don't think he was the worst one we ever had. Andrew Johnson, US Grant, and James Buchanan all come to my mind before Coolidge.


In my mind James Buchanan always stuck in my mind as being the absolute worst.

[Jeffster]

I knew there was a reason I liked Bush. Coolidge was my favorite president ever.

When told by a woman at a White House gathering that she had bet she could make him say more than two words, President Coolidge replied, "You lose." :D