Thursday, September 17, 2015

Sunflowers



5 comments:

  1. Huzzah for Howard!

    Back in early July I bookmarked this opinion piece:

    The Daily Beast: This is How Hillary Loses the Primary [Click] I note with particular interest the comment that “If she loses to Bernie in Iowa or New Hampshire, most likely the subsequent polls will show her losing to a handful of top Republicans.” But (in view of what has transpired lately,) what if there should be no top Republicans?

    A couple of days ago I spotted this article about how
    the downward trend in Clinton’s ratings has accelerated [Click]

    Which certainly bears some relation to the first of today’s stories:

    Clinton Stuck in a Poll-Deflating Feedback Loop [Click]

    and might not be unrelated to the second story of the day:

    Guardian: Former Occupy Wall Street protesters rally around Bernie Sanders campaign [Click]

    Well, while cogitating about the possibilities of all this, I think I will look back and see where Presidents past have found their Veeps; there might be some interesting ones. I think Senator Warren has too important a role in the Senate to be spared for the Vice Presidency.

    —Alan
    (Enjoying a lunch break on a relatively non-busy day at work while my robotic helper continues working.)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Here’s a table of U.S. Vice Presidents. [Click] Of course Senators and Governors figure prominently, but there are quite a few Representatives (Remember Gerald Ford? I thought he did a pretty good job.) and occasionally a former cabinet member.

      --Alan

      Delete
  2. It occurs to me that prior to the tremendous expansion of the Presidential bureaucracy that began under Hoover, cabinet members were much more powerful than they are now. Presidents were dependent upon the staff and abilities of the cabinet departments for all sorts of administrative jobs their own staff now handles.

    --Alan

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That is a very interesting point indeed, Alan!!

      Delete
    2. I may have become aware of that in the biography of Calvin Coolidge I downloaded from Audible. Coolidge's presidential staff was not much bigger than Lincoln's; any significant amount of research, gathering of information or administrative actions had to go through the respective cabinet offices. That meant the Cabinet officers, in addition to having considerable personal political strength and networks, needed to be capable managers of bureaucracies. Coolidge's VP was Charles G. Dawes, former Director of the Bureau of the Budget. Coolidge was quite possibly the most business- and investment-savvy presidents the country has ever had; but the laws of the times limited him largely to a cheerleading function. I remember the story about Coolidge having a several-hours' talk with an economist who foresaw (as did Coolidge) that very large economic problems (the 1929 Stock Market crash and the Great Depression, in the event) were impending. Finally, Coolidge asked him (I paraphrase), "Well, what can I do about it?" And the answer was (paraphrasing again) "Nothing."

      --Alan

      Delete