be afraid

[rm]

I ranted about why on earth do people have this desire for the president to be "a regular guy"

This being Gather, some people replied with what I considered pretty terrifying responses.

http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474977219392

Comments

[upstart-crow.livejournal.com]

Hm. You know, a candidate's wealth and (formal) education have honestly never been my concern, and neither has his or her relatability (speaking ability, however ...). I tend to look more at his or her political record, and the intelligence s/he demonstrates in power - and of course, his/her ability to balance justice with mercy. I actually prefer it if s/he's a little unrelatable - FDR had the right idea about keeping a distance between a leader and his/her people.

Also, I really think that the national obsession with candidates being "regular guys" goes back very, very far. To the Jackson administration certainly, and definitely to the race between William Henry Harrison and Martin van Buren. Harrison won the election largely because his entourage portrayed him as having grown up in a log cabin and van Buren as being an aristocrat - although the opposite was in fact true (van Buren's height had a lot to do with it, too - I believe he is one of, if not our shortest presidents).

Sorry if you know all of this already. I just am rather fascinated by our earliest presidents in particular. And I always rather liked van Buren.