So, would Abraham Lincoln have a shot in today's world???

[Bumrush99]

So would Abraham Lincoln have a shot in today?s political atmosphere?
It seems like style over substance is the rule in politics. The start of the TV age in American politics has had a drastic effect on how candidates are perceived, regardless of how smart or good for the job they may be. If Nixon isn?t sick, sweating and fidgety in 1960, Kennedy probably loses.

Back to my original point. In this age of image, does a candidate similar to Abraham Lincoln have a shot? For background, I found this on the web:

?Abraham Lincoln was a Southern poor white, poorly educated and unusually ugly, awkward, ill-dressed. He liked smutty stories and was a politician down to his toes. Aristocrats?Jeff Davis, Seward and their ilk?despised him, and indeed he had little outwardly that compelled respect. But in that curious human way he was big inside. He had reserves and depths and when habit and convention were torn away there was something left to Lincoln?nothing to most of his contemners. There was some?thing left, so that at the crisis he was big enough to be inconsistent?cruel, merciful; peace-loving, a fighter; despising Negroes and letting them fight and vote; protecting slavery and freeing slaves. He was a man?a big, inconsistent, brave man.?

It saddens me to accept that once of the greatest leaders of our time would not stand a chance today. Guys like Kerry and Dole have to overcome more obstacles than the ?natural? American leaders we have elected in past few decades. A presidential candidate that doesn?t fit the image usually has no shot.

 

[DurocShark]

Nope.

Say a hearty "Thank You" to television.

Sigh.

 

[Vic]

Could you imagine FDR, a cripple in a wheelchair, being elected today? And yet he was one of our greatest presidents (regardless of how you feel about his politics), and an amazing statesman and orator.

edit: here's a thought -- contrast FDR's "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself" with what the Bush administration is telling us today

 

[daveshel]

Image is everything.

 

[phantom309]

Originally posted by: Vic
Could you imagine FDR, a cripple in a wheelchair, being elected today? And yet he was one of our greatest presidents (regardless of how you feel about his politics), and as amazing statesman and orator.

Great care was taken to ensure FDR was never depicted in a wheelchair, or described as a cripple - something that was fairly easy to do before TV and the Internet. My understanding is that he was capable of standing long enough for short speeches and photo ops. Most Americans had no idea he was as disabled as he was.

 

[Vic]

Originally posted by: phantom309

Originally posted by: Vic
Could you imagine FDR, a cripple in a wheelchair, being elected today? And yet he was one of our greatest presidents (regardless of how you feel about his politics), and as amazing statesman and orator.

Great care was taken to ensure FDR was never depicted in a wheelchair, or described as a cripple - something that was fairly easy to do before TV and the Internet. My understanding is that he was capable of standing long enough for short speeches and photo ops. Most Americans had no idea he was as disabled as he was.

This is true. He would give his speeches either sitting behind a desk or propped up at the podium. And he was the first President (and Presidential candidate) to make effective use of the new and popular medium of radio.

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

Originally posted by: Vic
Could you imagine FDR, a cripple in a wheelchair, being elected today? And yet he was one of our greatest presidents (regardless of how you feel about his politics), and an amazing statesman and orator.

Which supports my contention that the American people are becoming increasingly vacuous and daft. In the first Clinton election, my sis-in-law made sure she voted. Why? Because Clinton was more handsome than the first Bush. That is also why Dole fared so badly. He wasn't "appealing".

Bush is simple minded and that is his "special charm". He looks at everything as if the were the Gordian Knot, and in a culture where the showpiece of our society is our military force that is not so surprising.
As long as we are able to boast of our cupidity and our superiority, the American public seems to choose image every time.

Ignorance is strength.

 

[Yo Ma Ma]

It really is unfortunate that so much emphasis and attention is put on style over substance. It has resulted in some truly poor choices as candidates and elected politicians. You might also notice that in the past the 'politician' had actually earned a real living outside of politics before and after the stint in office, and often during as well.

BTW your info on Lincoln is questionable; he was born in the south but lived in Indiana from age 8 on, and he had a married mother and father so how could he possibly be illigitimate? He was not poorly educated, it just wasn't easy to come by, he was intelligent and worked very diligently on his education. I'm just curious what is your source for the quoted bio on Lincoln?

 

[Bumrush99]

Originally posted by: Yo_Ma-Ma
It really is unfortunate that so much emphasis and attention is put on style over substance. It has resulted in some truly poor choices as candidates and elected politicians. You might also notice that in the past the 'politician' had actually earned a real living outside of politics before and after the stint in office, and often during as well.

BTW your info on Lincoln is questionable; he was born in the south but lived in Indiana from age 8 on, and he had a married mother and father so how could he possibly be illigitimate? He was not poorly educated, it just wasn't easy to come by, he was intelligent and worked very diligently on his education. I'm just curious what is your source for the quoted bio on Lincoln?

It was a quick google search.. I can't find it anymore

However, I did find this
Lincoln Bio
I will remvoe the part about him being an illigitimate son.

 

[dullard]

Height rules in many areas, including politics. Lincoln had height. Bad clothes can easilly be fixed while on TV. Awkwardness didn't stop Bush Jr from being elected. Clinton was smutty and got elected. I never thought of Lincoln as being ugly, but the prettier person has won every presidency. So most of your points are proven wrong except the uglyness. I can only go that far.

 

[Rob9874]

This is a good question, and I'm going to answer that he wouldn't stand a chance. And it has nothing to do with his appearance or television, but because the country isn't in touch with Lincoln's values anymore.

This is a very good article from Eaquire magazine, written by a liberal Bush basher, who asks the question, "What if Bush is right?" In it, he shows a correllation between Bush's statements about the war and Lincoln's comments about the Civil War.

On August 23, 1864, he was motivated to write in a memorandum that "it seems exceedingly probable that this administration will not be reelected," and yet his position on peace never wavered: He rejected any terms but the restoration of the union and the abolition of slavery. The war was, from first to last, portrayed as his war, and after he won landslide reelection, he made a vow not only to stay the course but to prosecute it to the brink of catastrophe and beyond: "Fondly do we hope?fervently do we pray?that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue, until all the wealth piled by the bond-man's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash, shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said 'the judgments of the Lord, are true and righteous altogether.' "

Today, of course, those words, along with Lincoln's appeal to the better angels of our nature, are chiseled into the wall of his memorial, on the Mall in Washington. And yet if George Bush were to speak anything like them today, we would accuse him of pandering to his evangelical base.

 

[Infohawk]

Most of the old school politicians would have never made it in today's world. Contrast Jefferson and Shrub, for example.

 

[alchemize]

I keep seeing this as "have been shot"

 

[Todd33]

Lincoln was also well spoken, educated and smart. He was tall and funny looking, so I doubt he would survive this world of bumper-sticker sound bites and awe-shucks BS. He was the one great Republican.