The compleat presidential poll

Who should be president, really?  

Where shall we find in one person that mix of principle and knowledge and character and humility, gravitas, humor, plain-speaking, and humanity to lead us through the dangerous waters that lie ahead?

None of the current candidates, I have to say, quite measures up to my admittedly lofty expectations.  My friends or family members don’t either.  In fact, no one I have ever met seems quite up to it.

That is not to say I am without hope, however.  I am certain that someone will somehow appear, and bring the nation together.  He or she will inspire us to take up the difficult work ahead, make us remember a quiet pride in being a people with honor and idealism

I personally would like to vote for the Henry Fonda  of 1964’s "Fail Safe"   Besides being a man who exudes rational calm and moral courage in the face of a horrific menace the panicked current occupants of the Executive mansion cannot begin to dream of, he was known in the movie simply as The President.  Can't get more cool than that.

Your chance, then.  Finally, you can cast a meaningful vote.  Who, in your view, should be elected president?

•  we already have

  a president who resembles Gene Hackman's Allen Richmond in "Absolute Power."

  by kay dub on Tue Dec 11, 2007 at 10:01:42 AM PDT

•  Dave for Pres

  I almost voted for McKenzie Allen. I wouldn't vote for Josiah because then you would get his annoying irritating staff and pro-voucher views.  

  by bten on Tue Dec 11, 2007 at 10:01:55 AM PDT

•  Henry Fonda all the way...

  by darthstar on Tue Dec 11, 2007 at 10:02:13 AM PDT

  •  damn....he's dead...never mind.

    by darthstar on Tue Dec 11, 2007 at 10:02:27 AM PDT

    •  like we would know the difference

      given the current occupant?

      by kay dub on Tue Dec 11, 2007 at 10:04:14 AM PDT

      •  I can lament Fonda's passing, but alas, the law

        forbids lamenting the health of the other.  Praise be to bush! May he live a long and healthy life after his presidency...in jail.

        by darthstar on Tue Dec 11, 2007 at 10:09:35 AM PDT

  •  I almost voted for Dave ...

    ... but then had to go for Henry Fonda instead, even though he's dead. Don't get me wrong. Dave would make a great caretaker president, but I don't know that he could handle a major international crisis. After seeing Henry sacrifice New York City (and even his own wife) to prevent thermonuclear war with the Soviet Union in "Fail Safe," I feel sure he could make the most difficult decisions imaginable ... and even unimaginable, no matter what they would cost him personally and politically.

    And the way Henry handled Cliff Robertson in "The Best Man" impressed me, too. Anyone who could give up on his own ambition for the good of the country is a fundamentally decent person in my book.

    Sorry Dave and NYC.

    by philimus on Tue Dec 11, 2007 at 10:16:44 AM PDT

•  David Palmer

  Played by Dennis Hasbert on the series, "24".

  by MikeTheLiberal on Tue Dec 11, 2007 at 10:04:46 AM PDT

  •  He supported a torturer!

    BFF with Jack Bauer.

    by bten on Tue Dec 11, 2007 at 10:11:13 AM PDT

    •  Theoretically, ...

      ... all the presidents supported torturers.

      by MikeTheLiberal on Tue Dec 11, 2007 at 10:49:41 AM PDT

•  But you forgot...

  Bill Pullman in "Independence Day." He defeated invading space creatures, for pete's sake.  ;-)

  by sbdenmon on Tue Dec 11, 2007 at 10:05:44 AM PDT

  •  right you are

    and he could fly planes!  (Not just pretend to.)

    by kay dub on Tue Dec 11, 2007 at 10:07:25 AM PDT

  •  Best Speech of Any Action Movie President

    ....ever to face massive invasion protected only by Will Smith. Okay, the weird looking actor guy helped too.

    by malharden on Tue Dec 11, 2007 at 12:02:45 PM PDT

•  President Merkin Muffley

  cause he stop worrying and learned to love the bomb :)

  by palantir on Tue Dec 11, 2007 at 10:23:49 AM PDT

•  Peter Sellers.

  As Chauncey Gardener.

  by Bob Johnson on Tue Dec 11, 2007 at 10:49:26 AM PDT

•  Everybody who knows me will laugh

  at this comment. The correct spelling is "complete."

  The fact that Mike S is correcting spelling even makes Mike S smile.

  by Mike S on Tue Dec 11, 2007 at 10:58:13 AM PDT

  •  of course that spelling was a reference

    to Izaak Walton's "The Compleat Angler" (1526).  It's quite respectable, really.

    by kay dub on Tue Dec 11, 2007 at 12:03:13 PM PDT

•  Jed Bartlett...

  followed closely by Matthew Santos....

  sigh.

  by ThaliaR on Tue Dec 11, 2007 at 11:03:05 AM PDT

•  Where's Jack Stanton?

  by poblano on Tue Dec 11, 2007 at 11:14:13 AM PDT

•  Zeus, from 5th Element?

  Horrific future movie with Bruce Willis and the little eastern european former supermodel.

  Actually, I think he was President of Earth.

  So never mind.

  by malharden on Tue Dec 11, 2007 at 12:04:13 PM PDT