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Pastimes : The Making of The Presidency: American Thoughts And Essays -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: bela_ghoulashi who wrote (19)	11/19/2000 11:02:53 PM
From: MasonS	Respond to of 134

Very nicely put...

To: bela_ghoulashi who wrote (19)	11/20/2000 7:34:01 AM
From: GROUND ZERO™	Respond to of 134

A Wonderful Post!!! Most articulately and brilliantly presented, thank you for your voice.....<g> GZ

To: bela_ghoulashi who wrote (19)	11/20/2000 9:17:28 AM
From: opalapril	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 134

The Fate of Losers In Presidential Politics The suggestion has been made that "even the ostensible losers in this process are winners, because they still retain their voice, their ability to participate, and their stake in the future direction of this country." It is a wonderfully naive, idealistic thought -- completely unsupported by history or human nature. If it's so great to lose, why do you suppose Mr. Gore and Mr. Bush are struggling so hard to win? In politics and history, as well as sports, nice guys do finish last. It is the winners who write history. (Not to mention, appoint Supreme Court justices to life terms likely to last until mid-century). More often than not, the losers suffer calumny, rejection, and public ostracism. "Grace" in losing may warm the heart to watch, but how soon we forget! More probably than not, the loser -- having had virtually no influence on public affairs and events after conceding the election -- will go to his grave in ignominious obscurity. How many know the destiny of the man who tied Thomas Jefferson for Electoral College votes and saw the election thrown into the House of Representatives where he lost on the 30th roll call? Aaron Burr, a true Revolutionary War hero, was hounded from American political life by the retributive Jeffersonian faction and later even tried for treason. Jefferson spent much of his later years in comfort, writing the bounteous memoirs that form our history and secure his place in it. (Only recent scholarship reminds us that Jefferson was widely reviled in his time by many of his fellow Founding Fathers and as president established a discreditable record for jailing political opponents who sought to exercise free speech rights.) To be sure, Andrew Jackson ultimately was successful in campaigning for the White House (a campaign that began the very moment John Quincy Adams beat him in the Electoral College in 1824 although Adams garnered fewer popular votes). But how many recall the name of William Crawford, another front-runner who likely would have eventually beaten Adams had Henry Clay not arranged a tawdry, secret deal for himself at the last minute? Not one in a hundred Americans can tell you the name, much less the political fate, of the man who won more popular votes but nevertheless lost to Rutherford B. Hayes in the Electoral College. (It was Samuel J. Tilden, and he was quickly shunted aside by his own party.) Grover Cleveland and Benjamin Harrison present a special case. Cleveland beat James G. Blaine, Harrison beat Cleveland, then Cleveland returned the favor. Who among these stalwarts is best remembered? Maybe someone in Blaine, Iowa, or Harrison, Ohio, can tell us. Richard Nixon, it is erroneously said by some, was gracious in conceding defeat to John Kennedy in 1960. In fact, the decision was not made by Nixon but by Dwight Eisenhower. Ike 'persuaded' Nixon not to contest the close popular vote because Kennedy had soundly whipped him in the Electoral College, anyway. Importantly, we now know, the loss embittered Nixon, stoked the fires of his innate paranoia, and eventually led to Watergate -- thus guiding history's hand to record Richard Nixon as the most criminal miscreant in history to occupy the White House and the only president to be driven from office in mid-term. One reads and hears all kinds of pundits urging Mr. Gore or Mr. Bush to be "presidential" and give up the fight. The candidates know better. The time to be presidential is after they have won the White House. Until then, the American constitutional system and political reality requires them to do everything within their power and the law to achieve the single biggest political prize, and the largest measure of power, this world has to offer.