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From his latest column:
2016.Assuming, not rashly, that Barack Obama wins, 2016 is the next time Hillary Clinton, who will then be 68, can seek the Democratic nomination. By then, the median age of the electorate will be 47, so for many millions of voters, Bill Clinton's tenure will seem only slightly less distant than Grover Cleveland's, the last Democratic presidency that did not make sensible citizens wince.
Let's see...Grover Cleveland had reputation for honesty that was a refreshing change from the corruption of the late 19th century, and overall did a decent job as President. He also managed to conceal a cancer operation from the press because he did not want the news to destabilize the country during the panic of 1893. However, his life includes the following:
- dodged service in the Civil War by paying someone else to serve in his stead when he was drafted.
- opposed women's suffrage on the grounds that "sensible and responsible women do not want to vote. The relative positions to be assumed by men and women in the working out of our civilization were assigned long ago by a higher intelligence."
- married a girl young enough to be his daughter. He had been the executor of her father's estate and supervised her upbringing and education, and most biographies refer to her as his ward, so for all intents and purposes, Cleveland married his foster daughter.
- fathered an illegitimate child. He paid child support and refused to disown the child, but this was beyond scandalous in the Victorian era, and would have destroyed his presidential chances had his opponent, James G. Blaine, not been praised as the candidate of "Rum, Romanism, and Rebellion."
- sent federal troops to break the Pullman Strike in the 1890's.
- appointed several of the Supreme Court members who voted for the doctrine of "separate but equal," which legalized Jim Crow discrimination in 1896.
No President gets through office without causing people to wince. Mr. Will needs to remember this. Alternatively (and preferably IMNSHO), he could confine himself to writing about baseball, since his columns on that subject are always better and more entertaining than his political blatherings.
2016.Assuming, not rashly, that Barack Obama wins, 2016 is the next time Hillary Clinton, who will then be 68, can seek the Democratic nomination. By then, the median age of the electorate will be 47, so for many millions of voters, Bill Clinton's tenure will seem only slightly less distant than Grover Cleveland's, the last Democratic presidency that did not make sensible citizens wince.
Let's see...Grover Cleveland had reputation for honesty that was a refreshing change from the corruption of the late 19th century, and overall did a decent job as President. He also managed to conceal a cancer operation from the press because he did not want the news to destabilize the country during the panic of 1893. However, his life includes the following:
- dodged service in the Civil War by paying someone else to serve in his stead when he was drafted.
- opposed women's suffrage on the grounds that "sensible and responsible women do not want to vote. The relative positions to be assumed by men and women in the working out of our civilization were assigned long ago by a higher intelligence."
- married a girl young enough to be his daughter. He had been the executor of her father's estate and supervised her upbringing and education, and most biographies refer to her as his ward, so for all intents and purposes, Cleveland married his foster daughter.
- fathered an illegitimate child. He paid child support and refused to disown the child, but this was beyond scandalous in the Victorian era, and would have destroyed his presidential chances had his opponent, James G. Blaine, not been praised as the candidate of "Rum, Romanism, and Rebellion."
- sent federal troops to break the Pullman Strike in the 1890's.
- appointed several of the Supreme Court members who voted for the doctrine of "separate but equal," which legalized Jim Crow discrimination in 1896.
No President gets through office without causing people to wince. Mr. Will needs to remember this. Alternatively (and preferably IMNSHO), he could confine himself to writing about baseball, since his columns on that subject are always better and more entertaining than his political blatherings.
