One and done, a 6-year presidency

This a cameo blog appearance. 

My Dad recently wrote an article for the Cape Cod Times. The article brings up the idea about one six year presidency term instead of the potential for two four year terms.

What do you guys think? 

By GARY J. BEACH

November 15, 2012

Over the past six months I have asked this question to friends and business colleagues: What percent of the 44 presidents of the United States were "one and done" presidents? That is, presidents who served one term, or less than one term, because of illness or assassination.

Most pause for a moment and say, "25 to 30 percent."

They are shocked when I tell them only 16 American presidents — Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, Jackson, Lincoln, Grant, Teddy Roosevelt, Wilson, Franklin Roosevelt, Eisenhower, Nixon, Reagan, Clinton, George W. Bush, and now Barack Obama — were "re-elected."

The overwhelming majority, 64 percent of American presidents, were one-term presidents.

This misperception on presidential election history is easy to understand. In 28 of the 32 years leading up to the 2012 presidential election (or 88 percent of the time), the United States was governed by re-elected presidents.

Americans accept re-elected presidents as the norm when, in fact, they are not.

Here's my idea: Repeal the 22nd Amendment to the United States Constitution (the amendment that limits an American to two consecutive four-year terms in office) and in 2016 elect American presidents to one six-year term.

Now, a newly elected president spends the first year in office attempting to turn campaign promises into legislation. Year 2 finds the president embroiled in midterm elections. Year 3 brings the committee to re-elect, and Year 4 is consumed by the election campaign. The second-term president relishes a "mandate" for a year before becoming a lame duck after the midterms in the second presidential term.

Not so with a one-term, six-year president.

A six-year president can, from Day 1,fill administration posts, sponsor legislation and deal with foreign leaders without having to worry about making decisions based on a run for re-election. An administration that would be in office for six years might also find it easier to recruit bright people from the private sector to join the team. Why? For the same reason. The president will call 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. "home" for six years and they would be assured of a longer runway to get programs in their respective departments off the ground.

There are more reasons why this idea makes political sense.

With a four-year-term presidency, the opposition party can simply dig in its heels and say "no" to major pieces of presidential legislation. They are empowered to do so because they are gambling the president will lose his or her footing by midterms and be out of office two years hence.

Now, if they had to deal with an occupant of the White House who was there for six years, it would force opposition leaders to work more closely with the president, because the American people will not put up with six years of political gridlock in Washington, D.C.

And a six-year term in office would force a president to deal with opposition leaders in Congress. Why? Because the president wants to leave behind a record of accomplishments — the legacy, if you will — and it would be frankly embarrassing if a president did nothing for 72 months.

My favorite reason for electing one-six-year-term presidents is the significant reduction of money wasted on campaign fundraising. Fundraising has no social or governmental value. It takes up a significant portion of a president's time and has brought down at least one president, and the only segment of American society that benefits from it are the media outlets who run attack ads constantly during campaign season.

If Congress repealed the 22nd Amendment, over a 20-year time frame there would be a 40 percent reduction in the number of presidential elections. Hundreds of millions of previously wasted re-election campaign fundraising dollars could be put to better societal use by wealthy individuals and special-interest groups to buy plant equipment, hire people and grow businesses.

The current system is broken. Both politically and financially. 

This approach fixes both.

Gary J. Beach, publisher emeritus of CIO Magazine, splits his time between South Chatham and Sherborn.

Optimism Waning?

A CNN/ORC International survey released Monday indicates that 56% of the public thinks the country will be better off four years from now, with four in ten saying it will be worse than they are now.

The survey also found:

• 54% say they are enthusiastic or optimistic about the president's second term
•  The 54% figure is a bit less than the 58% who felt that way about President George W. Bush's second tour of duty in November of 2004
• 44% are pessimistic or afraid about the president's second term
• 52% approve of the way Obama is handling his job as president
• 43% saying they disapprove

• 53% t say the president's experience from his first four years in the White House will make him a better president over the next four years
• 13% saying it will make him a worse president 
• One in three saying it will make no difference

Check out the full article for more statistics 

Missing Campaign Topics

This is one of the topics I think was not thoroughly discussed during the 2012 campaign for the presidency. 

Clean Energy & Climate Change
Yes, this was briefly talked about during one of the debates, but since it is a topic the effects everyone, regardless of their party, I was surprised that there wasn't more light shed on this issue.

Romney on energy
Who wins on energy

TV Media Covered Biden's Smile Nearly Twice As Much As Climate Change

This was written by Dr. Ricky Rood on climate change on wunderground.com 

Looking forward to the 2012 election, I don’t expect that climate change will be an oft articulated issue. The issue out front will be jobs, and the prominent link will be made between the exploitation of fossil fuels, new jobs, and energy security. Our approach to climate change will remain quietly in the hands of those savvy enough to use the unique knowledge provided by climate projections and those post-government truth tellers who no longer have to look away.  

"Dear Media, Mission Accomplished!"

Matt Philbin, the managing editor of the Media Research Center's Culture and Media Institute, recently wrote a pretty sarcastic article that highlighted all the conservative issues that the media 'conveniently neglected' to cover during the election.  Philbin's opinion definitely skews right, as can be seen by the below quote, but the article also brings up some interesting points. 

Well, my media friends, congratulations. You did it again. Your guy is safely re-elected. And the victory must be all the sweeter since you unexpectedly had to work for it.

Philbin highlights how the "Fast and the Furious" scandal (Homeland Security let Mexican drug gangsters buy lots of guns and then forgot to track them until one killed a U.S. Border Patrol agent) got minimal coverage.  Also how much money and resources have gone into green energy venues over the past several years, without substantial results. 

While I dont agree with all of Philbin's sentiment regarding the media, the article definitely provides some intriguing reading and food for thought on whether the media intentionally or unintentionally skews to the left.  

10 Political Satires That Told the Truth

Mike Edison, a blogger from the Huffington Post, wrote an amusing article about political satires in October 2012. The body of his piece talks about how parody is easy, but satire takes work.  He had a new book coming out called Bye Bye, Miss American Pie that

takes that free-swinging approach to the stark absurdity of the American election process -- and the attendant hyperventilating media coverage -- but with a more patient and literary spin. After all, there are only so many times one can Photoshop Bill O'Reilly onto his knees before it ceases to be inspired. 

Edison also has a list of the top 10 political satires.  On the lists he includes things like the Colbert Roberts, movies like 'The Candidate' and books such as Animal Farm.  Below is what he has to say about Colbert.  Check out the article for the full list. 



I have a feeling — at least if a non-scientific poll of my left-leaning Facebook friends is any indictor — that the liberals who complain most loudly about Fox News do not actually watch it. Personally I cant get enough of Bill O’Reilly, in the same way I can’t wait for Darth Vader to come on the screen when I am watching Star Wars. And as any serious fan of westerns, Wagner, or professional wrestling will tell you, we all come to see the villains. The thing about O’Reilly — who is the prime inspiration for Stephen Colbert’s caricature “Stephen Colbert” — is that he is impossibly good at what he does. He is a bully, and he wins every argument, by any means necessary. Like a bad guy in the WWE, he never hesitates to play dirty. He cheats with out-of-hand dismissal of facts (“Oh c’mon! You cant be serious!”) or by simply making shit up. He is as low-down and unscrupulous as they come. Hannity, Doocy, Van Susteren, and the rest are just annoying mouthpieces, but O’Reilly, well, they should have got Jack Palance to play him in a movie when it was still possible. Colbert’s genius is that he plants his stake firmly in O’Reilly’s backyard as a blowhard, but his wit and intelligence still shine through his kayfabe heel. If more of Colbert’s viewers actually watched the thing they enjoyed making fun of, they would be horrified.

$4.2 billion price tag and rising

2012 election priciest to date: $4.2 billion tab and rising

• At least $4.2 billion is estimated to have been spent in the 2012 elections
• Ad agencies were among those who were paid the most money from the campaigns
• Companies run by former campaign insiders made big money as well

Where does all this money go?

• Buys television ads ($750 million was spent on 1.1 million Presidential and congressional ads)
• On-line image campaigns
• Direct-mail outreach 
• Phone banks used to call prospective voters.
• The battleground states also brought big paydays to companies in Ohio, Florida, Nevada, Colorado, Wisconsin, Virginia and Iowa.

GMMB  
GMMB is a Washington-based ad firm run by Bill Clinton's 1992 former media strategist Jim Margolis. According to October 25 public data from the FEC, the firm has been paid so far $47.16 million to build and buy the ads on behalf of the Obama campaign.

"The campaign has spent in excess of $400 million on advertising during this cycle," Margolis told CNN. "All of those dollars have come through GMMB, to be paid out to stations. But It doesn't stay here. It goes out to pay for all the advertising you see on TV."

American Rambler Productions LLC 

American Rambler Productions LLC received the most money from the Romney campaign. The campaign messaging and advertising specialists received $41.85 million. Unlike the other top firms making a profit from this election, its online profile is nearly non-existent.

Targeted Victory

Romney's campaign has used Targeted Victory. The Romney camp has spent $3.1 million with the agency. Zac Moffatt, who is Romney's digital director, co-founded the company. He was on leave to work at the center of Romney's staff -- evidence of how important the campaign considered its digital strategy. 

Best Election Night Photos

Check out CNNs link to the best photos of the 2012 Election night.  

327,000 Tweets

Did you know...

More than 327,000 tweets were sent per minute at the height of the site’s traffic when it was announced that Obama had won re-election.

The Presidential election also set the record for the most tweeted about event in U.S. political history with an astonishing 31 million tweets sent.

In comparison, Election Day annihilated the previous 10 million tweets record set during the first Presidential debate just over a month ago.

 

The Obama campaign used Twitter at an 8-1 ratio in comparison to Mitt Romney.

 

President Obama also set a Twitter record when he tweeted his "4 more years" tweet with a picture of him hugging Michelle Obama.  This broke the previous record (held by Justin Bieber) of the most re-tweeted tweet of all time.

 

Read the full article here