Justin's Question

Justin's question: If you could live during a certain President's term, who would that President be?

I get bored at work sometimes. During those crazy, not busy times, I tend to surf Wikipedia. And since we all know that Wikipedia is probably the most accurate source of information out there, I'm probably an expert on everything now. And it's probably good that anyone can update Wikipedia since we're discovering new things about Abraham Lincoln every day. Did you know he was a vampire slayer?

Anyway, I think Thomas Jefferson's presidency would have been a good one to live under. He was a Virginian, so already he's got some bonus points. He invented the Lazy Susan. Very convenient when you want something that's on the other side of the table and you're too lazy to get up and reach for it. He liked to use domes in his buildings and those are very acoustical. And the man doubled the area of the United States thanks to a little thing called the Louisiana Purchase, maybe you've heard of it. I'm sure it was an exciting time for Americans. We were a new country and still stretching our legs. Though I don't think I'd have wanted to wear a wig.

Follow-up: If you could pick a President from the past to be the Chief Executive in the US today, who would you bring in?

The past president I would bring into today would be Lincoln. The man spent pretty much his entire presidency dealing with a country that was torn apart and didn't get a chance to really lead once the union was reunited. I think it would be interesting to see what he could have done with the whole of the United States.


Follow-up-Follow-up: Which movie President do you think would make the best actual President?

Finally, there are so many movie presidents, it's difficult to pick one. I will say that President Whitmore's speech near the end of Independence Day was inspiring, and the fact that he was willing to get in a plane and go head to head against the aliens said a lot about his character. But I'm gonna have to go with President Tom Beck, portrayed by Morgan Freeman in Deep Impact. Granted, we didn't see anymore about his politics than we did with Bill Pullman's president, but the glimpses we did get of Beck showed a man of integrity. He was the kind of guy that could remain optimistic about the future but was also willing to make the difficult decisions when forced to face the reality of his situation.