That’s Right Nate

I was impressed by Hillary Clinton’s 3:00 phone call commercial.  The big question is, is Barack Hussein Obama experienced enough to answer that phone when a crisis rings.  Of course the answer is no.  We frequently elect Presidents without experience and hope for the best, but there is positively no substitute for experience. 

In that regard I wanted to look at one of the great unsung Presidents of our time.  He was a Federalist and then a Democrat, but not a liberal.  The most experienced President we ever had was Pennsylvania’s James Buchanon.  Buchanon was both a representative and a senator.  He was opposed to the War of 1812 because he felt it unnecessary, but when the country needed him he served in the defense of Baltimore.

He was nominated to be a Supreme Court Justice by James Polk, but declined.  He was appointed as Secretary of State and wrote the Oregon Tready.  When he was ambassador to England he helped draft the Ostend Manifesto which sought to add Cuba to the United States (A lot of Cubans would be much happier today if that had happenned). 

Buchanon was a great believe in the power of courts and as President helpd to steer the Dred Scott Decision.  Through a time of great turmoil he tried to keep the country united.  When the South finally left the Union Buchanon believed that it was unconstitutional.  Unfortunately, he also believed that stopped them would be Unconstitutional as well.  He was a consumate free trader who worked hard to lower the tariff before the Panic of 1857 stopped freemarketers in their tracks. He also helped keep Utah as part of the country through the Utah War.  During his term as President Kansas, Minnesota, and Oregon were all admitted to the union.

Buchanon is an underrated and often forgotten President, but he stewarded this country through impossibly hard times.  Like Bush he was a War President and like Bush he fought for tax cuts when economic panic had lead weaker men to try and raise taxes.  There is no doubt Buchanon was a man ready for a 3AM crisis because he had experience.  Give me 20 years of public service Hussein then feel free to run again.