Best leader your country never had

Quackers · Aug 4, 2014

Who is that one politician who you admired but never made it into the "big chair"?

What convinced you they were good leadership material? What would they have changed which would have improved the country? Why didn't they make it?

As a proud Briton there are several people I would like to have seen become Prime Minister. In recent times the obvious one is Michael Portillo. Everytime I see his analysis on television (he is a political pundit now) he is a cut above everybody else. He frequently discusses issues with the former home secretary Alan Johnson and he blows him away everytime with his intelligence and reasoning. Portillo has gone a bit "soft" and moved to the left in recent times. I would have preferred the version of 20 years ago but even now he would have spared us the evils of Blairism.

Honourary mention for Enoch Powell.

Who is it?

Mise · Aug 4, 2014

downtown

bhsup · Aug 4, 2014

Jeane Kirkpatrick

However, it was kind of unnecessary because we had The Gipper in the same era. Still, she would have been a great President while the USSR existed.

Hygro · Aug 4, 2014

Bobby Kennedy.

JollyRoger · Aug 4, 2014

I think you should be open to Yasmin Qureshi getting a bit more power.

useless · Aug 4, 2014

Michael foot

Timsup2nothin · Aug 4, 2014

Gorbachev.

tetley · Aug 4, 2014

Totally, absolutely, unequivocally Ron Paul.

Oruc · Aug 4, 2014

Can't think of a single one.

ywhtptgtfo · Aug 4, 2014

~~Pedro II of Brazil~~

Edit: Misread the title. I'd say Stephane Dion. Even though he's a bad politician, he's pretty smart.

Cutlass · Aug 4, 2014

Ben Franklin

illram · Aug 4, 2014

Every person I admire for their social or political ideals and history would have failed miserably as President, since the system surrounding them is set up to prevent the accomplishment of anything close to what they championed. In many ways what those folks achieved was only possible outside the system.

Off the top of my head if I had to think of US presidential candidates whose ideals and history of activism I (mostly) really admired, I'd say: (bhsup, avert your eyes)

Ralph Nader
Eugene V. Debs
George McGovern
Jesse Jackson
Dennis Kucinich (wants to auto-correct to zucchini)

Probably missing a few there. If my list was expanded to just any public figure my list would be pretty long...

Also I don't really admire him very much, so remove that from the question and I'd say the best leader we never (recently) had was Al Gore, solely on the basis that he was not George W. Bush.

Timsup2nothin · Aug 4, 2014

illram said:
Also I don't really admire him very much, so remove that from the question and I'd say the best leader we never (recently) had was Al Gore, solely on the basis that he was not George W. Bush.

With very similar feelings only worse I campaigned hard for John Kerry in 2004.

KMRblue1027 · Aug 4, 2014

Cutlass said:
Ben Franklin

Well he was practically a defacto-leader. He was the senior adviser to nearly every president when he was alive.

Hygro · Aug 4, 2014

illram said:
Every person I admire for their social or political ideals and history would have failed miserably as President, since the system surrounding them is set up to prevent the accomplishment of anything close to what they championed. In many ways what those folks achieved was only possible outside the system.

Off the top of my head if I had to think of US presidential candidates whose ideals and history of activism I (mostly) really admired, I'd say: (bhsup, avert your eyes)

Ralph Nader
Eugene V. Debs
George McGovern
Jesse Jackson
Dennis Kucinich (wants to auto-correct to zucchini)

Probably missing a few there. If my list was expanded to just any public figure my list would be pretty long...

Also I don't really admire him very much, so remove that from the question and I'd say the best leader we never (recently) had was Al Gore, solely on the basis that he was not George W. Bush.

Gore's better than that, but also to add to your list is our very own governor when he ran for president a few times.

Cutlass · Aug 4, 2014

KMRblue1027 said:
Well he was practically a defacto-leader. He was the senior adviser to nearly every president when he was alive.

That's not many.

He died a year after Washington took office.

KMRblue1027 · Aug 4, 2014

Cutlass said:
That's not many. He died a year after Washington took office.

Duh, I'm a dumbass. :lol:

He was the real leader of the continental congress at the very least, let alone all the diplomatic missions.

madviking · Aug 4, 2014

aleksej kosygin

kramerfan86 · Aug 4, 2014

Definitely Ben Franklin for me as well.

Tahuti · Aug 4, 2014

Post-war period would be Frits Bolkestein.

Pim Fortuyn was also highly popular among the Dutch right, though I personally cannot forgive his republicanism.

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