2008 will make history, no matter who wins

By David Kaiser, Editor

Filed Under Race for White House 2008 on Feb 20 

Besides being a political and sports junkie, I also happen to be an avid reader of history, and the 2008 elections are already guaranteed to make history, even though we don’t even officially have nominees yet.

The two “big ones” have been well documented. We now know that the Democratic nominee will be either be African-American or female. Obviously, if either of them were to win, they would be the first of either group to occupy the White House.

Another thing we know is that for only the third time in U.S. history, a sitting Senator will be elected President, the other two being JFK and Warren G. Harding. Only Kennedy was elected to the highest office in the land without having any executive office experience. Before being a Senator, Harding served as Governor of Ohio.

If Senator John McCain were to win the election, he would be the oldest person to take the Oath of Office for the first time, besting Ronald Reagan by several years. McCain would also become only the second graduate of the United States Naval Academy to become POTUS, the first being (believe it or not) Jimmy Carter. He would also become the second President to be a Silver Star winner, the first being Lyndon Johnson.

Barack Obama, despite being the youngest by far of the three candidates left in contention, would only be the fifth youngest President, getting beaten out by Teddy Roosevelt, JFK, Bill Clinton and Ulysses S. Grant. He would also be the first President since the 19th century who had a parent who was not a U.S. citizen.

Hillary Clinton of course would be the first woman to become President, and would be the third Yale Law grad to hold that office after her husband and Gerald Ford.

I have a load of Presidential trivia, if someone gets bored and wants to email me sometime, let me know.

Comments

  • Troy La Mana

    The downfall of America is definitely history making.. no matter which of the three stooges makes it into the White House.

  • Rick

    Obama would be the first President born in Hawaii.
    McCain would be the first President from Arizona.

  • Brian H

    Funny Dom…”flat tax” and “flat earth”.

    What is up with JMacs teeth? He can afford to have those things capped.

  • Dominick08

    My previous “firsts” were all real and true.

    Those below merely have the “ring of truth” to them:

    >Mike Hucabee: The first President to simultaniusly promote a “flat tax” policy and “flat earth” policy at the same time during his first year in office as POTUS.

    >Hillary Clinton: The first President to sit in the very same White House Oval Office chair her husband sat in over a decade ago when as President he recieved his daily respite from a White House Intern named Monica.

    >John McCain: The first President to actually nationalize a major U.S. corporation, Proctor & Gamble, because his needs for the company’s Crest White Strips product is so massive, and thus expensive, he feels guilty paying for the items using his AMerican taxpayer-funded Presidential expense account.

    >Barack Obama: The first President to officially change his first and last names to the Madonna-like and Cher-like single name of “Change” once he is elected and sworn in to office as POTUS.

    >Ron Paul: The first President to, when elected, not only announce to the country he believes in aliens and UFO’s, but that in fact he is an alien from the free-market, Libertarian planet called “M Friedman One.”

  • AWB

    Slight trivia correction with Harding. He ran for governor of Ohio in 1910, but lost. He did serve as Lt. Governor for 2 years, so I guess that’s sort of an executive office, although functionally Lt. Governors usually just preside over the senate. Other than that, he just served 4 years in the state senate and 6 years in the US senate.

  • Brian H

    Barak Obama would be the first whose wife was never proud of her country before.

    Obama would be the 1st….er…23rd to campaign on the “Change” and “Hope” theme.

    Obama would be the first to give 45 minute speeches after each state primary.

    Obama would be the first to use the phrase “give it up” when introducing his wife to the stage.

    Obama would be the first president who has pledged to lose a war as his first Presidential initiative.

    Obama would be the first to have a flag of a murdering Communist thug in one of his campagn offices.

    Obama would be the first promise to raise taxes…oops….sorry…every Democrat does that.

  • Brian H

    Toby says “McCain will be the first third term President in quite a long while, as well, if he won”

    Toby…Cmon man. You can do better than that; parroting Obama Talking ponts.

    Please….I have read many of your postings, some of which actually contain an original thought.

  • ToddH

    Obama would be the first socialist President.

  • Dominick08

    Other firsts:

    >Obama would be the only President to be the son of a white woman and a black African man.

    >A McCain/Clinton or McCain/Obama race would be the first time two presently sitting Senators have squared off in the general election for Predident of the U.S..

    >Hillary Clinton would be the first wife of a two-term (or one-term) President to ever get elected President in the USA.

    >John McCain would be the first President to have ever been held as a POW by the enemy in a foreign war.

    >Barack Obama would be the first president of the Harvard Law Review to be elected President of the U.S.

    >Hillary Clinton would be the first U.S. President of either gender to have given birth to a child. [Warren G. Harding came close but doctors determined he was merely having sympathy pains.]

    >John McCain would be the first President of the U.S. to have a wife who’s father was a beer distributor.

  • Toby

    McCain will be the first third term President in quite a long while, as well, if he won

  • East-of-Eden

    Thanks for the facts…theese are the things I am a junky for, and I like to put them in my “things I might need to know if I ever go on Jepoardy” file. You should post more facts and trivia, it lightens the whole process up a bit.

  • RedstateEddio

    Neat stuff. That could have been a good post for President’s Day–name your best 5 (or worst 5) presidents. Kind of like an “American (President) Idol”.

  • Stephen

    I enjoy Presidential trivia, thanks for the insight.