President Barack Buchanan?

Well, there I was innocently reading a bio of our 15th president, listening to Jesus Christ Superstar, when I came across a phrase that seemed familiar. "My God, are calamities never to come singly!" That whiny phrase uttered by President James Buchanan rang a bell. Ah yes, now I know where I heard it: at his last news conference, current President Barack Obama said he wished crises came one at a time and that the average president usually didn't have so much on his plate. This woe-is-me sympathy routine was rather transparent, but I wondered who the "average" president or presidency is? Van Buren? Fillmore? Harding? You got me. That Obama should wish to channel the mediocre of presidential history seemed rather odd.

But wait, what if Barack Obama really wanted to summon the aura of another president with his "one at a time" comment. What if he wanted to refer to a president who was elected to heal a vicious partisan divide? What if he wanted to refer to a Democratic president who worked hand in glove with a Democratic House and Senate? What if he wanted to cite a president who was a "well intentioned public figure?" What if he wanted to shoulder the cloak of a past president who had unique personal characteristics never before seen in the White House? If so, then let's grant Obama his wish and draw the curtain back on President James Buchanan, the worst president in U.S. history.

OK, I'll own up. What little I remembered from my high school history class concerning this abysmal failure was that Buchanan dithered and the Union promptly broke apart liked dropped china. That hazy recollection is not only untrue, but rather charitable to Old Fuss and Feathers.

Barack Obama likes to stress the importance of action over inaction. Influenced by two strong chief executives, Jackson and Polk, James Buchanan would have heartily agreed with Barack Obama. While Buchanan saw the presidency as limited or constrained by the Constitution, this thin veneer often covered a plan of action that deemed certain ends or actions justified by extreme means. In this case, with the preservation of the Union as the end, the means would be the de facto adoption of slavery throughout the land.

In a risky move, he would violate the Constitution to save the country. Mere days into his term, his secret arm-twisting of some on the Supreme Court resulted in a solid majority in the the vile Dred Scott decision. Prior to the decision, Buchanan said he would "cheerfully" abide by the decision. This weasel job is typical of a slick lawyer. Only ask a question that you already have the answer for, goes the old lawyer's saw. In this case Buchanan already knew the outcome, so he feigned subservience. This gave Buchanan short term political gain, but at the cost of additional long term pain for the nation.

Article Author: Mr Dock Ellis

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