Could great Presidents of the past have been elected in the television age

[Sandpiper]

I've thought about this before, and I think the following presidents would not have been elected in the age of soundbites and television saturation:

Abraham Lincoln - He was very unattractive and used too many multi-syllabic words

Theodore Roosevelt - He was a very fiery individual and probably would have seemed too overheated for a TV audience

Thomas Jefferson - History remembers him as being a poor public speaker with a high voice. His rhetoric also would have gone over the heads of most audience members

[joeybee12]

1. A big NO!!!!

And I doubt Jesus Christ's message could get out there. Yeah, yeah, I know, I know, not everything thinks that what's attributed him he actually said or did, but really, a single man, living with a bunch of other men--you figure it out.

[mmonk]

2. No

today is style and/or promises and/or jingoism. There's no place for unattractive people of substance and ideas.

[Poiuyt]

4. Can you imagine someone who looked like

Abraham Lincoln being elected? I don't think so.

[Frances]

3. Well, Shrub is in the White House

and he is totally inarticulate

Of course he did not get the majority of the votes

[LTR]

5. Think someone in a wheelchair could get elected President today?

Sadly, no.

If there were television in the '30s and '40s, FDR would likely never have been president.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

6. No chance. Zero. None.

Abe Lincoln was ugly and a flaming liberal.

Tom Jefferson was an agnostic and a leftist radical.

Woodrow Wilson was a soft spoken academic.

Teddy Roosevelt wore glasses and had a squeeky voice.

FDR was as close to a socialist as this country has ever seen as a candidate (in the two parties).

Nahhhh. This country is sold on the idea of "plain speaking" (uses words with less than 3 syllables), "most likeable" (dumb as a can of asparagus), "moral" (only screws his wife on alternate thursdays), "moderate" (white, southern guys who say they like minorities but will keep them in their place), who love sports, hamburgers, money, Jesus, and the flag.

Anything that smacks of intellectualism is strictly forbidden.

[Bandit]

7. Dennis Kucinich is a good example

Not the most attractive man but extremely intelligent.

[LTR]

8. Very interesting link

Go here and listen to various presidents speak:

http://www.lib.msu.edu/vincent/presidents/

Some of them had less than desireable voices and personnas (TR's was kind of high pitched). It's been rumored that Grover Cleveland actually hired someone to read his words on an Edison phonograph recording, since he was a pretty poor speaker.

Nonetheless, every president from Benjamin Harrison on is preserved.