Democrats do not have a great track record in the White House.
The number of Democratic presidents who have won second terms is
small and becomes much smaller with the second half of the 20th
Century. Unlike Congressional shifts which reflect regional
politics more than a national referendum, the Presidency is a
referendum on the usages of the nearly unlimited power of its
holder. The Democratic strategy has been to substitute
iconography for competence and their iconic presidents have
invariably been men of dubious character. FDR rode to power on
the coattails of the Roosevelt name, after conducting a smear
campaign against Teddy Roosevelt’s son who would have been the
natural candidate. Once in power, FDR assembled a grab-bag of
bad ideas from European Socialists and Fascists and employed a
small army of writers and artists as propagandists to lionize
his programs. Marginally competent, Roosevelt the Second
cultivated an aristocratic paternal air, surrounded himself with
experts and programs to create publi