Source: Garrison Center
by Thomas L Knapp
“At a 1992 debate, an audience member hit incumbent US president George H.W. Bush, as well as candidates Bill Clinton and Ross Perot, with an interesting question. … ‘I ask the three of you to look into the camera and talk to us about how you would be as a president, as a father of the country. Why should we entrust you with our future, our hopes, and our children?’ At the time, I remember thinking to myself ‘What? The president as our national parent? How could anyone fall for that kind of nonsense?’ But the three candidates actually took the audience member’s question seriously instead of pushing back, and the 33 years between then and now answer my own follow-up question dispositively. The answer is ‘the vast majority of voters.'” (08/17/25)