September 4, 2008
Maui Curmudgeon, U.S. Presidents
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By the Maui Curmudgeon (35th in a 43-part series)
How do the U.S. Presidents stack up? I thought I’d find out by reading biographies of all 43 presidents, in the order of their administrations. Here are briefly the pros and cons of my discoveries, the interesting bits, and how I’d rank him. For comparison, I give you the 1982 Murrary-Blessing ranking, a survey of hundreds of leading historians who ranked each president by number. This survey is the gold standard of presidential rankings and is most cited when this kind of thing needs bringing up in media.
JOHN F. KENNEDY: 1961-1963 ~ 35th U.S. President
Martyrdom obscures the truth for this president. Leader for just 1,000 days, and assassinated in front of thousands, John F. Kennedy may or may not have become a near great president. We’ll never know. Interestingly, Murrary-Blessing ranks him at 13, a very high ranking indeed.
Born into privilege, a hero of World War II, JFK easily won a seat in congress in 1946, and a seat in the senate in 1952. He was put forth as a candidate for vice-president in 1956, with candidate Adlai Stevenson, but JFK would have none of it. He knew he wanted to run for the big office in 1960. He did, and in one of the closest elections in American history, he won.
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September 4, 2008
> MAUI TODAY
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 National Honey Month
248 of 2008
118 days left in this year
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HAWAIIAN WORD OF THE DAY —
Meli: Honey
PIDGIN WORD OF THE DAY
— Hani: Honey
HAWAIIAN PROVERB OF THE DAY
— “The scallops are not all the same size.”
HAOLE SAYING OF THE DAY — “The discovery of America was the occasion of the greatest outburst of cruelty and reckless greed in history.” - Joseph Conrad
Around September 4, 1836 (date is uncertain), Father Arsenius Walsh began the second attempt by Catholics to found a mission on Maui. The first mission failed when the Maui chiefs banished priests in 1827. This time, under the protection of French and British vessels in port at Maui, the priest was able to establish a foothold, though local chefs forbade him to administer to Hawaiians. He could preach only to visiting foreigners. Walsh paved the way for such well known missionaries as Mother Cope and Father Damien. Today, there are 17 Catholic Churches on Maui.
September 4, 2008
Maui Curmudgeon, National Election
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By Maui Curmudgeon
How does a man who beats “the Clinton Machine” during a hellish 18 months of campaigning, and who puts on an amazing convention with daily speeches to rock the nation, how does a man like this not get a single bit of good will (read votes) out of it?
I don’t know, but Barack Obama has succeeded in doing just that. He has received no statistically relevant bump from the Democratic Convention.
Take a look at this chart, which tracks the “bumps” which candidates get after their conventions:
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