One sentence of Barack Obama’s, in a recent speech to cheering supporters, stopped me short in my tracks.

The passage was: “With your support I will win this election, and together we will save the world.”

I can’t guarantee that it’s a verbatim version, but the phase, “we will save the world,” is.

Let’s hope that, if he wins, a more practical and realistic character emerges. The last thing the world needs now is another messianic, emotion-driven President in the White House.

Another James Monroe* — described as a “quiet President,” despite his clear achievements — would do very nicely in the current reduced circumstances.

* James Monroe Facts, from MSN Encarta:
Fifth President of the United States
Birth: April 28, 1758
Death July 4, 1831
Home State: Virginia
Party: Democratic-Republican
Terms In Office: 1817-1821, 1821-1825
Vice President: Daniel D. Tompkins
Significant Acts:
* Ordered the suppression of Seminole uprisings in Florida in 1817.
* Purchased Florida from Spain for the settlement of $5 million in Spanish debt.
* Signed the Missouri Compromise of 1820, which set limits on the expansion of slavery into newly-acquired territories.
* Adopted the policy of setting aside land for Native Americans in the Great Plains.
* Signed a treaty with Russia establishing a boundary to Russian territory in North America.
* Proclaimed the Monroe Doctrine, opposing European intervention in the affairs of nations in the Western Hemisphere.

He certainly leaves the last three Presidents standing.

John Evans