STARSTUFF--Sagan '88

[TooManyIdeas]

The nitrogen in our DNA, the calcium in our teeth, the iron in our blood, the carbon in our apple pies were made in the interiors of collapsing stars. We are made of starstuff.
--Carl Sagan

From the Stars to America 1988 campaign ad

S T A R S T U F F
What if Carl Sagan ran for president?

---------------------
"All right, class, it's election year again, and that means we're focusing on the American electoral process. We will be learning through the case study of the election of 1988. ...Yes, the one with the...'scientist dude'. It really hasn't been that long, historically speaking, you all should really know this one better. But that's why I am here to teach you.​

"1988 was a milestone for several reasons. First, it marked the start of the paradigm shift we now see coming to a head here in 2016. Second, it was the closest election since 1968, and the first of the down-to-the-wire elections we're used to today. Third, it was the first time someone without any political or military experience won the presidency, as well as the first time a scientist won the presidency. Overall, it was a true landmark for modern politics.

"Hm? Yes, Audrey? ...Oh, good, someone knows his name, at least. Carl Sagan, yes. Hm? ...Why did he run? That's actually a very good question. He doesn't quite seem the type to be interested in the office, especially in hindsight of his laid-back style of governance.

"You see, Sagan did not initially choose to run. He was chosen himself."

--Mrs. Amelia Lenard, in a class at Pullman High, Seattle, Washington

"And after '84, they said, 'Well, drat, that didn't go well! How do we win now?' And they said, 'We need a celebrity, but not one of those silly actors now. We need a smart celebrity.' And that's how it starts. Never trust a smart celebrity."

-- George Carlin, in a classic 1996 routine

 

[TooManyIdeas]

Dukakis on Presidency: "Not This Time"
--New York Times, Janurary 14th, 1987

Mondale 88--The Definition of Insanity?
--Boston Globe, Janurary 16th, 1987

Who do you support for the 1988 Democratic ticket?
Walter Mondale - 34.8%
Jesse Jackson - 32.7%
Al Gore - 29.9%
Other - 2.8%

"I'm gonna be honest with you, Tom. It's all bad."
--Anonymous aide to House Majority Leader Tom Foley, Janurary 17th, 1987
-------------​

I could say it started as a joke, but that would be a lie. We really thought Dukakis was going to be our guy, so when he said no, we were desperate. We knew Mondale wasn't going to go well, for sure.

Now, of course, we were thinking about Bush. And you know, Bush didn't exactly look like the type who would appeal to young voters. Establishment Republican, connected to the last eight years of Reagan, looked older. That was a weakness, and we asked how we could sieze that weakness.

I don't remember who, but someone floated the idea of Carl Sagan. I said, "No, we don't even know if he's a Democrat."

They replied quickly. "Of course he's a Democrat, he's a scientist."

We all had a quick laugh at that, and then I leaned in. "He doesn't have it," I said.

"Why not? He's good on TV, and people who watched his show as kids are getting old enough to vote now. He's got the name recognition."

"He's probably not even interested. He's a scientist, as you said. Not a politician."

"Can't hurt to ask."

Well, that was correct, at least. We could at least scout it out. Asking wouldn't hurt.

--Tom Foley, My Role in the Cosmos

 

[New Cleo Genesis]

I'm rather interested in this. Just re-read Contact recently as well.

 

[Expat]

Love it.

I've got a physicist friend who never misses an opportunity to complain about Sagan's popularity, saying he made scant contributions to the corpus and that many more deserving minds languished in obscurity from the popular conscious.

To which my standard reply is: so what if it was you, would you want to hold pressers and spend your days on sound stages and maybe once in a while tell other scientists what you think they should do and try to get politicians to let other scientists do what they think they should do...or would you rather just get back to your supercomputer?

 

[Tal Shiar]

This is going to be fascinating.

 

[Driftless]

I'll be curious to see who you have as his Veep and how Sagan's administration handles the many "big D" diplomatic events of that timeframe.

Also, regardless of the relative heights of Sagan's scholarship, he was a superb communicator - a critical skill for a leader

 

[Mark E.]

Wasn't 1988 the year Bush welcomed Christian Conservatives to the GOP? Putting Sagan on the Democratic side would accentuate faith-based differences because some were offended by Sagan's claim, on Cosmos, that Darwinian evolution was fact; not to mention a resurgence of anti-Semitism. So, does the Religious Right accelerate in the nineties or does it burn out?

 

[Driftless]

A Sagan presidency would make Jerry Falwell's head explode (Maybe not a bad thing....) Sagan's divorce history and his alternative views on a supreme being and how the universe works would be a red-hot topic for social conservatives certainly.

 

[Zwinglian]

So, does the Religious Right accelerate in the nineties or does it burn out?

If he’s a bad president, which the intro seems to hint at, his election will be a great win for the religious right. They spend 4 years gaining more influence within the Republican Party becaude they are angry before winning in 92 off of the global recession which they get to blame on having a Godless commie replace Saint Reagan as president

 

[Mark E.]

If he’s a bad president, which the intro seems to hint at, his election will be a great win for the religious right. They spend 4 years gaining more influence within the Republican Party becaude they are angry before winning in 92 off of the global recession which they get to blame on having a Godless commie replace Saint Reagan as president

But if Sagan does really well, the economy remains strong and there are no big global conflicts, the religious right will be attacking a person for his beliefs and not for performance in office. The idea is, could "warriors without a cause" lose following?

 

[andry2806]

Lovin' it

 

[Expat]

 

[Zwinglian]

But if Sagan does really well, the economy remains strong and there are no big global conflicts, the religious right will be attacking a person for his beliefs and not for performance in office. The idea is, could "warriors without a cause" lose following?

Someone who takes office in 89 can’t prevent a global recession in 1990. HW Bush was one of the most expierienced presidents in American history and he couldn’t prevent things from going awry. 89-93 is just a bad time to be in charge no matter who it is.

 

[Histor32]

Does this mean billions and billions of tax dollars.. Mora than all the grains of sand on all the beaches on earth


Okay jokes aside I would have voted for the man

 

[TooManyIdeas]

As the Tower Board reported, what began as a strategic opening to Iran deteriorated in its implementation into trading arms for hostages.
-President Regan addresses nation on Iran-Contra Affair, March 4th, 1987[1]

Gary Hart Withdraws
Democratic Field Shrinking Rapidly
--New York Times, March 13th, 1987

CARL SAGAN FOR PRESIDENT
An Interview with the Famed Astrophysicist who Wants to Inspire America
-- Time Magazine, April 1987 issue
​

BUSH: They have got to be kidding. He won't win the nomination.
ATWATER: I think we want him to.
BUSH: He's unelectable.
ATWATER: Exactly. If they nominate him, this will be a walk in the park. We want him to win the nomination.
--America: The Story of Us History Channel miniseries

Who do you support for the 1988 Democratic ticket?

Carl Sagan - 51.1%
Jesse Jackson - 30%
Walter Mondale - 10.1%
Al Gore - 8%
Other - 1.9%
​

The initial poll boost was incredible. It was beyond our wildest dreams. We knew it wouldn't hold, but it gave us hope. Here, we had someone who could get a message across.

We talked a lot about his divorces. That was going to be an issue. So were his religious beliefs. We couldn't have anticipated just how big it would be, of course--how Bush would pull out all the stops. But it would have been beyond naive to ignore.

But me, I wasn't concerned, not from thinking he was just that charismatic, but from still thinking he didn't really have his skin in the game. A lot of celebrities say they'll run and give up around June or July of the off-year. Even nowadays, that happens. A lot of people thought he'd be the same way, and I was the same. I was preparing for Jackson.

He never seemed like the type to me. Ever. But I suppose I can't be considered reliable authority.
- Tom Foley, My Role in the Cosmos

------
​

[1] OTL quote

 

[Kloka]

S P A C E R E N A I S S A N C E
P
A
C
E
R
E
N
A
I
S
S
A
N
C
E

 

[TooManyIdeas]

"Tear Down This Wall!"
Sagan weighs in

"I look forward to a time when all walls between nations can be torn down, not out of some vain hope for a political victory, but because humans should not be divided from other humans. I join President Reagan in his plea to Gorbachev, though perhaps not for the same reasons. Certainly, we can at least agree on the hope for eventual reunification of Germany and the world."
--Carl Sagan, in an interview with CBS News, June 14th, 1987
​

"What's interesting about Sagan's response to Reagan's speech, I think, was that he didn't have to address it at all. It was receiving relatively little coverage in Western media before his comments[1], and he could have let it slip by without controversy. But he chose to respond to it and invite the controversy anyway.

"Hm. Can anyone tell me why he might have chosen to do that...? Anyone?

"Audrey? ...Ah, yes, that's a good theory. He saw a political opportunity and seized it. To be infamous is to be famous, better to target your base than people you can't win over, so on and so forth.

"But there is a flaw in that theory. Carl Sagan was not a normal politican. One of the biggest criticisms people have of his presidency today was that he was too passive. That he didn't grab at enough opportunities. So it seems odd that he would simply take the moment to jab at the president. Anyone else have ideas?

"Percy? ...He just wanted to. See... I hear everyone laughing, thinking that's lazy. But I think that's exactly it. He wanted to use his popularity at the time to spread his message of peace."

--Mrs. Amelia Lenard

Sagan Plummets in Polls Following Reagan Comments
Jackson and Sagan Neck-and-Neck
--New York Times, June 17th, 1987

"They've placed all their hopes on a goddamn bleeding heart."
--George H.W. Bush, in leaked conversation with Lee Atwater

-------​

[1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tear_down_this_wall!#Response_and_legacy

 

[Expat]

Hehe, the other thing I incidentally am enjoying about all of this is that my spouse's name is Audre, and though we didn't go to school together, I bet she was a hand-raiser, too!

 

[TooManyIdeas]

Hehe, the other thing I incidentally am enjoying about all of this is that my spouse's name is Audre, and though we didn't go to school together, I bet she was a hand-raiser, too!

Aw, that's really sweet! Audrey is just a personal character from my main original work I like to reference in every piece of writing I do somehow, as a bit of an Easter Egg. She's pretty nerdy, so yes, big hand-raiser.

 

[TooManyIdeas]

Sagan's Campaign Promise: Mars by the Millennium
--Boston Globe, December 2nd, 1987

What Kennedy did was ignite the nation into action. We can do it again, and this time, we do not need some race with another country to motivate us, only our own race with ourselves, always striving for new heights and new discoveries.
--Carl Sagan, shortly after NASA announces new contracts, December 1st, 1987
​

NARRATOR: Sometimes, Democrats will try to justify tax hikes with some pretense. What pretense does Sagan provide? ...Going to Mars? Mr. Sagan, America is on Earth!
--Attack ad paid for by the Bush campaign (ran from December 1987 throughout the campaign)

INTERVIEWER: We got a lot of real nice quotes out of that time. Did you have anything to do with those?
CARVILLE: Oh, no, this was before he hired me. We look back on it nice now, but the early stuff, the '87 stuff, it was a mess. Young people liked it and it completely whiffed with everyone else.
INTERVIEWER: Why was that? He was a good speaker.
CARVILLE: Yeah, but he wasn't taking it seriously just yet. He didn't expect to win, he was using the spotlight for activism.
INTERVIEWER: What made him change his tune on that, do you think?
CARVILLE: Well, I told him something on my first day with him, and I'll tell it to you, too. Activists say we should go to Mars. President's tell people to go to Mars, and then they actually go do it.
--Interview with James Carville, Sagan's campaign manager, on CNN, June 2004

Who do you support for the 1988 Democratic ticket?

Jesse Jackson - 40%
Carl Sagan -20.5%
Al Gore - 15.5%
Walter Mondale - 3.4%
Other - 2.6%

-----
​

Up next: The Democratic primary debate.